Monday, August 30, 2004

Why I Vote Right

I take the world's smallest political quiz and I end up being a slightly left-leaning Liberterian.

I know, I know, that word, "Left".

I believe that government might have a little more of a role to play than hard-core staunch Libertarians do. But I'm still way to the right of Democrats and Socialists on this.

  • I consider myself an environmentalist
  • I believe in equal rights and equal protection by race, gender and creed
  • I see a role for some limited, strictly defined government welfare programs
  • I believe that homosexuality occurs naturally in most cases, and you've a right to it
So why am I voting for those gay-bashing, environment-raping, poor-exploiting, racist, sexist, right-wing Christian-lovers?

Well, for one thing, those are generalizing labels that are put on conservitives -- the kind liberals would never allow you to put on any non-Christian, non-white, or female.

Sure, there are right-wing Christians in the Republican party. There are Republicans who hate gays. They have some greedy people who are willing to abuse the environment. But I am none of those, and neither are most Republicans, nor is George W.

You going to tell me there are no serious Christians in the Democratic party? You going to tell me that lots of those Union Democrats aren't homophobic?

What rational person is anti-environment?

But here's the kind of thing that keeps me awake at night, and these are all products of Leftism run amok. They may seem small, but they're signs of something much bigger going on. They're also all in the news today:

  • Red ink is now taboo when grading schoolwork because it's "too agressive".
  • Two professors have been fired for refusing to go along with "effort based" grading.
  • And in many schools, dodgeball, tag, even pushing other children on swings -- any form of physical contact at recess -- is forbidden.
What conservative came up with these ideas? None.

These are examples of an erosion of ownership, accountability, and excellence in the name of making people "feel good" about themselves.

I don't know. I got red ink on my papers. It motivated me to do better. I turned out ok. And what's this "effort based" grading? I passed my engineering classes because I tried. So who's responsible when the bridge I designed collapses? Hey, I put a lot of work into that bridge! And finally, few people were bullied more than I in grade school. Bullies should be dealt with with discipline by responsible adults, not by keeping children from touching each other and playing games together.

It looks like to me this country's headed in a direction where we don't talk about right and wrong near its roots, we opt for making up second and third generation rules to avoid right and wrong altogether. The rule is right because it's the rule, I guess, nevermind how stupid it is. "This way, nobody gets bullied." Um.... bullsh*t.

These are three small indicators that speak volumes about where the Left is taking us. Which is why I vote Right.


No comments: