Random Political Thoughts: History

In the last year or so I have come to be known among my local friends and acquaintances as interested in and active in politics. Of course this stems largely from my organizing the Tax Day Tea Party in my town, an endeavor that almost seems surreal to me as I look back on it.

And now recently I've been in a couple of internet conversations where the Catholicity of my political views has been more or less called into question. But I think this primarily has stemmed from the fact that I've not really stated my views, but rather I've been reflecting on my views while commenting on the ideas and actions of others.

So I've entitled this post "Random Political Thoughts" because I want to try to formulate where my mind is right now, and it seems that the only way I can really do this is to think out loud at you.

History: I come from a family that is more or less Democrat, and because my mother has been an election judge since I was very small, I imbibed a strong sense of the importance of voting from that time. My brother has also had political jobs and has run for state office. For that matter, one of my jobs fresh out of college was a four-year stint at a state Right to Life office. While before having that job I held the view that I voted for whomever was pro-life, there wasn't really much that I understood about the mechanics of politics and bills and elections and all that. I learned a lot during those years about legislation, politics, pro-life issues, media, and about the passions that fuel political endeavors.

When I met my husband I realized he was really into politics. He didn't like football, but he did get very excited once an election cycle came around. I learned to cringe and wait until it was over. I was still pretty much of the mind that I voted for whomever was pro-life, and if I had the choice, whomever between pro-lifers was strongest on conservative issues like banning pornography, being for prayer in schools, and whoever was "most Christian." I wasn't interested in economic issues nor did I have any understanding of them, and I simply trusted that those who were pro-life were also going to have all the right ideas about the rest of it, whatever that blather was that didn't matter as much anyway.

September 11, 2001 came around, and with the rest of the world I was shocked. I had liked what George Bush said during the debates about staying out of the business of the rest of the world, but then again I did feel very safe when I listened to his speeches in the days following 9/11. I figured he was trustworthy because he was pro-life, and he invoked God, and I felt better trusting him. When he said it was patriotic for us to go out and spend money, we went out and spent money.

When the invasion of Iraq was brewing, I felt really uneasy. I didn't like this idea, and I knew the Pope didn't like this idea either. I told my husband I was willing to trust Bush on this, and I hoped he wasn't making a mistake. I also had trusted that the Patriot Act was necessary to keep us safe, and that those who were complaining about our liberties being curtailed weren't being responsible. I bought the line that we needed to give up freedom to get security, that it was all about the common good.

The Bush/Kerry election was a cake-walk to me: pro-lifer vs. pro-abortion Catholic. No-brainer.

In 2007 a yard sign caught my eye, and I began reading things about Ron Paul. He had my attention with his stand in favor of increased role for natural, or non-allopathic health care and for a sharp curtailment in federal involvement in education (Bush's No Child Left Behind had been a complete boo-hiss in my book from the first time I heard his discuss it in the 2000 debates.) Paul's pro-life commitment was sterling and articulated differently from other candidates. I didn't quite know what to make of his thing about ending the "war on drugs", but as I read I saw what he was saying as at least tenable. And the more I read in general, the more I felt like I was hearing from a person I could actually support.

When I first told my husband that I'd found someone I could support, he said derisively "oh that nut job?" I think my husband's primary cause for dismissal of Ron Paul is that he was against the war in Iraq. And being against the war in Iraq was not something conservatives did.

Ok, so that's where I've come from.

And I can see that I will need to continue in another post on another day, so, please stay tuned.