State of the Blog Address: Or Why I’m Not A Democrat and/or Negative.

“All great truth begins as blasphemies.” – George Bernard Shaw

For no other particular reason than I’ve been getting snarky comments for the past 2 months and I’m finally tired of listening to it, I thought I’d give you a response.

1) I’m not a Democrat. I think Hillary is more slippery than her husband trying to define “is”. I think the Rainbow Coalition should apologize to the Duke lacrosse players for offering to give the liar a scholarship and I think it’s a double standard for them to not try and help out the lacrosse players at this point. And I think abortion is wrong.

But because I have the audacity to call out Bush when he does something stupid, question big business and their being in bed with political leaders, think we should take care of the poor before we take of the rich, and believe we should actually believe Jesus when he said we should lay down our lives for our enemies, I get labeled a Democrat. I voted for W twice as the lesser of two evils (although in hindsight I would have voted for Gore in the first election and still voted for W in the second). And as of right now, I’ll probably vote for Barack as the lesser of two evils in the upcoming election. I think the Duke lacrosse players are to be held responsible to for having strippers to their parties. And I think Hillary has some extremely insightful things to say about health care and I admire the fact that she’s been saying the same things since she was the first lady. If you ask me, I’d call that moderation. But I might be biased.

2) I’m tired of getting emails, reading comments, or people telling me to my face that I’m negative. I would imagine that people like Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah probably got called negative at times, seeing how they never offered or did anything “constructive” or “positive” outside of decrying the evils of empire and the complacency of the community of God. While I am no in no way comparing myself to any of those men, I do believe it is the role of the community of God to call out into question the existing rule and practices of an upside-down church and culture. And when God’s people no longer have that mindset, they are either interested in protecting the status quo or have way too much to lose if they accepted the voice. Usually both.

3) Everyone is entitled to their opinion. You don’t have to agree with me. As a matter of fact, you can openly challenge me. But I expect everything to be done nicely, respectfully, and conversationally. When you get rude or resort to name calling, you’ll kindly be asked to leave. Relax a little bit and don’t take me or this platform more seriously than it is. I realize that I fall into the same trap sometimes of taking myself more seriously than I need to and using extremes to make a point. You have my word that I’ll attempt to be better at that. But take what I say with a grain of salt. Half of what I say is with a sarcastic tone and the other half is said tongue in cheek.

4) This is mainly a journal for me to record my thoughts and not a medium to push my agenda. I fear to many people see it as the latter and not the former. I blog because I like to write and it’s the easiest way that my brain processes my thoughts. I realize that by making it an open-platform, that I lose a lot of my “private” rights of a journal. But ultimately it’s a journal. A way for me to process thoughts. I have made this an open forum because I want there to be conversation and I need people’s input to keep me sharp and from going too far off into left field. You can disagree but just realize what type of forum this is, namely the private journal that has been made public. So please be respectful.

5) As weird as it is, I also think of this blog like a living room. I’ve met so many great people that I would have never met had it not been for this blog. I’ve traveled to meet this people and count them as true friends. I wouldn’t come into your living room and insult you. So I ask that you don’t do it in mine. There are plenty of blogs that I don’t like and think are pointless but still choose to read because I like the people and I’m interested in their lives. But I keep my thoughts to myself. I can’t tell you how many things I hear in hushed whispers or in snarky one-liners that I find insulting. I hang out with people who are staunch Republicans, conservative Christians, hyper-materialists and hyper-consumerists, and the list could go on and on. And you will not hear me be rude to them. Or even offer my opinion to them if I know it’s going to upset them. One of my better friends is a war veteran and we couldn’t be more polar opposites. But I respect him for his beliefs as I think he respects me for mine. I’m not rude to him. I don’t push my beliefs on him. Instead I listen to his in an attempt to better understand mine.

6) I don’t understand why people think I’m negative. Read any of my “collected thoughts” down the right side and with the exception of the Exodus Papers which were extremely raw and I was but one of 8 writers, everything else is hopeful and constructive. For example, I wrote some thoughts about war and why I disagreed. I didn’t just bitch about the negatives and what’s wrong with war. I proposed alternatives. I used peaceful examples from the past as something to look and strive for. I expressed my own struggle between defending my family and yet laying down my life for my enemies. When I talk(ed) about capitalism, I critiqued it from what I felt was a biblical perspective. Then I offered solutions and alternatives that I was thinking through as a small business owner.

So I think the label of being negative is not fair and itself negative.

7) Finally, at least what I’m attempting to do with my thoughts is something that matters. Whether I succeed or fail, you can’t fault me for trying. Too many blogs out there are nothing more than people telling you what type of sandwich they ate for dinner the night before or what they’re going to do on their lunch break. I have no problems with these types. That’s mostly what I read. It’s a way for me to keep up with my close and extended friends. But I think it’s extremely pompous for author’s of these blogs to rip on me and call me pompous when they think what they ate for dinner is worthy of the world’s attention. I may be extremely arrogant for thinking people actually want to read my thoughts. But no more arrogant than those who think people actually care about what type of sandwich they ate or their workout schedule.

So get off my back. Please. If you don’t like my blog or think I’m negative or a raging Democrat . . . just go somewhere else. There are plenty of other blogs that are just as meaningless and full of random, contradictory, disconnected thoughts as you’ll find on mine.

Thank you, and may God bless America.