I am a moderate, and I am not ashamed of it.
I draw that conclusion after having taken my political temperature at politicalcompass.org, which offers this handy-dandy X-Y diagram of one’s leanings, provided you are willing and honest enough to answer a set of pointed ideological questions. The test placed your humble servant nearly dead-center, between conservative and liberal, between authoritarian and libertarian — or as one might describe it, right in the crosshairs for somebody to run right over me.
I believe extremism in any form, left or right, harms this nation, and I am not ashamed to admit it. I believe partisan politics is becoming a false religion, but the die-hard partisans refuse to admit it. Think I’m kidding? Have you seen the “Conservative Bible Project?”
We are now in an age not of truth, but of conservative truth or liberal truth, where the truth is not based on facts or provability but whether it fits the desired ideological narrative.
The number of independents in Arizona is growing, and that’s no accident. You can argue that it’s rebellion against “the establishment,” but I tend to believe it’s because people are tired of seeing deviation from strict conservative or liberal principles equated with religious heresy.
I wear a tricorn hat. Remember when that hat was a symbol of our heritage — something unquestionably beautiful, inclusive and inspiring? Before members of a certain political movement appropriated it for their own means? Just so we won’t forget who the “Real Americans” are… like themselves?
