The Worst Kind of Liberal Conservative?

“You lie.” Representative Joe Wilson missed his target by millions when he singled out President Barack Obama with his rude assertion. When did we become a nation of liars, or at best a nation of dishonest citizens? Liberals, primarily Democrats, lie in support of the president and the liberal agenda. Conservatives, primarily Republicans, lie in opposition to the president and the liberal agenda. Businessmen, most notably those connected with financial institutions, lie to everybody.

I’m a victim of my upbringing…you know, You Are What You Were When. Forty years in the world of big business has hardened me, but I grew up in a place and time when the biggest lie you told when you were a kid was about whether you had taken another cookie out of the cookie jar. Honesty prevailed. Whether it was a kid bet or an adult business transaction, handshake deals were honored. People who were dishonest or lied habitually did not fare well. I conducted my business career in lockstep with the way I was brought up, and was once told by a business person I respected that my kind of thinking was old fashioned. You can succeed in today’s world if you think that way…it’s just more difficult.

As hard as I try to swim upstream against an overwhelming tide of anti-Obama, anti-liberal dogma that is flowing out of countless sources every day, I am impacted by it. Much of what comes at me through the internet is pure garbage…and if it is obvious that it is manufactured or just malicious, I delete it. Some of what comes at me seems to be very real, and is frequently confirmed by what I have naively assumed are non-biased television news reports. That bubble is popped when someone lectures me on what news channels favor liberals and which ones favor conservatives.

Snopes.com is supposed to be the definitive arbiter of what is true and what is untrue…I used it today to check out a story emailed to me by a conservative friend. It was allegedly penned by noted historian, Dr. David Kaiser, and was entitled “History Unfolding.” It’s an intriguing article, but according to Snopes, it was not written by Kaiser, but by someone identified as “TPS” who posted it on a blog. Okay, so what am I to believe when my conservative friends tell me that Snopes is controlled by liberals? In this case, I think I believe the information Snopes presented because it sounded reasonable, but then, so did the information about who wrote the article.

All of this starts at the top. When Joe Wilson called out President Obama, he did it in a way that was beyond political decorum…but he may have hit the nail on the head on the subject that triggered his outburst. As a result of Barack Obama’s denial that illegal immigrants would benefit from health care reform, and Joe Wilson’s outburst, Democrats decided they needed to “drill down” on the health care proposal. Senator Kent Conrad (D-N.D) and Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said “The group would add a proof-of-citizenship requirement for participation in the new health-care exchange— a move likely to inflame the new left.” Did the President lie intentionally…or did he simply misinterpret the information? Again, how do we know what to believe?

What has been driven home to me lately is that I am part of the unhealthy division of our country now. In spite of my efforts to try and understand both sides, I am more politically conservative than I am politically liberal. Most of my friends and associates are conservatives. I probably tend to believe too much of the anti-Obama, anti-liberal dogma that is floated past me when I am trying to be a good liberal conservative. I can only promise that my drive to get to the truth will intensify.

Leader of the Conservative Liberals?

Barack Obama was hailed as the messiah when he was elected. Now, many supporters loosely claim that he was elected with over 60% of the popular vote, when in fact he was elected with 53% percent of the popular vote. No matter which poll you dare to believe, he now has the support of no more than 50% of Americans. The latest Rasmussen Report shows that 32% of the nation’s voters Strongly Approve of the way he is performing his job, and 38% Strongly Disapprove of the way he is performing his job. Any way you massage it, you can’t deny we are a country divided right down the middle.

That is not anti-Obama information, it is truthful information. I am presenting it because I am disgusted with what we have become as a country. Politics aside, there are moral, social, and financial issues nipping at the divide as well, but they are more subjective. It is fortunate America is not geographically and politically divided cleanly along north/south or east/west lines, or we might be headed toward a modern version of civil war.

I had originally intended to continue this article with support for my contention that Barack Obama is not John F. Kennedy or Ronald Regan, and discuss some of my feelings about things like ACORN, but then realized that I would be contributing to the very thing I am railing against.

No matter what you believe, our nation needs Barack Obama to succeed because he will be the president for the next three and a half years. If you don’t like him, work hard for a potential successor, and do it with honesty. If you do like him, support him with honesty. This country was built on honesty and hard work. That’s not just corny rhetoric…it’s something real that everyone can participate in. I for one don’t want to be the worst kind of liberal conservative.

[Photo credit to Eva Heinsbroek, Netherlands for "cute monkeys."]