Hooray for Our Side

Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right,
Here I am, stuck in the middle with you

The above quote is from one of the songs that, in my mind, defines the 1960's, "Stuck in the Middle with You" by Stealers Wheel.  It shows the insanity that the late 1960's became, where civil discourse broke down, violence against authority heated up, and many were confused as to which side, if either, really represented America.

Another similarity I see with late 1960's music is from Buffalo Springfield's "For what it's Worth":

     There's battle lines being drawn
     Nobody's right if everybody's wrong

 and later:

     Singing songs and carrying signs
     Mostly say, hooray for our side

Everything old is new again.  The times are once again turbulent, people are more interested in pushing an agenda than debating and deciding what is best.  Everyone has their mouth open, but their ears closed.

Take the Black Lives Matter movement.  Does it appear Blacks are disproportionately killed by police?  Maybe.  In my (very limited) research, it appears that officers MAY be more heightened during a confrontation with a black man than a white man.  Blacks ARE disproportionately represented in prison. However, I do not see rioting as a solution.  If the black leaders are truly leaders (and I have my doubts), they should be directing their followers in methods that DO work - boycotts (hitting those in charge in their pocketbooks) work.  Organized demonstrations work.  But when the demonstrations become disorganized, or violent, they are counter productive.

In this case, as with so many others, people tend to be categorized in one of two different groups - Pro-BLM, or Anti-BLM.  For me, personally, and many of my friends, the issue is much more nuanced.  I cannot support the violence, or the outright disrespect being shown to the police officers, or the generally anti-white rhetoric being bandied about.  I do believe there is a problem with blacks being antagonized by police (in general), but I refuse to lump the good police officers in with the bad as an institution.  I also believe that addressing the way police perceive blacks and other minorities needs to include black-on-black crime, something that is killing blacks at a rate unheard of for a civilized people.     

The same lack of nuance exists in the presidential race.  The first debate is tonight, and I will, for the first time since Bush-Clinton-Perot, refuse to watch any of it.  I have already decided who I cannot vote for, and they are both invited to the debate.  Trump never let a fact get in the way of his version of the truth.  Hillary never let laws get in the way of profit or personal choices.  I trust neither of them.  I also have questions about the Libertarian candidate, Gary Johnson, namely whether he is truly a libertarian or just another politician.  

I identify as a Fiscal Conservative, and normally vote Republican, but I find myself leaning more and more Libertarian as government grows.  For those unsure what a Libertarian really is - and I was one of them relatively recently - I personally prefer this definition from "The Challenge of Democracy (6th edition)", by Kenneth Janda, Jeffrey Berry, and Jerry Goldman:

Liberals favor government action to promote equality, whereas conservatives favor government action to promote order. Libertarians favor freedom and oppose government action to promote either equality or order.

Now, before you start hitting me with "Any vote for Johnson is really a vote for ", let me hit you with a couple of facts.  Fact one, I don't care who wins, it is going to suck either way.  Fact two, living in Indiana, my vote won't mean jack - the state will go for Trump, and my single vote of conscience will not affect that.  IF I lived in a battlefield state, I might feel differently, but I don't, so I don't.

What I would like to do - and I encourage all my friends to try this as well - is to LISTEN to both sides.  They may not change your mind, but you may begin to find common ground, and lower the noise enough to actually see the issues.

Remember, vote early and often!