Captain Moroni (or equivalent) would be sweet. Mitt Romney is no Moroni, yet I have come to feel that he will be a strong candidate. We’ll see how things play out.

Fritz

I do take issue with the idea that I should be associated with Kerry, Clinton, etc. They are simply using the lack of success in the war to gain votes. Had the war gone smoothly, they would be trumping about how they supported it in the first place.

I am a conservative on just about every issue, but I can’t continue to support this administration after the countless blunders that they have made. Like, Rusty, actually exactly like Rusty, I voted for Bush in 2000 and couldn’t bring myself to vote for anyone in 2004. I don’t really see myself voting for a Democrat in the near future, but I’m not all that pleased with how the Republican party has acted during the past several years they’ve been in control. It’s an absolute mess.

OK, one more point. I encourage diversity of thought and appreciate alternative points of view, especially in the church. I think that if the church, just like blacks were to diversify themselves politically, it would introduce more intellectual rigor into our thought, making us personally better off. We would also get more for our votes. As it is, the mormon and black votes are ‘in the bag’, therefore politicians need do nothing to get them.

But the thing I find harmful to this country, is all the post mortem whining about Iraq. Yeah the administration could do a better job over there. We didn’t find WMD, Al Qaeda was not heavily associated with Hussein, blah, blah, blah. The fact is we are there and Al Qaeda is there now. What is the right course of action NOW? Its OK to say that we should stay until Iraq is stable even though you didn’t think we should ever have gone in to start with.

There are a couple things I need to clarify though. First of all, when you say “enlightened” I hope you mean that in the sense that everyone thinks they’re enlightened no matter where they stand, not in the sense that for some reason the liberals consider themselves enlightened and the conservatives don’t. Because I don’t consider myself either one or the other I just consider my views (and always have regardless of where I’ve stood) as enlightened. Doesn’t everyone?

Secondly, I have no beef with the Republican party. I have a beef with many of those within it (as well as many within the Democratic party). I don’t follow politics enough to know the “Republican stance” on such and such issue. In fact, I’ve often been confused when I find out that such and such is the Democrat way of thinking rather than the Republican. I try to look at the issue, hear the perspectives and decide what I think at that point. In fact, in my perfect political world there wouldn’t be parties at all, just opinions on issues. I’m sure that’s some naive thing that political analysts have long since thrown over their shoulder as an inferior or flawed way of seeing things but I don’t really care. It’s the way I currently see things right now. Hopefully my perspective will evolve.

Thirdly, you don’t have to be a liberal to disagree with Bush. Unless only 30% of America (or whatever his approval ratings are at right now) is conservative it looks like it’s possible to have a general conservative viewpoint and still think he’s a moron and has made some dumb decisions. The problem is when his supporters write off everyone that disagrees with him as liberals. I think it is possible to both hate Bush but be a Republican.

So to answer your inquiry, yes, I grew up conservative and my change has been gradual though (again) I wouldn’t consider myself a liberal either. I voted for Bush in 2000. I didn’t vote for president in 2004. I trusted him in 2000, he made decisions I disagreed with, he lost that trust, therefore I didn’t continue to support him. It’s quite simple actually.

How it happened, I don’t know. I think life experience had a big part in it, being outside the bubble. Seeing the diversity of opinion and experience. Also a big part of it was the discussions we’d have in my design classes at BYU when we’d discuss politics, art, culture, sustainability, architecture, Design (with a capital ‘D’), etc. These things have all helped me ask better questions, helped me admit that I really don’t know too much, and helped me see that there is good and bad in almost everything.

Oh, and I watch the Daily Show and Colbert Report which are both very good at pointing out the absurdity in politics.

But Fritz, if you want to know where I am politically you’re going to have to be specific, we’re going to have to talk topics. And in the past five or so years I’ve been on the opposite side of the table as Bush on almost every topic. That’s why I think he’s a jackass.

Regarding my religious movement, that’s a topic for another day. But the answer has a heavy dose of the Spirit.

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110008568