Out of Step

Even though there's some frustration involved, I actually rather enjoy debating liberals.  During some of those debates recently, I was informed that my attitudes and philosophies are just wrong and out of step.  Apparently having conservative values makes me wierd, not to mention a bigot, racist, and homophobe.  I've been informed that my attitudes and opinions are not only wrong, but a character flaw.

For just a moment I became a bit depressed and confused.  Am I a bad person? 

No, I'm very sure I'm not a bad person.  Faith and family are very important to me.  As are American values of freedom and justice.  Those fundamental values are the very root of evil to these liberals, ergo I'm evil.  Or as one liberal suggested, maybe not completely evil, just brainwashed by the right-wing nuts.

Some specific policy disagreements discussed:

The HHS Contraception mandate:
The liberal misses the point by trying to say that free contraception is just good public policy, because human overpopulation is killing the planet. And besides, contraception helps reduce unwanted pregnancies, therefore reduces the "need" for abortions - being anti-abortion, I should favor that, right?  Also, the liberal swears that no abortifacient drugs are covered by the mandate, which turns out to be based on a statement made by Kathleen Sebelius, who tried to split hairs on the definition of abortifacient.  Basically, the argument was repeated that since most Roman Catholic women use contraception, the bishops' opposition to the mandate is irrelevant.

Wierd fuddy-duddy that I am, I think the liberal argument misses the point entirely.  Roman Catholics believe contraception is immoral and sex is reserved for marital relationships.  The effect of the mandate is a clear violation of the First Amendment, where the government is indeed making a law that interferes with the Roman Catholic practice of religion.  Forcibly taking money from someone to fund something they find morally reprehensible is wrong.  The liberal says I'm a woman-hater for believing such.

Gay Marriage
The liberal expounds the favored rhetoric about gay people just wanting the freedom to love whomever they choose.  I counter that it has nothing to do with love, that the movement is all about creating new rights to benefits.  Gays want to have their "marriages" placed on par with traditional marriage so that government can force organizations to cover their same-sex partners as "spouses" in their benefit programs, the government will provide surviving spouse pensions to same-sex partners, and the government will mandate that same-sex couples be afforded exactly the same consideration as traditional families for adoption placement.  The liberal believes it's a civil right, no different than the movement to grant blacks voting and integration rights.

This dinosaur still knows that homosexual behavior remains a disfunctional and sinful practice.  Our generation isn't somehow smarter than all of the generations that preceded us, as the liberal suggests.  In many ways I think our generation is less intelligent and certainly less moral than many prior generations.  I have no desire to persecute homosexuals, but absolutely do not support a government mandate that forces me to contribute to their new-found rights and priviledges through my taxes and insurance premiums.  So I'm a bigoted homophobe for expressing such intolerant attitudes. Perhaps I deserve imprisonment for such outrageous bigotry.

Energy
The liberal hates fossil fuels and is completely sold on the idea that we can replace coal, oil, and gas with "clean" and "renewable" energy.  The liberal is 100% behind Obama's moratorium on gulf oil production, refusal to approve the XL Pipeline, and his EPA over-regulation designed to significantly scale back or eliminate production of coal, oil, and natural gas.  Admittedly, natural gas is the cleanest fuel, but must be eliminated as well because of "fracking".

I find it puzzling that the same liberal who was so angry and hostile about what they were certain was greedy collusion between Bush and his oil company buddies causing $4 gasoline now extoll fhe virtues of $4 gas under Obama because it will help drive conservation and pave the way for alternative fuels.  Even more puzzling is how little the liberal seems to know about those "alternative" energy sources, how much they cost, and how badly Obama's attempts to promote them have failed.  And of course, the liberal has no idea about the corruption involved in Obama's generous government guarantees and giveaways to his favorite supporters in building failing "clean energy" ventures.  That makes me a pro-polluter who is happy to destroy the planet and give people cancer.

For so many other issues of the day, I'm told my views range from evil to old-fashioned.  I hate unions because I oppose cap and trade and don't have too much of a problem with right-to-work. By considering the budget deficits a disaster and supporting lower government spending I want children to starve and be denied an education.  Being skeptical that soaking the rich with higher taxes will make even the smallest dent in the deficit I'm a racist who favors white fat cats over poor struggling inner-city folks.  By favoring a strong military and worrying that Obama's pacifism is encouraging aggression from our enemies, I'm a war monger who wants to send our military around the world to kill innocent people indiscriminately so we can steal their oil.

I remain saddened that people I would otherwise consider friends think I'm evil for merely being what I thought was mainstream; Somehow I woke up one day and discovered that Fauth, Family, and Patriotism are now considered intolerant and racist.