One thing that most people have not done is to sit down and write out declarations of the wherefores and whys of how they stand on issues. People like me who blog tend to do so in a semipublic manner. In doing so, if you are honest and sincere, you find yourself gradually changing your mind over time on issues as truths become clearer. Indeed, you usually find that your earlier opinions were somewhat more naive and off base than you'd like to later admit.
For example, when the trade towers were destroyed by Sunni terrorists, I didn't really know what Wahhabism was. I saw that we primarily only cared about the oil in the Middle East and wished to assuage our Christian guilt feelings about the Holocaust by sponsoring Jewish Israel. Now I realize how ignorant most of us were and still are (and this includes many of the politicians who led us into the mess we're in). But should we blame them? Or should we realize that they are the reflection of us all.
Another example is that 20 years ago I decided that even though I was in favor of letting gays marry, I did not favor allowing spousal government benefits to be paid. To me, spousal benefits are for heterosexual couples. This is based on the norm that child birth and rearing is the usual result of marriage. There are other legal aspects involved, but biblical preachiness is not part of the equation for me. I'm a Christ•ian. And I'm still struggling with the practical matters of this issue.
As far as abortion goes, I think we were approaching about the right balance overall up until lately. Nobody likes abortion. The proper way to handle it is through prevention of unwanted pregnancies. If abstinence becomes iffy, then you'd better have had your back up plan already in place; because, cultural wars or not, teenagers' raging hormones and need for love and affection often decide the issue without waiting for permission. Parental support and guidance is best. But if that is not there, then Planned Parenthood had better be (with contraceptive counseling and services). And if that fails, then early term abortion in the first 90 days is an option (before the fetus loses its tail). This doesn't require surgery and is the alarm screaming that there's something amiss with this individual's choices. Further continued counseling is desirable. [Another choice is adoption or having the new grandparents take on a lot of life long responsibilities helping. The best choice originally would have been prevention, not arbitration.]
There are many other issues that I could address; but, in short, I tend to be a centrist and I've withdrawn my support from groups that are too partisan. For example, I used to belong to the Sierra Club when they were an environmental protection group (before they shifted too far to the left and overtly became illegal immigrant friendly). Then I joined NumbersUSA because they targeted a wide range of environmental issues relating to population growth (until they shifted too far to the right).
Anyway, as partisan political warfare escalates, I would hope that We The People grow beyond Twitter feeds, pundit ideology and propaganda. We need to read and listen to responsible journalism from Left, Right and Center. A Democracy is no stronger than the integrity of its People.
Meanwhile, we have elected a new president. The people have spoken. And this what is it that they said:
Google: "2016 Election Exit Poll Breakdowns"
The easiest to read and understand:
Note: Though Michael Moore is an extremely self-aggrandizing and distasteful person, here's a write up by him that explains in clearer terms overall than any other source, Left or Right, that I've read about Trump's victory. Again, I apologize for the source.
