i’m not exactly sure why i’m conservative on many of the issues that i am, seeing that my parents were hippies and most of my friends are liberals. i think a lot of it was just to argue with them, to stand out by having a different view than most of my peers, i always thought alex p. keaton was cool. i voted for george bush in 2000 and 2004. for the most part, i thought invading iraq looking for wmds was a good idea. i listened to and believed the rhetoric of the republicans and even though my own values differed with many of their core values, for some reason i went along with them, for too long.

i haven’t really made many political posts this election season, but this morning at the gym the very pretty sarah palin made me realize one of the reasons why it was that i stayed ignorant to the facts and blindly went along with the republicans for so long. she was making a speech about how earlier in the day obama had asked his supporters to argue with people that didn’t agree with their liberal ideals (i doubt it was phrased exactly like that, but i’ll just assume it was). she then went on to say how right afterwards mccain in reply said something to the effect of “what we need to do is stop fighting,” and the crowd went into a roaring cheer. bleeding liberals like my friend ben would always argue his liberal ideals and i would always just write him off as being an arguing democrat that needs to be happy with life and get on with it. republicans like to hide behind ignorance and religion to keep their agendas moving forward.

i’m sure almost every republican would disagree, but i really feel that it’s education on all of the issues that has pulled me to the left. it’s actually watching speeches, reading and really listening to the arguments and evidence of both sides that led me to realize that the party i thought most closely connected with me, didn’t.

while i respect people’s religious beliefs, i think the scariest part of republicans is how religion influences so many of their decisions. i think most of us that live on the liberal west coast have little idea of the type of people that make up the republican base. most of middle america is very religious and they put their religion before anything else, and an invisible man in the sky [r.i.p. george carlin] influencing the president and party of the world’s most powerful nation just sounds dangerous.

and while i’m now a registered democrat, i still consider myself a conservative liberal. i think social programs are important, but need to stay limited. i think we need national health care for people that can’t afford it, but not necessarily for those who can. i think citizens should be able to own guns (i never got why this was a conservative thing) and in general, i don’t think the government should be too big or too powerful. but i do feel more comfortable and more closely aligned with being a democrat, now that i more clearly understand these issues, and i think the country would be much better off with barack obama as president.

… and as a random side note, i really want to know how many republicans who’s fortunes were saved by the government’s huge bailout of these banks are angry about having a government that doesn’t let the economy naturally balance itself out.