“You should start a blog.” One of my kids said this to me in an e-mail and then the other two chimed in with their enthusiastic agreement. My wife also agreed and I really believe they just wanted to discover if there are other people out there like me and that this might be a way to find out. My son said “you could discover that there are millions like you in the country and you could help them find their voice.” It appealed to my considerable sense of self-importance and my never failing duty to serve when called. My country needs me and that night sleep alluded me.
The next day I announced that I might just do it, once I figured out what a blog was, so I “googled” it and thought this looks pretty easy so let’s give it a go, it’s the only honorable thing to do. So here we are!
Why would my family want to know if there are other people like me in the country? Surely there must be, I have never considered myself to be weird or abnormal in any way, but maybe I am an island, unique in the history of mankind. I hope not and if you find something here that seems familiar, please let me know so we can pontificate, bemoan, celebrate, preach, complain, resolve or whatever together.
I am a 60 year old white guy that was born right wise and has lived everyday in the great state of Tennessee. I am married to the only girlfriend I ever had (we met when we were 13) and we have been together for almost 50 years.
My parents were both from families that can best be described as hardscrabble but managed to keep a roof over their heads and food in their bellies. My Dad shot at Germans in 44 & 45 but I don’t think he ever knew if he hit any or not. Just like all those guys he wouldn’t talk about it until he was too old to accurately remember anything. He became a business owner after the war and I came up firmly established in the middle class. My mom never had to work and I can’t think of single mom in the neighborhood that wasn’t at home during the day. I sure got whacked by plenty of them.
I drive a Ford F150 pickup that gets less than 10 miles per gallon when I pull my 25 foot RV trailer. We have pulled it across the country and back and are planning to do it again. Does this mean I am squandering our non-renewable natural resources and not a good steward of the environment? These are the kinds of things I think about sometimes.
I have a small fishing boat and love to fish every chance I get even though I am not very good at it. The actual catching of fish seems to me to be beside the point. The boat has a small motor so I don’t think there is any environmental hypocrisy in that one.
I have also taken up duck hunting in recent years. I don’t own a shotgun but my brother-in-law is gracious enough to loan me one. Just like fishing, I am not very good at it, but I have convinced myself that killing a bunch of ducks on a few Saturday and Sunday mornings in the winter is, in the long run, good for the ducks. Hunters help make sure habitat is preserved. How is my logic on that one?
I do have a handgun carry permit and I do carry my gun. I am not a member of the NRA and I have never been one of those guys that says you will have to pry my gun from my cold dead hands, but I don’t intend to be a victim either. But come on, this gun thing has gotten way out of hand.
If you haven’t guessed already one of the reasons my kids wanted me to do this is because this is my life and I am a liberal. There, I said it!
Is it OK to say liberal or am I supposed to say progressive? For the first time in my life I am nervous about the future of our country. The last election unsettled me in ways that I did not anticipate and I feel very strongly that I and people like me (if any exist) need at last to speak out. Speak out loudly and persistently.
I have never been particularly active in politics, more like an interested observer. I think I voted for Reagan at least once and I still remember voting twice for Obama, so I guess you could say I have not been an ideologue, but just a guy who voted for the person he thought would do the best job.
This is different in very fundamental ways!
My wife and I went to the women’s march in Washington. Yes we took the RV. About 1200 miles round trip. (environmental rape?) My daughter drove down from Boston to join us and she and my wife wanted me to wear one of those pink pussy hats but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. To see that many people gathered in one place was amazing and inspiring and I am so thankful to my girls for convincing me to do it.
Most, not all, of my friends are conservative and I really have no desire or inclination to try to convince them of the error of their ways. I do happen to think that most people would prefer to live in a world that leans left as opposed to right, but that not enough people vote to make that happen.
So, I think the left needs to concentrate on getting people, especially young people, to vote and to vote every time. I am hopeful that 45 is going to be the guy that shows them how important that is. I can assure you that is the only thing so far about him that makes me hopeful! I don’t think it is helpful to criticize the right or try to convince them they are wrong. Trying to convince people they are wrong, I think, is contributing to our divisiveness and is part of the problem not the solution. I would like to search out another approach.
If I am going to do this, you won’t find many statistics here, only thoughts on what I believe and hopefully what you believe as well. I say believe because I am not sure I know anything other than what I believe and that is all I got.
Be back soon!