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Why I am what I am

April 11, 2002 ~ 1:11 a.m.

For those of you who think, given my politics, that I�m some rabid pit bull of the Right, you�re wrong. I deplore those who cannot reserve a soft spot in their hearts for animals or nature. I believe in fair justice for all peoples, and adequate compensation for those who�ve been abused on the basis of ethnicity or belief. I am totally void of prejudice � within reason, of course.

I started out as a leftist when I gained political consciousness in 1990. That year, a ballot question in the state of Massachusetts considered lowering taxes to pre-1988 levels. I voted against the measure, believing it would harm state-sponsored higher education, never realizing for one moment that, what right did I have to have taxpayers pay for my education? None. I was a suburban white punk, feeding from the bosom of American success while deploring it, and attracted to liberalism out of pure boredom. From there, it escalated. I embraced unfounded environmental scare-mongering (I almost worked for MassPIRG!), I decried NAFTA, which I now believe has worked marvellously (though I remain less fond of GATT with all its anti-American potential), advocated legalization of marijuana, defended the European Union, and allied myself with any and all fringe clubs of any leftist persuasion.

An article on GATT that I wrote for my college paper in 1993 had me interviewing both College Democrats and Republicans alike. It was then that I saw the ideological differences for what they were. It emboldened my view against GATT, but I saw that liberal arguments were more concerned with the environment, while the conservative arugments, where they existed, were concerned more for the dissolution of the working- and middle-class and the American manufacturing industry. This was nobility that I could instantly admire. I still believe in protectionism where it is merited � and we should never have agreed to become part of a pact in which the rest of the world is eager to vote against America out of pure spite � but I now believe in NAFTA and I don�t welcome Dubya�s steel trade war.

I started reading William F. Buckley, Patrick Buchanan, P.J. O�Rourke, Charles Krauthammer, Russell Kirk, Jean Kirkpatrick, Walter Williams, Thomas Sowell, Ken Hamblin, and Don Feder (uncompromising conservative columnist for The Boston Herald), and found myself agreeing with every argument they presented. Ideological differences abound � I don�t agree with O�Rourke�s view that the Palestinians have a right to a state within Israel�s natural borders (they should be content with Jordan, as they originally were), or Buckley�s stance on drug legalization. But these conservative thinkers impressed and inspired me. And one night, with several copies of The National Review and The American Spectator laid out before me, I sighed long and hard � out of sorrow for my leftist past and out of joy for my new-found heroes. I was now,at the tender age of 23, a Reaganite conservative.

I quickly gained detractors during my last year at college, but I welcomed them. They were souls I hoped to change, just as I had done. I trust that many of the young folks who detested me in letters to the editor are now running successful businesses and happy families and voting Republican. And, if so, my job has been done.

I am now 32 years of age. I have been a proud conservative for nine straight years. I thank all those who have been an influence on me � friends I�ve known and writers I�ve never met. Current influences on D'land, who�ve never failed to impress me, include Astralfrog, Mr. Levski, Eden and Rick.

I�m proud of my leftist, liberal past � as a measure of something I�ve had to outgrow and overcome. It was a tough fight. But I made it. I used to wear a badge proclaiming, �Education isn�t a privilege, it�s a right.� But now, my motto is, �Your privileges are earned from your own blood, sweat and tears.�

And you know what? It�s true.

� M.E.M.

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Copyright � 2001-2007 by M.E. Manning. All material is written by me, unless explicitly stated otherwise by use of footnotes or bylines. Do not copy or redistribute without my permission.

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