Ocean Guy asked me a couple of days ago how identifying myself as a conservative blogger sits with me. He’s not all that comfortable with the label, and I myself find it passing strange.
I’ve always thought of myself as a liberal. Freedom, rights to self-determination, etc. But somewhere along the line, when I wasn’t looking, the borders changed. Where I stand is territory now claimed by the conservatives.
I’d always thought of conservatives, when I was growing up, as those ridiculous redneck, John Birch loving, parental, Nixon-supporting people. Er, whatever. I think those guys, such as are still alive, are also still included in the mix.
But now, the liberals I’d unconsciously considered myself a member of, seem to regard “freedom” as a sort of enforced line of thought. All the parental US does has to be bad. We are all still children disagreeing with Mom and Dad, and staying out past curfew.
So I grew up. People can have different viewpoints, and not therefore have to consider each other bad. And there are really bad people out there, like the Islamofascists, who are, simply, wrong, and must be stopped.
And that’s where I am now, basically. It seems to be called “conservative” now. Whatever. Strange, yes, but there’s a lot stranger stuff out there.
white pebble 