How I Became Me - Politically

The other day at work, I was sitting eating lunch (some chicken wings and fries if you must know), attempting to play all the NY Times Games I could before having to go back to actual work. Minding my own business. When besides me, a very loud woman started conversing with some others. Now, I normally make all attempts to block out conversations of others because they are not relevant to me. I heard her talking about Minneapolis and ICE and why they are up in Minneapolis (it's the fraud and the Somalians) and how Renee Good and Alex Pretti would not have died if they had only minded their own business. Then, this lady made a "joke."

She stated a question: "How do you think ICE is doing in Minneapolis?" She then followed by answering her own questions: "I think they are doing a Pretti Good job." I cringed, of course, because that is a horrible joke about two people who were slain at the hands of federal officials. However, it got worse. She then attempted to explain the joke to the two people she was conversing to... "Do you get it... Pretti and Good, the last names of the two protesters who died." Obviously, it's a very bad joke when you have to explain it. Then she started talking about how she had to be careful about talking about ICE because people are sensitive about this. How they have to talk about Slushy Water or other things to keep their ideas on the down low. At which point, I turned to her and stated - simply - "You are an idiot."

She kept attempting to converse with the two people she had been talking to - two people who had not said a single word during her entire soliloquy - and again repeated how she has to be careful about what she said at work because people might be "triggered." I again told her that she was an idiot. She then attempted to say how she had once been like me but then she found the truth. She had (and she did not use these words) done her own research and changed. She had her eyes opened. I then said that it was unfortunate for her that her eyes had been opened as she walked away. 

So, for the past 24 hours, I have been attempting to come up with a way to tell this story of a lost individual who had turned - seemingly - into a person with horrible ideas and no compassion. And, as I have listened to other people on the internet discuss their feelings of how dark things have become in the US, I realized that perhaps I should focus on how I became my political self. And, how I could be the next person peacefully protesting to be injured, shot, executed for not complying. 

So, I go back to my youth. Back to the 70s. Back when my father, a certified Public Accountant, was also an elected official in my hometown. He was the Treasurer of the town - and a registered Republican. Certainly, at that time, being a Republican was not seen as how it has become now... where a gubernatorial candidate in Minnesota has ejected himself from the republican primary and seeming repudiated his party due to the actions in his state. It was still a period after Watergate and Nixon's resignation from the Presidency - a time where multiple Republican senators went to Nixon and told him to resign or that they would impeach him.

In the summer of 1990, I was invited to be a part of a week-long summer program in Washington D.C. - essentially a political junket for young people. During that event, I had a meeting with the then junior Senator from Connecticut - Democrat Joseph Lieberman. Senator Lieberman served four terms as Connecticut Senator, was the Vice-Presidential candidate on the Democratic ticket (with Al Gore leading the ticket) in 2000. His Conservative view would lead him to lose the 2006 Democratic primary for Senator (to current Ct Governor Ned Lamont) but would end up winning his fourth term as Senator running as an independent. He would endorse Republican John McCain in the 2008 Presidential election - where he was mooted as a potential Vice-Presidential candidate for McCain.

Later in the year, having turned 18 and registered to vote... I voted in my first Ct. Gubernatorial election. Where I voted for former Republican (running as an independent) Lowell Weiker. To tie all these ends together, Weiker was a Rockefeller Republican - or, perhaps more simply stated, a liberal Republican. He was a member of the Senate's Watergate committee and was the first Republican to call for Nixon's resignation. He was also the Senator that was defeated by Lieberman in 1988. But, he then won the election as Governor in 1990 - serving one term - while putting the Connecticut budget in surplus - in large part due to his insistence on implementing an income tax for Connecticut residents.

The truth is, while I am currently registered as a Democrat (in large part due to my wife's insistence of voting in primaries (She really wanted me to vote for Bernie Sanders in 2016)) - I don't consider myself a part of an organized political party. As with Lowell Weiker (who was probably considered too liberal for the Republican party by the time he left the Senate in 1988 - let alone now) and Joseph Lieberman (who was certainly considered too conservative for the Democrats by 2006)... there is an actual middle ground. I have stances that are to the right of many of my friends and family. I also have stances that are to the left of them as well. I come to my politics by being literate. By reading books - fiction and non-fiction. By watching videos - by comics, by politicians, by regular human beings. And, by coming to conclusions based upon what I see - not by what someone has told me. I try not to limit my sources of knowledge to one carefully curated channel or channels. I do want to hear opinions and commentary that may change my understanding and opinions on a given topic.

However, I do have eyes. I do have cognitive skills. I do understand that certain sources are tainted by their own biases. Which does not mean I will not entertain these sources - there is value in listening and understanding what every person is saying and doing. However, I am going to look at these sources with an even higher degree of skepticism than other sources which I have found to be generally credible. Which is not to say that those sources should be immune from skepticism. Because, there is not a single source that is free of bias. 

So, do I give the lady at the beginning of the story any credit. No, at least, not for her stated opinions which certainly are coming from right-wing media/media influencers. However, I'll give her a little credit. It made me think about where my politics have come from. And, self-reflection is always a good thing to do.