LSU-  Leaning Straight up….has a catchy ring to it, doesn’t it?

Well once upon a time, I had a minor argument with a liberal guy who was trying desperately to insult me.  I could look up the topic, but what burned me was that I was trying to take a measured and reasonable stance.  I was being polite and trying to have a discussion.  I ended up losing my temper a bit, though not badly.  When I looked back at the thread though I wasn’t proud of how I had let him manipulate me into a response.  That was what launched my desire to no longer be conventionally associated with one party or the other.

It happened like this…..(from a blog I wrote)

The exchange with that liberal knee jerk specialist has been continuing, but I don’t think I want to post any more about it.

I took a moment to email the blog site host and express my apology for letting a group of comments get so out of hand.

Frankly looking at the other posts and comments, I was in a mild debate by comparison, so I don’t feel too bad.

But I also realized that I was finding a lot of value in the liberal blogs I have read, not that I plan to be a bleeding heart liberal any time soon.

What I noticed as I cruised the comments on that blog site, is that the sentiments expressed by my liberal adversary were commonly expressed by most of the liberal defenders. The usage of "Wingnut" to label and marginalization of the Christian and or conservative was common. Wacko was another common term.

What I also noticed, to my dismay, is how many conservatives were also using the same foolish tactics, attacking the site owner for his views and attacking his defenders. Some I admit were eloquent, but most were simply annoying.

I have to retract part of what I said previously. I felt that the Liberals were more likely to resort to this, but sadly I was wrong. Both sides are about the same in that regard, with the only tangible difference being the extent of the insult. I still say liberals are more likely, by a small margin, to be insulting and use profanity, but only by that small margin.

Sadly it’s happening out in the real world as well. For every knee jerk accusation from one side, comes a counter from the other. Newton’s law at work: For every liberal action is an equal and opposite conservative reaction and vice a versa. For every Al Franken or Randi Rhodes is a Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter.

I suddenly find myself in fairly uncharted territory.

I think I am turning into an independent moderate because the over use of rhetoric on both sides is starting to annoy me.

I find that while my preferences still lean me toward the right, I have to admit that some of the positions the right is taking are also becoming hard to support. So I find while I may support this or that candidate, or this or that issue, I will never be a hard line conservative.

And you know, I don’t mind. I think one of the biggest problems with our two party system is that both parties strategize how to be the opposite instead of how to be the best. It’s a game of extreme polarity. And the trouble is that many of the issues being affected by this are not black and white issues.

I don’t know whether this is really that big of a surprise. Its been slowly coming along.

All I know is while I examine what this means to me, and how this affects my world view, I will be renaming my Blog "Leaning Straight Up", as a testimony to the fact that I find myself leaning toward an independent moderate position rather then toward either of the polarized parties.

Dang, all that stationary to change……

Since then, I have continued the effort to be objective in dicussions, not reactive.  I am not perfect, and no one is so perfectly neutral that they align perfectly centrist, but I am much more moderate then I am conservative, in many areas. 

The point is that I am making an effort to not be influenced by the opinions pushing from the left or the right, but to stand up for my independence and determine my own belief.  I am not perfect, but I am unique.

I summarize it thus:  Since the wind of rhetoric blows from both directions, all that remains is to ignore the wind and stand tall, to lean up against those trying to bow me.  So, therefore I am:

Leaning Straight Up.

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