Most people have taboo topics. Religion and politics are usually top-tier of those, because everyone has a viewpoint, an opinion, or a flat out assumption of what could have, would have, or should have. For several years I’ve tried to deliver my take on that from my own perspective. I’m not rich, poor, well-educated, or not-educated. I come from an average family, an average neighborhood, and an average lifestyle. I’ve seen good and bad, best and worst. Have I experienced the lowest of the low? Certainly not. The highest of the high? Certainly not. I’ve been to 3/4th of the lower forty-eight states in the United States. Never been overseas. Don’t know any foreign languages well enough to communicate.

I’ve met people from almost all walks of life, at least in this country, from a variety of ideologies and opinions, politically, socially, and religiously. I am baptized Catholic, but do not attend mass or any religious services. I’m not registered to either political party, and have voted both sides in the past three elections. My first eligible vote for President was 2004, however due to moving to a new town, I was unable to cast a vote either where I lived or where I was living. It would have been for Bush. I voted for Obama in 2008, and in local elections this past year, I voted for McMahon for senator and Foley for governor.

Politically I am socially liberal in many ways, supportive of social services. race and gender equality, pro-choice, and pro-gay marriage. However I am fiscally conservative with some libertarian ideologies. I believe in balanced budgets, controlled-to-lower spending, leaner government, and pro-capitalism. While I respect and support unions, I believe they should be regulated and controlled and wages and pensions be brought in reasonable line with a company’s books as to not drag them down. Social Security, Welfare, Medicare/Medicaid, all of these need to be reformed and regulated to eliminate wasteful spending and seal exploitation holes. Unemployment benefits should be regulated and efforts be made to get people back to work in private sector jobs, either through job placement, training, or otherwise. Government jobs should be maintained at levels comparable to what is needed and nothing more. Healthcare should be available for everyone, but not distributed or directly administered from the government. Finally immigration should be regulated and controlled, and those seeking to live in the country be directed through the proper process to do so. Illegals should be deported without hesitation if they refuse to go through lawful means of entry and naturalization. Our borders should be secure and violators detained and sent back, force used only when to defend themselves or necessary. Folks living on the border who encounter trespassers who do not yield to civilized reason, should be shot. The list can go on here.

The point is, I grew up in middle class America, with lower-to-middle class Americans, even those who immigrated from elsewhere. I often stereotype, but am never flat-out racist, and respect another’s opinion so much as they respect mine. My parents and grandparents worked hard in a variety of different jobs and fields to provide for their families and make ends meet. So when liberals and conservatives on Capitol Hill make decisions that affect us all, big or small, rich or poor, I have every right to question it without prejudice, without bias, in a manner I see fit until I change my mind otherwise. I am not close-minded, or absent from debate or opinion from others, but the moment you invoke my supposed political background, my social background, who I do or do not know, or the experiences I do not share because you find me ignorant, you have indeed crossed the line into prejudice and bias.

TL;DR: I am sick and fucking tired of being called a backwater, Rush-loving, Bush-thumping, socially-ignorant Republican redneck because I don’t agree with your holier-than-thou “peace and love” hippie liberal bullshit after having spent the better part of the last decade trying to at least understand the other side of the coin. It’s degrading, it’s tiring, and frankly I am done with it.

With that, I announce the last entry of TL;DR Politics. Feel free to browse the archives for as long as I see fit to stare at this any longer. Will I never post another politics thing again? Unlikely, but time will tell.