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Politics
Ich bin ein...
What better way on a summer afternoon to occupy oneself than by starting an inflammatory political argument, I ask you? Friends, Romans, countrymen: Lend me your ears! Ich bin ein...
OK, so it wasn't funny and it was cliché. I liked it anyway. And that's the way I like my politics: straight up, dead honest and thorough and no frills. I'm not going to tell you that I'm concerned for the fate of, say, the purple-and-pink-feathered Coloradan dodo if I'm not. I'm also not going to pretend to be unconcerned by things that concern me. I hope it's helpful.
A little background for you, then. I am, on my better days of the week, a true beliver in European Social Democratic beliefs, in the need of a free market but in the need to protect the ordinary worker from the cruelty and machinations of the market; and on my worse days of the week, I am a happy soul, a civil libertarian who is fatigued and wishes everyone could fend for themselves. I have so very few, though, of those bad days that I call myself a Social Democrat. I am a registered member of the Democratic Party of Oregon, and unlike many adults registered to vote as soon as I turned 18 and voted in my first election four days later, the May 21 primary of 2002. I am also a pacifist and a humanist and believe profoundly and deeply that Man is inherently good—it is unfortunate that not all men are good.
Many teenagers are rebellious liberals, which is to say that they are True Believers because their parents are cynical Republican "conservatives" (which really means, screw compassion, give me my money) as opposed to traditional small-government advocates; odd, then, that my mother and I agree almost universally, with the exception of sales taxes and Israel. I'm clearly not rebelling very much. I think this is more indicative of my upbringing itself than of any desire to distance myself from my parents; we always knew that we had a social responsibility to society. I wonder who first said, "With great power comes great responsibility." In any case, we always knew that.
Portland certainly helped. I love this town dearly, but I will concede that it turns everyone into liberals. Even our libertarians are slowly becoming Social Democrats. Everyone does, in time, when you live in a state where you can see what "small government" does: Nothing. Never enough money for roads, or vital social programs, or public schools. After 12 years of living here, it's a miracle I've never become a Socialist. I suspect it's because I like my material comforts too well.
Even from the earliest age, though, I was intrigued by politics: the Roman Republic, Athens, the Gilded Age, the early days of the British Parliament. I took a Foundations of American Law and Politics course at the Johns Hopkins' Center for Talented Youth's summer program and discovered that, while I hated law, I loved politics and political theory. I started writing for my high school newspaper as a freshman and wrote a series of political columns over the year; they're available in the media articles section.
If you're interested in hearing my more specific views, take a look at the next page, In-Depth Scoop. If you want to read my political articles, take a look at the media articles section. If any of this offends you, go away; there are far more offensive things in the world than politics, and you need to learn to conserve your energy for them.
(mwm223), Webmaster, 2002