So I got asked to write another posting on politics.  (Gods, not another one)  This time, the question came from a different bend – so I saw some merit in it.

I’ve seen you comment on politics from time to time.  But mostly you talk about other people’s positions.  What are your politics?

Its an interesting thought to bring up.  The Presidential election cycle has just completed here in the United States.  And for the third straight election cycle, I wasn’t completely enamored with the candidates.  So its actually a fair question as to what are my politics – and to draw a little deeper on how I came to my decision to vote for Gary Johnson.

I understand politics fairly well.  During my two years of unemployment, I spent a lot of time listening to Talk Radio and watching various quasi-news political television channels (no one reports the news anymore – they just give it their political spin, but that’s a whole other post).  After that two-year period, I came to realize that I was neither a Democrat or a Republican.  I embraced sides and issues with each one – but not enough for me to further dip me toe into marking a (D) or (R) next to my name.  That lead to an exploration of the so-called “third-party” positions.  Once again, I found myself understanding and embracing an issue here and there from each political party I encountered.  But in the end, I couldn’t affix any of these parties as full indicators of “me”.  In the end, I stepped back to positioning myself as an Independent – until I discovered that there was a political party that set itself up as such.  When I delved into this party’s views – I came to the same conclusion as I had previously.  I completely grokked what they were getting at on some issues, but not enough to slam my flag into the crowd and stake my claim here.  In the end I choose the designation of “unaffiliated” when I renwed my voter registration.

So, that explains the labeling side of politics.  Where does my positioning stand?  Mostly on the side of the environment.  Every year, I see the city of Dallas creep closer and closer to me along I-35.  I’d honestly prefer to keep the environment as clean as possible…but I also know that some legislation that gets proposed is a little too restrictive.  I also prefer legislative processes that include everyone and is not restrictive based on an individual’s race, religion, creed, sexual preference, etc etc.  I’m also in favor of a smaller, less restrictive, less intrusive government.  I’m also for gun rights – though I actually abhor the things and would never own one myself.  I like the idea of a common HealthCare system, though I’m somewhat skeptical of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

I’ve heard many labels and descriptives thrown my way over this kind of stuff.  I’m a whacko Conservative.  I’m a nutjob Liberal.  I’m a Communist.  I’m a Socialist.  I used to let wording like that upset me – until I began to realize that the people throwing these types of adjectives (and there are far more that I’ve not used here) really don’t understand the words they lob.  Essentially these phrases are merely a way to further an Us v. Them agenda.  And both sides of the political spectrum are guilty of that.  In the end, they can hurl as many of these words as they like.  None of them are associated with who and what I am.

When you boil it down…I’m just “me”.  I don’t need a political party to think for me and to tell me how I should vote.  What I need is for someone to hand the information to me, and let me make up my own mind.  I don’t need the information slanted one way or the other.  I just need the information without the political varnish and polish.

In the end, I think if you wanted to affix a political label to me, you could.  And many will.  I won’t though.  I feel no need to affix a political label to myself – or even to others.  I voted for the Libertarian party candidate Gary Johnson, because he most closely associated with *most* of my views.  Not all of them.  Just enough to make voting for him the most logical choice.  If the same batch of candidates are placed out again for the next election cycle – I’ll likely vote for Mr. Johnson again.  Not because I’m a Libertarian, but because Mr. Johnson lines up most favorably with me on the issues.

So, what are my politics?  That’s hard to define for me – without going through each and every topic.  If you’re looking for a political label for me…I’m fairly sure I can’t help you with that either.  I’m just me.