I’ve been sitting on this one for a few days, unsure if I should write about it or not. Probably because it involves a little bit of navel gazing, which I am not a big fan of, but sometimes it needs to be done, and maybe there’s a lesson that can be learned, or even taught from it. Anyway, here goes nothing.
The other day, I had a longtime friend of mine (who happens to be Canadian, as it were) ask me my opinion of the recent happenings with Arlen Specter. My friend referred to him as “long time Republican guy” or something like that.
Now, as we all know, I recently expressed a no-holds barred opinion of the Arlen Specter situation. So, in order to save time, I told my friend to go read the piece. I figured since my articles are notoriously long, almost always exceeding the thousand word mark, he would certainly be able to grasp my opinion.
I wasn’t so lucky. Within seconds of beginning to read, my friend came back at me with “Wow, you really hate Obama” and “You are a crazy, Art. Crazy. You really are a psycho. You’ve lost touch.”
To put this in context, I did refer to President Obama as a “fascist” in the piece, but one must understand that when I say that, that is not a hate filled statement. That is merely my observation of Observation of Obama’s method of governance. Any man who has asserted control over a nation’s monetary policy and private industry as he has, *should* be considered a fascist. My words aren’t hate speech; they are merely the product of a math problem. In fact, if I had to pick a fascist to enjoy a beer at a ballgame with, Barack Obama would be the guy. He certainly seems like a nice enough fellow.
However, to parse what I’m saying properly, one needs a few things:
One – A decent grasp on the language.
Two – A fundamental understanding of the American political and monetary system.
Three – (Most important) A core belief system, regardless of bent, and the ability to understand that a person must have solid belief structure in order to flourish and function properly in society.
Unfortunately, my friend has minimal understanding of number two, and absolutely no grasp on number three.
He will be reading Newt Gingrich books one week, and telling me how America would be better off with someone like Newt in the Oval Office, to calling me a psycho for offering an opinion on how to build a conservative majority which someone like Newt could use. In fact, sometimes when I do this, I parrot Newt’s ideas, so I’m not so sure what’s going on here. When I told my friend I was going to CPAC ’09, he told me I should “be careful” in going to things like that. Undoubtedly because in his mind, people who attend events like CPAC have convictions and that bothers him. In fact, I can hear him now, trotting out some cliché about “strong convictions making strong convicts.” Yet, he also likes to say “Know where you’re going, know who’s coming with you, and never get that order mixed up.”
This is what he does. Don’t worry, it confuses me too.
So, back at the Ranch, I said, “You know, in all honesty, you don’t have the understanding required to grasp what I’m talking about.”
This is true, and keep in mind he *asked* me for my opinion. After I informed him of this (politely, mind you,) he insulted me again, to which I said, [paraphrasing] “You just say whatever suits you because you want everybody to like you. You always have.”
Maybe I shouldn’t have said that, but it is true, and occasionally, you have to whip the truth out there.
My friend said, “Catch ya later.” and I haven’t heard from him since. I was angry for about 30 seconds, and then I let it go. Running away is par for the course for him, but I think the stream of insults caught me off guard. His ego is his problem, and he shouldn’t blame me if he doesn’t have the chops to engage me. I’ve got better things to do than be berated by someone with an informational deficit.
Now, I’m sure you are probably asking yourselves, “Why did you tell us this story? Did you feel the need to call out a friend in public?”
No, it’s not that at all. I just want to use this experience to illustrate a point:
It’s okay to believe in something. Look, I make no bones about being a hard core conservative. I am. I love it. I embrace it fully, wrapping myself in it like a warm blanket. I find it to be an ongoing intellectual pursuit, and my feet are firmly planted on the ground. I believe in it fully, because I’ve seen the good that it does.
That in mind, here comes the lynchpin of the lesson today:
Why I don’t agree with liberals at all, and I do think their policies are destructive, I do admire one thing about them:
They’re just as balls to the well as I am. People need to realize what a good thing that is. Ideas start at the ends and (sometimes) meet in the middle. At the ends of the spectrum you have your leaders, such as Ronald Reagan and FDR respectively. In the middle you have your sheep. Those who are led. No matter which side you are on, the fact is that the middle does not inspire. It does not motivate. Dare I say, it has no…gravitas.
Stand for something. Put yourself out there. We’re all for a clean environment and against child pornography. That doesn’t count. Hold your head high and be willing to take some dents. Be an individual. If you try to get everyone to like you, very soon, no one will find that very few, if any, can stand the sight of you.
Popularity: 69% [?]
