As discussed previously, Hit Coffee is a non-partisan, generally apolitical site. So much so that I have taken pains to conceal my own ideology. I don’t really know how successful I’ve been, but even if I’ve been failing the attempt has kept me from going off on political tangents and has forced me to at least try to represent both sides of issues I’ve discussed (usually tangentially) with neutral (non-partisan, at least) language. Now that the tone of the site is set, though, I think that I’m ready to take another step forward. Partially because some of the things that I would write about, I can’t without disclosing this tidbit, and partially because it looks like I might be doing some contributing elsewhere. So without further ado, I am…
a Republican. I would say “card-carrying”, but I never registered as such in Arapaho due to inertia. Most staunch conservatives would be quick to point out that I am not a good Republican, but I am one all the same. My views continually shift and evolve, but have not yet involved in such a degree to change allegiances. At my most liberal, I am a moderate. At my most conservative, I am well to the right of center. Some people in my position insist that they’re independent regardless of how they vote (and in which primary), but I’ve embraced it. Or rather I was embraced by it in college and there isn’t any process for getting me kicked out.
At some point I will explain what I mean by that. What I won’t do, however, is become a conservative or Republican advocate on this blog. The same way that I bite my tongue and equivocate rather than get involved in partisan politics won’t really change (for the most part). I had a (more overtly) political blog once and am not eager to replicate that experience any more than I want to talk politics at the dinner table with my more liberal in-laws. Further, when I do get political here I use this site as a launching pad for ideas – ones I don’t want dismissed as “Oh, he’s a Republican, so of course he believes that” nor used as a “See, Truman is a Republican and even he thinks that Republicans are full of crap on issue X” bludgeon nor deal with accusations of RINOhood. After all, I cop to being a lousy Republican.
I am mostly coming out with all of this because some of the things I have been wanting to write about have been scuttled because they would require that I come clean about this. I’ve been walking along a line and would prefer not have to be quite so careful. Also, some of the stories that I want to relate involve my having been a Young Republican half-surrounded by Naderites or having been the (or, for a time, as one of two or three) resident “conservative” columnist at my university’s student paper. I also have some posts on entertainment media and other subjects that it’s hard to discuss without disclosing where I am coming from. Those are really the only times I expect it to come up.
I am a bit curious as to whether this is like Ricky Martin announcing that he is gay. Had I let one too many things slip? Had you read enough of my comments elsewhere to figure it out? Or had I overcompensated in an effort to conceal it all and come across as a liberal? Or do you doubt what I am saying and just consider me a liberal anyway?
If you want to come clean about your party membership or voting habits, go ahead with a couple of requirements: Keep it relatively short (under 50 or maybe 100 words) and keep it affirmative (I am a Blank because I support… and not I am a Blank because the Nulls are firebreathing dragons who will be satisfied with nothing less than destroying this once-great nation of ours).
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14 Responses to Coming Out Of The Closet
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I’m surprised. I would have thought you were an independent, voting for both Democrats and Republicans depending on the candidates and the issues, or perhaps even a relatively conservative Democrat.
So who else clicked through and thought, “I knew it! He is Dick Cheney!”
Will, I’d always pegged you as more of a libertarian than a Republican.
Peter, I do vote for Democrats at least some of the time. Particularly in state races when I’m in a state of a redder hue.
Brandon, better to be thought Dick Cheney than Karl Rove. I actually have a bit of an affection for Cheney in a crazy-uncle sort of way. But I try to find affection for major politicians (Republican or Democrat) to avoid getting too much hate on or becoming too cynical.
Kevin, I used to be much more in the libertarian vein, back in college. I’ve become more socially conservative and economically liberal since then.
Oh, that is Karl Rove. I thought it was Dick Cheney.
I…don’t watch much TV.
I used to be much more in the libertarian vein, back in college. I’ve become more socially conservative and economically liberal since then.
Well yes, that makes sense. I pretty much define a libertarian as a social liberal and an economic conservative.
Other way around, Mike. Will said he moved right socially and left economically. Stalinwards, as we libertarians call that direction.
That’s what I said. Since a libertarian is a social liberal and an economic conservative, the only way he could move would be to the right socially and to the left economically.
Ah. Fair enough. Mostly I just wanted an excuse to use the word “Stalinward.”
While libertarianism can generally be described as socially liberal and economically conservative, it’s inexact on some issues like gun control, campaign finance reform, and so on.
Anyhow, I mention both because my move away from libertarianism wasn’t just one or the other, but a combination of the two.
Stalinward is an awesome word.
Sadly, Google says one guy beat me to it. But what does Google know? Well…yeah…but other than the sum of all human knowledge, what does Google know?
From where I’m sitting, Republicans appear to be fiscally libertarian and socially authoritarian, and Democrats appear to be fiscally authoritarian and socially libertarian. Must have something to do with the angle of the lighting.
Before your coming out party I would have said moderate Republican.
While libertarianism can generally be described as socially liberal and economically conservative, it’s inexact on some issues like gun control, campaign finance reform, and so on.
You are right. Social liberals tend to be in favor of strict gun control, mostly as a function of the highly urbanized areas most of them live in. I would say the correlation is strongest with urban/rural, rather than liberal/conservative.
You are right. Social liberals tend to be in favor of strict gun control, mostly as a function of the highly urbanized areas most of them live in. I would say the correlation is strongest with urban/rural, rather than liberal/conservative.
It’s made somewhat more complicated by the fact that urban/rural also correlates pretty strongly with liberal/conservative. But yeah, I think there’s a lot of truth to that.
After writing that, I thought of another issue: health issues. While cigarettes cross party lines, it seems like most of the opposition to non-smoking regulations comes more from the left than the right. Hostility towards unhealthy foods moreso. Then there’s pot, where it has the more traditional dynamic. I still want to know what happens if pot becomes legal and is manufactured by Big Tobacco.