Defending your political stance

It took some time. I had always walked a liberal line and even though I never felt the need to defend such a stance, it has become more prevalent now than ever before. The days of voting the family way are long gone, and in Bermuda where voting has always been done along the family line and more recently...  a racial line it is even more important to find a set of values among the hyperbolic rhetoric that one can be consumed by. FInding a reputable media source, a way of thinking that supports your personal values, your personal visions, and the way you see the world is as important now than ever before.

It is not so black and white. The choices are many and the repercussions are laden with problems, everything from ridicule to accepting responsibility for your actions. In the U.S. the right would believe in the right to life and the right to take it. Guns and babies. A strange combination to be sure. While that stance is accepted in many parts, it is seen now as an extreme, one that should scare most open minded citizens. It is difficult to understand how having a gun on one hand while asking people to keep an unwanted fetus makes any sense at all.

The left is equally beset with it's own issues. Mainly their lack of incisive decision making. There is hope in the path of Obama, but we should realize that his presidency will be ultimately defined by how well he rebuilds his own country. It's strange to live outside the U.S. but be so intrigued by their political process and their ideas on democracy. Truly there is no middle ground for the liberal at heart. Ideally it is unknown whether we should look at the American model as the ideal one. A country that still struggles to find answers to basic health care and with an education system so backwards it is hard to imagine how anyone can ever become president.

The other influence, Britain, which may have more of an influence on us, as we are set up with the British "Parliament" also is bereft with problems. Labour or Conservative - much like Bermuda.  Unfortunately, there is also a lack of a third choice here as well. The "either/or" idea is one whose time has truly passed. If we do not find representation here we are left to making the best of poor choices.

The search for a true middle ground goes on. One without religious connections, or family ones. One that is not based on race, creed or culture, one that is truly dedicated to human rights and will be held accountable to the people.

Good luck to us all.