Why I Am A Conservative and My Thoughts on Primary Issues of 2020

 It has been over four years since I put anything here. What would bring me back except politics in an especially politically volatile time.

I am about to write some conservative stuff here. It's not necessarily pro-Trump, but it's definitely not against the man. I have lived as one who payed $1800 extra taxes due to ACA so he won my vote just by getting rid of that most unconstitutional mandate. I have lived among minorities for the last five years and I have seen the lies affect my relationship with my neighbors more and more--lies not from Trump but from Obama who was the man specifically positioned to end the race debate once and for all (instead he fanned the flames). I see how ISIS attacks went from happening every other month to basically non-existant since the global apology tour was replaced with an America-first administration. I saw how Trump pulled out of the Paris Climate Accords while Obama told the American military that climate change would be their greatest adversary. I have also lived long enough to remember when climate change was called global warming and it was caused by aerosol cans instead of fossil fuels and cow farts. More than anything, I have seen the kind of people that are attracted to the democratic left versus those who still believe in the second article of faith. I'm not saying all who vote Democrat are terrible people, it's just an attractive party for people who are down on their luck and decide to blame society for their problems while also depending on society to fix their problems. 

In most political discussions I have had with those on the other side of the aisle, I am often told why I think the things I think. "You only think those things because you listen to right-wing media." It's not that different from an anti-LDS bible basher telling me what I believe before I can let them know. The previous paragraph shed light on the first-hand experiences (even if some were observing patterns of media) I have had that solidified my stance as a conservative, but if I was to sum it all up in one sentence I would use the words of the late Herman Cain: Less government, less taxes, more individual responsibility. No matter what you think about corruption on either side, we can all come to the consensus that the left/democrats/progressives are for bigGER government, and things like the Green New Deal, ACA, and gun bans are strictly leftist policy (though Romney might have done his own version of ACA had he gotten elected... but that's more about Romney being questionably conservative rather than conservatives fixing problems with massive government reform). 

So I want to talk about now the two biggest things that seemed to ruin 2020 for everybody: COVID 19 and racist police government overreach and media fearmongering.

I lost my job directly due to COVID 19. Working downstream from the oil and gas industry when everyone suddenly stops driving their cars and Eastern countries don't raise oil prices to compensate for that steep drop in demand means companies like Chevron have to start cutting hundreds of millions of dollars in expenses (literally hundreds of millions, that's not an exaggeration). As someone working among engineers without an engineering degree, I saw the culture shift in my company from "we're happy to have you if you can bring us revenue" to "we can only afford the best of the best" and knew my time with my company was limited. Now, even though my future is uncertain, even more so in an eviscerated economy, I am one of the more hopeful ones! I can't imagine what it's like for the millions who are supporting families that lost their livelihoods because of mandatory economic shutdown. So I ask the question that nobody on the left will as they swing their emotionally manipulative hammers about having empty seats at your dinner table... how do we balance the cost of economic depression and the cost of human life? It sounds draconian just to ask that question, right? But that's just how much we've been socially engineered to kill these sort of conversations before they even happen. My stance was to leave it up to the individual to assess the risk in their own lives and to their own families and let them make the decision of whether or not they would physically go to work or keep their business open. But individuals suck and would make selfish and uneducated decisions putting others at risk... so, do you trust the government to NOT suck and make educated decisions for everyone? They are fallible people just like us with limited knowledge--and the knowledge on COVID is still pretty limited judging by how one side says it's a moderately more dangerous flu and the other side says it's the end of the world. What's our stance on masks at the moment? Considering this, what's a possible incentive for media and government to overblow this virus into pandemic status and kill the economy? It has nothing to do with it being an election year, right?

The other issue is of course systemic racism and the BLM reaction. I was sure from the outset that all the cases from Michael Brown to George Floyd (and beyond) were all tragedies morphed by the media to cause chaos, confusion, and division among the public. But then a lot of my friends who are also members of my faith came out in support of the movement, so I felt I needed more truth to decide whether or not this movement was really as toxic as I suspected it being. I reached out to five people and had four good conversations with the fifth telling me to "screw off". I asked for specific evidence that they had witnessed in their lives to justify the support of a movement that was resulting in riots and mob rule. Through their collective responses I came closer to the center on this issue, especially realizing that the racist pockets in the deep south are a bit bigger than I thought--but it still wasn't enough evidence to justify the nation's reaction to all this. I remain convinced that the media benefits from our fear and divisiveness, that most left-wing outlets like CNN and MSNBC turn profits and gain influence by showing us an America just as dramatic as the fiction on TV that it competes with for our views. 

Systemic racism is the perfect leftist problem. It is impossible to pinpoint, therefore impossible to disprove, and there's nothing you can do about it... except hate conservative America and vote Democrats into office for all eternity. On the other hand I can point to evidence that America has long since overcome its worst race problems--evidence like the existence and thriving of three major entertainment industries that are participated in, if not dominated by, minorities (those being professional sports, the music industry, and Hollywood). Evidence that on almost every job application I fill out I can put my race down if I want to... why? Why is that relevant again? Evidence in the fact that we had one of the most inexperienced and undeserving politicians become president--twice--and he was a black man (ironically rivaled in inexperience only by our current president). Evidence that no law or social contract actually exists that is racist against people of color. Evidence that we have such an emotional reaction to the word "racism" that it can derail someone's career as quickly as being a rapist. You only have to change one letter in the word... (And for anyone who would argue that Trump is a racist and it didn't derail his career, I know what evidence you would cite and I would destroy that argument with a mere shred of context). But then all this still doesn't disprove it because there's still an ethereal miasma of racism hanging over America holding black people back born from internal biases and leftover consequences of racist policies four generations old... and I am racist just for pointing out these evidences and asking questions about it. Right? 

I didn't vote for Trump in 2016. It's not because he said gross things during his campaign or said gross things in his past but because I didn't think he represented the conservative ideals I am invested in (again, less taxes, less government, more individual responsibility). Since he got rid of the ACA mandate, my vote was his to lose, and after four years of legislating more conservatively than I anticipated him doing despite being a petulant child on social media, he hasn't lost it. Nevertheless, I am still seeking truth amidst all of this so I invite discussion from anyone who made it this far.