Commentary

MILT THOMAS

In a society of sound bites, 30 second commercials and 140-character Tweets, it seems we are compelled to make similarly truncated judgments about people, events, laws and political parties. In some circles, the term “liberal” is synonymous with “socialist” or even “communist.” The term “conservative” to some is synonymous with “Nazi” or “ignorant.” During the last two presidential campaigns, Obama was referred to both as a communist and a Nazi, which is an oxymoron used, probably, by morons.

In terms of party affiliation, Democrats are all painted as liberals, but the fact is, there are liberal and conservative Democrats as well as Rockefeller and Tea Party Republicans. I doubt any Democrats are really communists as I doubt any Republicans are Nazis. However, all these liberal and conservative variations as well as many more in between, can be described by one term – “Americans.”

Locally, in the last County Commissioner primary election contest, Tim Zorc ran against Tony Donadio. Tony changed his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican and Republican primary voters were told he wasn’t a “real” Republican, so don’t vote for him. In this year’s City Council “non-partisan” primary, Amelia Graves is a registered Democrat, so she was not permitted to speak at recent Republican candidate forums. However, she was actually a long-time registered Republican who only switched to the Democratic party within the past year. Does that mean Democrats shouldn’t vote for her because she is not a “real” Democrat? And maybe Republicans SHOULD vote for her since she was really a Republican? I remember a time right here in Indian River County, when no Republican would ever be elected to public office because that was the equivalent of “carpetbagger.” Well guess what — the carpetbaggers have taken over.

Two subjects people are advised never to argue about are religion and politics. No one can win an argument about religion because there is no right or wrong, only differing beliefs. Beliefs are really opinions so strong some are willing to kill or die for them. I hope the same isn’t true in American politics. We can chide each other about our political opinions and still go back to being friends afterwards. Usually.

Personally, I am kind of a mixed breed. I’m a registered Republican, conservative fiscally and liberal socially. I believe government is accountable for how it spends our tax dollars, but I don’t accept the slash and burn philosophy. I don’t believe in big or small government, but more the Goldilocks philosophy, of “just right” size government. I agree with the philosophy of liberal Christians and even the new Pope Francis, that we should stop worrying about what happens in the privacy of people’s bedrooms and focus more about how we treat the less fortunate in our society.

So, if you try to wedge me into a sound bite categorization of my political leanings you will be unsuccessful. I feel sorry for those who only see life in black and white terms. They miss so much of life’s beautiful colors.