Wednesday, October 05, 2005

I have a confession


If you asked most of my family and friends to this day about my political beliefs they would tell you that I am a liberal. They would tell you that I hate Bush and everything about being a Republican. Some would even still remember me being pro-choice and also quite the pacifist. I was a supporter of Howard Dean in the last presidential election, and I even volunteered to help with his campaign in Texas. It was around that time that the change started. I wouldn't say it was much of a change really. It was more of a true insight into the real differences of the two political parties of our country. I was raised to be a liberal. I think I posted somewhere before that I came from a family of liberal Catholics. I have been taught from a young age that if you are a conservative you must be either stupid or crazy:

"Just ignore Uncle Frank. You know he is a bit insane, spouting out his conservative beliefs." **actually he is either insane or he is simply rebelling against the rest of the family**

"I can't believe how stupid those poor people are voting for the Republican party. Don't they know that the Democrats are the ones that are more supportive of them."** I have learned that if you are poor or black you are simply a dumbass if you are not a Democrat**


About the time that I graduated from Texas State my curiosity started to grow about the republican party. I think it is mainly because I am from a red state and I wanted to know as much as possible about the other party so as to argue against them more effectively. I was also curious as to why so many people were voting Republican? Do we really have that many stupid and/or cold hearted people? Are a majority of Americans really so easily deceived?

In Texas you always have plenty of Republicans to talk to, especially around San Marcos and College Station. I found that conservatives can be rather quiet or defensive when approached with questions about their political beliefs. The main reason being that liberals think that all conservatives are automatically stupid or crazy. They are attacked from the start or are ignored. Not many people would actually discuss politics with them unless they were conservatives as well. I noticed this mostly when I was an IA. I was required to assist and talk with the students at events and such. At one of the events we could not find Republicans who were willing to join an on campus debate. The reason being, the year before they were harassed and chased off stage before they got far at all into the debate. On election night I went around and talked to everyone about why they voted the way they did. Most of the people who voted for Bush seemed surprised when I didn't start attacking them from the first.

Now to my confession. I discovered through talking with many of both parties that I actually side more with the Republican party. Yes, once my family reads this I expect hate mail. That is okay. Just wanted everyone to know that I wasn't brain washed by Art. He actually came along after I decided that I was a conservative, or we probably wouldn't have got along very well from the first. If you want to blame on anyone I'd put it on the other Republicans I have been talking too through the time of the past presidential election and through my growing love of political theory. I would put most of the blame on writers such as Burke, Aquinas, Rawls (because he makes me so angry), and Aristotle(to name a few). Yes, they have had quite an influence on my political beliefs. I am a religious person who studies natural law. It is not possible for me to be a Democrat and have such beliefs. I started to really question my political stance when I took a political quiz awhile back and it put my beliefs closest with Dick Cheney. I thought it was hilarious at the time.

So here I will put a few of my political beliefs on the blog for the first time. I am not much for writing about them because I am a perfectionist in my writing. I want to make sure I get everything right, and the blog is not something I want to put a lot of time and research into. But here we go, I won't post too many. I guess just the hot issues:

1. I am pro-life. I did put earlier that I use to be pro-choice and that is true. My opinion changed, so sue me. Why did it change? Well, I find that no woman really wants an abortion. No, it is not something that a person seeks, it is something that you grudgingly go to as a last choice(unless you are sick). I think it is wrong to give women that option. I think it is cruel for women to be put in that position. It is not an easy out either. You are killing a child. The child is not born yet but it is a human being. I also do not think that this is a woman's issue. A child comes into a family. It is created by a man and a woman both. I think putting it simply on women takes the value away from the family. In short, abortion adds problems and solves nothing.

2. I am not against the war in Iraq. I was not happy about us going into Iraq to begin with, but I believe that it shows cowardice to pull out at this point. We need to show that we can complete what we have started. I think it is important to have stability in that part of the world for our own safety and if we do not insure stability to that region then it will only increase terrorism. I don't wish to spend much time on this topic because I am still more of a pacifist. I just realize that military action is still needed at times. This is one of them.

