BY DANI TIETZ
dani@sjodaily.com
If we were acquaintances and I told you that I grew up in Indiana, you might make a few assumptions.
The first thing that you might assume is that I grew up in a rural area. That would be correct; a few of them, in fact.
The second thing you might assume is that I played basketball. And again, you would be correct. You might also assume that I identified — or do identify — as a Republican or a Conservative. You’d be right with that assumption, too.
Maybe at this time, you’ll stop reading. Or maybe you had a whole bunch of emotions well up inside of you: maybe some of you are joyous and others may not call me later.
But if you know anything about the way that I process the world, you’ll know that I’m constantly questioning what it means to be affiliated with anything, and if I still identify that way.
This is a difficult thing to do. Saying that I am a Conservative, even saying that I am fiscally conservative, sends jolts through my body these days. Maybe I’m having an identity crisis. Or maybe things today are not as they once were.
You see, I grew up to believe:
- The government should be fiscally responsible; it functions on the back of taxpayer money;
- The elected officials should represent their constituents’ priorities, whether they voted for them or not;
- Everyone should be honest and forthcoming;
- We all are created equally. No matter what your skin color, no matter who or what you worship, no matter where you came from, no matter who you love. We are all living creatures and valuable;
- All of us are afforded rights under the Constitution. Those rights apply to all Americans;
- The United States government, no matter how big or small, is about the betterment of our common life together;
- Everyone should be afforded the right to an education where they learn, are safe and have opportunities to grow;
- Everyone is afforded the right to have access to affordable healthcare;
- We have a right to use our voices to state our views in a way that is not threatening towards others;
- We have a right to approach the government, and they will listen;
- We should take care of the Earth. Not because it is our life source, but because it, too, is living and breathing, as are all of the creatures that inhabit its face. We are visitors here, so everything that has life and that which passed from life millions of years ago are sacred;
- We have a responsibility to one another to work together to be something better than we have ever been before.
- That everyone deserves to be loved.
Of course, these statements weren’t written anywhere like the 10 commandments or traffic laws that must be followed. Instead, they were lessons that came from just living in relationship with other people.
I seem to remember that we were taught to believe in the perfection of ideas and ideals that built this country, not on the people who built this country.
I did not understand what impact those ideas had on my being until much later in life when I began to see how the world really works.
Like many young adults, we set out believing that this world could be the place that we were promised it is, and over many years, we’ve realized that those ideas and ideals are out there, but we are struggling to find the place or time when they were actually implemented.
It seems that ideas and ideals can be perfect, but humans are not.
Some of us see that the history we were taught is not actually what happened, others of us see that while great strides have been made, there are groups of people who continue to get forgotten or threatened, we witness the fear that keeps people from standing up for what’s right and we know that fear is not unfounded.
And today, as we watch history unfold, yet again, many of us are questioning whether we are following ideas and ideals that will bind our common life together or if we, as a people, have become only those who will follow a party, elected leaders or the professionals at all cost.
I think many of us, no matter where we identify politically, feel disenchanted by the system that is supposed to represent all of us, and still, we know that it is still one of the freest systems on the planet.
At times, that is a hard pill to swallow.
I know that this identity crisis will be short-lived. I have no trouble telling you where I stand politically.
Politics, to me, means the organization of our common life together, so I stand with love, kindness and hope for all — whether we see eye-to-eye on a subject or not.
As we set out on yet another election season, as we watch today’s events unfold on a local, state and national level, I am seeking candidates who stand for the same ideas and ideals; those who at all costs will live out of those qualities.
This election cycle won’t be the first time that I vote outside of party lines, but, like others, this is the first time I am questioning who my party truly is.
