I am a bit of an opinionated jerk. (Surprising, I know.)
Because this jerk has driven his friends and family with said opinions, I’m going to start writing about my politics on this blog. (It also doesn’t help I have been listening to Hamilton non-stop, which made me want to take my shot at politics.)
This blog has been nothing but poetry for quite a while, and I imagine most of my current followers want more of that. I still plan to write and post poetry here, as it is a passion of mine and I want it to continue. Plus, it is quicker to write and post than a political rant.
But fear not, poetic perusers, I will make it easy for you to look past any sort of political rantings, as I assume (at least for those of you in America) you get more than enough of it in your daily lives. My political rants will be prefaced with Politalking, because I feel clever for coming up with the name, and the only other site using it is a blog that has been dead for 5 years now. So, when you see that in your reader, feel free to move along if that’s not what you are into. I won’t be offended.
Now, to establish a little bit about my political views, and how I approach things like this.
I am a Centrist, according to Isidewith.com. I take a complicated, nuanced approach to politics, and I reserve the right to change my opinions and ideas whenever I get presented with new ideas and evidence. I feel one of the biggest problems in politics, whether it is the US or the EU, is that people aren’t allowed to change their mind or show growth. To admit you might have been wrong can be political suicide. Something someone said 15 years ago will be brought back up and thrown at them to make them look like a hypocrite or a liar. If your opinion hasn’t grown in 15 years, you either haven’t tried to challenge yourself and have stale and outdated beliefs. Or you think you have challenged yourself, but refuse to change for the reasons that have little to do with the political arguments themselves, and have everything to do with what people will think of you or other emotional things. I try to foster growth through challenging my worldview. So you may see something you don’t like here, and you are welcome to challenge anything you read. Just try to keep it civil.
I also want to state that I absolutely hate identity politics. People are more than the sum of their labels. I see no problem with someone being a Christian conservative who also happens to be gay and polyamorous, or someone else being a pot smoking atheist who is pro-life, pro-gun, pro-“traditional” marriage advocate who votes libertarian.
It not that things like that don’t matter; they definitely do. A woman has a much different view than a man does, and most likely has some valid complaints. A black man has experienced racism, and you shouldn’t ignore his experiences. But when someone’s whole argument comes down to, “I’m gay so I’m right, now shut up”, there is no point in engaging, as they are using that to stifle discussion and debate. It is also far too easy to do the opposite, and write off somebody as a just their label, ignoring what they have to say.
“Oh, he’s conservative, so he just wants guns so he can shoot black kids and gay people.” “He supports Bernie Sanders, so he must be a lazy entitled brat that hates the American flag and hard work.” “He’s a libertarian, so he just some crazy nut-job who wants to watch the world burn.”
Is any of that helpful? Or does it just boost your own ego so you can give your self a mental pat on the back because you aren’t one of those nasty, “others” that all your friends think are stupid. No, you are one of the cool kids that get everyone to like their Facebook statuses, and who gets huge compliments on their bumper stickers. Agnostia forbid you try to think for once.
Now, if you put a gun to my head and forced me to pick, my views at the moment are closest to a left leaning libertarian. Which may explain why I feel like I am not really represented in today’s political atmosphere. None of the mainstream candidates lean libertarian, although they don’t lean too authoritarian either. They mostly stay on that liberal-conservative line. The Libertarian party is… a little eccentric. Although he’s not going to win, any part that has the likes of John McAfee or Penn Jillette might be a little to chaotic for my taste. (I don’t dislike either of them, but I’m not sure I’d want them making political decisions for the majority of Americans.) Plus, the American libertarian part tends more to the right than the left, which makes me less interested in throwing in with them.
So, until the let’s-not-be-dicks party emerges, I am going to stay an independent centrist and judge people on their policies and character, and not what color light saber they think they deserve. Pretty much all of them are just Sith in denial anyways.
Regarding the types of posts I will write, I am not going to try and keep abreast of current political events unless I feel I have some sort of unique perspective to add to the discussion. Mostly I am going to stick to higher level issues, like gun control, abortion, capitalism vs communism, etc; while also writing more informative, generalized posts. I may also decide on other things not listed above, but if any of it is political, then I wont be talking about it. I will be Politalking about it. (I am almost ashamed at how proud I feel about that name, but I can help it. How is that not some sort of blog or podcast yet?)
I will try to keep the offense down to a minimum, and show the proper respect to the issues and to others. However I will not coddle, nor will I censor myself just to spare someone else’s feelings or ego. But I can promise that my intent is to discuss issues, and not antagonize. If I do, it is probably because I am an opinionated jerk. 🙂
Thank you for reading,
Shaman
P.S: Seriously, if you have any appreciation for music or musicals, go listen to Hamilton. It’s absolutely amazing, and free to listen to as well.
Shame on The Universe 
What do you think?