3. I am a firm believer in religious education. What can I say, I went to both public and private school growing up and I know there is no way in hell I would have my own children (the ones I will have several years from now) attend public school. Religion is very important for a moral basis of a person and should be part of the education process. That is all I will put for that one right now.

I would go on, but the post is already long enough, and it has taken forever to write. If you actually made it through the post thanks for reading. This is the first time I felt like typing something political. Would you guess that I am a political science major?

9 comments:

Art said...

Ellen,

It was very brave of you to come out the way you did. I know it couldn't have been easy. I just hope you're prepared for the negative comments made by the intolerant hatemongers. No matter what, I always love you. :)

Anonymous said...

being pro life doesn't make you a republican!

this is brave. go you.

el said...

Yes, not one of those issues makes me a Republican. It is a combination of all of them.

Thank you:)

Unknown said...

Political science majors, unless working for a party or paid to do so, often don’t express political opinions. So I agree that your post is courageous.

As for me, I remain well left of center. I started out life as a Republican and the excesses and greed of the Reagan years drove me away.

tim said...

How could YOU!!! I used to like you but now you should rot/burn or whatever else. JUST KIDDING EL... I am a very conservative democrat? Almost a republican myself! As I grow older and older I become even more republican even though I was born poor and a lot of my family is black. I still believe in human rights and I am by no means pro choice. I would never even think of losing my daughter, what would the world be like without her?

One thing I do despise is the women saying that it is their body. What about the man you planted that seed? Does he have a right for retribution after the evil woman kills his child? I would certainly want revenge against anyone who hurt my child right now, why couldn't I seek revenge for her pains before she is born. Am I not the child's father?

I'm pretty adamant on that so I agree with you on that.

Another thing that I despise though is the fact that someone had asked me my political standing one time and I told this guy that I would most likely be considered a conservative democrat and he immediately started ridiculing me. The he ridiculed me because I don't vote. He thanked god because most of the democrats were too lazy to go vote. I immediately labeled him as a judgemental prick and then avoided him altogether.

I'm also of the opinion that I only support and defend the constitution by being in the military so I allow the people that I defend to choose my fate,,,

blah blah blah blah blah....

Oh by the way I'm tired right now and feel like taking a nap, so if I don't make any sense; please forgive me.

whitechoclatespacegg said...

I was raised a Catholic Democrat myself. I seldom have political conversations with my family. But both my brothers and my father are really into the republican party and I find myself on that side as well. However my grandmother will remain a Democrat her the rest of her life because she always has been. I don't even know if there is any other reason than she's always been.

It really is brave to come out and say that on here though. GO YOU!!

Jack B. said...

Bravo. EVERYONE I know (including all family members) are Democrats who reflexively hate Bush etc. I'm the only "conservative" in the bunch and it's not easy. Thats why I rarely talk politics.

Jessica said...

I don't see whats so wrong with public education. There's a lot of nobel prize winners, breakthrough research scientists, and badass writers who DID NOT go to private school. So I mean, its every person's choice as to what they want for their kids but I think its possible for kids to be a part of their church and be really involved in religion and also still go to public school. UTSA isn't a private University and there are A LOT of really smart people that go there that I doubt went to private school before either. Dan went to private school...Look how he turned out! He is Catholic and so is his University and he is the biggest loser and alcoholic that I know. You should see the people at that school! It is like they lower the standards there just because everyones paying so damn much that they don't dare fail hardly anyone. It is ridiculous!
Don't believe it? Go up to that school and try to hold conversations with half of them!

el said...

Jess,

I'm not writing about universities. Anyone knows there is little difference between the quality of education at a public and private university unless you are comparing an ivy league to a university like Texas State. The difference is in the lower levels of education (elementary - high school).

One reason that I think public school education is crap is because of No Child Left Behind. It is supported in public education by both Democrats and Republicans, I know. Basically I don't think that education of children should be that centralized. This requires children to be educated strictly towards a test. This is stupid and a horrible way of measuring the intelligence of a child. I don't think you'd disagree on that one. I think this will decrease the quality of education for children in public compared to private schools.