Thursday, April 06, 2006

Confessions From a Guy With Nothing to Say

When I was in college, I had an opinion on just about everything. I once had an editorial in my campus newspaper. I was so controversial that, from time to time, I got hate mail. On one occasion, grafitti artists colored the sidewalks in chalk to protest one of my columns. My girlfriend--now my wife--feared for my safety. An acquaintance told me that my column was the only reason anybody picked up the paper.

That was ten years ago. Since then, I suppose that I have mellowed. Well, I am still as conservative now as I was then. With age, I suppose wisdom has finally caught up with me. (At least I hope it has!) As I have gotten older, I have learned how to dialogue (and not to demogouge.) While I am still an idealogue, I am no longer a partisan. (If you believe what I do, I don't care about your label.) Yes, I remain passionate about my political views, but now I am for the right reasons.

To me, politics shouldn't be a game. It shouldn't be a competition where two equally insecure men (or women) want to enhance their self-worth by destroying someone else. It ought to be different from an election for student body president where one fraternity sets out to crush the other.

Instead, politics should be the expression of everything that is good about our representative republic. Through vigorous, yet respectful, debate, the liberal should proclaim his support for abortion-rights while the conservative should proclaim his support for the right-to-life. Then, after the best case is made, the people should direct the ship of state with their ballots by selecting their leaders pursuant to the procedures set forth in the Constitution.

Although I am not a candidate for public office, nor will I become one in the near future, perhaps I do have something to say after all. My blog will expound upon what I would do if I were an elected public official. Yeah, that's what I'll do!

I wonder if I will get hate mail.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Matthew,

It would be my honor to be the first to leave some hate mail on your new blog.

I HATE sin, second hand smoke, stepping in gum, poor service, poor grammar, zits, bad breath, allergy season, people who snicker in the back of the class, people who play games during class, mean people, people who still have Kerry/Edwards bumper sticker on their cars, brussel sprouts, ...

That's all for now....

TheMatman said...

funny!