Me

My politics

/ hsoi

I’d rather discuss religion than politics, but here we are. 🙂

As far back as I can remember, I’ve somehow been involved in politics. My father has been an elected public servant in numerous offices throughout most of my life. And I think it’s because of this that I have some draw to politics and political involvement, but I also just can’t stand it because it’s hit rather close to home in ways that most people never experience and can’t fully understand. If I ever go into politics, it won’t be until after my kids are grown and out of the house. 

I may have been raised in a Republican household with conservative ideals, but I’ve moved around the political spectrum in my life. My time in undergrad probably moved me more towards the left, but I think it also pushed me more towards true conservative ideals because being around all those “open minded” people showed me just how closed minded and self-centered folks can be. I guess going “right” was my rebellion 😉

These days tho, I find great disgust with both established political parties. 

  • The Democrats want to legislate compassion, and use our money to do it.
  • The Republicans want to legislate morality, and use our money to do it.

While I see nothing wrong with compassion or morality, I don’t think the force of law should be involved. And if my money is going to be used for moral or compassionate causes, I’d like to control what causes my money funds. The two big political parties want more government, both want to intrude more into your life, both are just corrupt as hell. Maybe they have good intentions, but that’s what paves the road to Hell. I didn’t like Bush and what he, his administration, and the Congress of the last 8 years botched up. So far I do not like what Obama is doing, nor what Pelosi and crew in Congress are up to either. Obama ran on a platform of not being the same as Bush, but all he’s done so far is demonstrate that he’s the same – maybe his corruptness is different, but it’s still corrupt. 

If there’s any political group I’d affiliate myself with, it’d be Libertarians. The main reason? I like that US Constitution and think that those that swear to uphold it ought to. My country is a Republic; we grant that some law is necessary to maintain order and allow people to live freely and prosper. But when government gets too big, too intrusive, when it goes beyond its Constitutionally set boundaries, I have a problem with that. See my posting about simplicity; we don’t need more laws, we need to simplify.

For me, it’s about being left alone. Do you like it when people stick their nose in your business? Do you like people bugging you all the time? Do you like people telling you what to do, or forcing you to do things you don’t like? I don’t. And it’s simple. I’ll leave you alone to live your life. All I ask in return is you leave me alone to live my life. Have some respect and consideration for each other, and just leave things alone. 

Freedom is letting things be. (Brian Enos)

Why I’m (now) a gun owner. (Part 4)

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

Back to part 3

So how did this become political for me?

I think the thing is that since the most pivotal day in US history — September 11, 2001 — it’s changed the entire landscape of this country. The whole “we will not live in fear” was and is bullshit because that’s all we do. It’s how our government conducts itself, it’s how things are being robbed from us… all in the name of keeping us safe. I really refuse to fly on an airplane now because it’s ludicrous to have to prove myself innocent and not a terrorist before I’m allowed to ride on an airplane. It’s just unreal. And the so-called security measures are a joke. Constantly violated, selectively enforced, and a load of bunk. I don’t feel any safer, I just feel more violated, more restricted, and a lot less free — but no safer.

I read something from Brian Enos’ website:  Freedom is letting things be.  Think about that. It’s quite true in so many ways.

But we’re Americans and we can’t let things be. We have to be busy-bodies, we have to stick our noses into everything, and we just can’t leave anything be — especially other people. Think about how little freedom we have, because we don’t let things be.

And politically? Well, since I originally wrote this the DC vs. Heller case decision was handed down by the SCOTUS and yes, it’s an individual right to keep and bear arms. The victory seems almost pyrrhic tho. Look at how much has been lost and will continue to be lost, because people just don’t let it be. But in a way, it’s a start because well… moreso to think what would have happened if they said we individuals did not have a right to protect ourselves. What could that mean?

I look back now at all the various anti-gun reasonings and I just can’t get it. Maybe 15 years ago those would have resonated with me, but they don’t any more. I Googled on “NRA” and found a set of political cartoons that positioned the NRA well, as you typically might expect anti-NRA folks to portray it. And feel that in my prior ignorance I would have agreed. In my current more enlightened state, I just can’t. 

Pass more gun laws… that will keep guns out of the hands of criminals. How? Criminals don’t adhere to the law (by definition) so how will more laws keep guns away from them?
Ban guns, that will do it. Look at countries like the UK or Australia. Criminals still get and use them.  Or if they can’t, they find something else, e.g. knife-based violence is high. Banning anything won’t stop the thing you want to stop (e.g. violence, killing, death, hurt, pain, suffering), it just finds another avenue to get to the destination.
We ourselves seem to already understand this to some extent. We allow police to carry guns. We allow the military. We seem to understand that to stand on at least equal footing we’ve gotta be equal, or maybe a little greater. Look at how the US builds up our military… we’ve got nukes. That keeps people in their place. Imagine if the US got rid of all their nukes and dismantled the military tomorrow… how quickly would we be attacked on our own soil? No, we can’t stop the problems, we can’t 100% eliminate them from the face of the Earth, but keeping ourselves armed keeps things fairly quiet.  So why can’t that parlay down to a smaller scale? To the individual?  If you want to commit a crime, you only do it if you’ve got either 1. zero care about consequences, and then that’s a bigger issue to deal with or 2. you only do it if you believe there’s a good enough chance of not getting caught or things backfire or whatever. So if you could figure this Joe is armed, are you really going to mug them?
The sad thing is, evil people exist. They always have, and they likely always will. If you aren’t aware of this, you live a far too insulated life — and if you don’t believe me on that, then go find the “bad part of town” where you live and go walk around there tonight… alone. Now what do you think?
Note that self-defense is far more than just having a gun. It’s being skilled in empty-hand combat. It’s having knowledge and awareness to avoid problems and not get in trouble in the first place. They say things like you shouldn’t do anything different with a gun that you do without one, e.g. if you wouldn’t go into that part of town without a gun, then don’t go there with a gun either. First rule of a gunfight? Don’t get in one. But the thing is, ultimately things may come to that… and wouldn’t you rather have a gun and not need it than need it and not have it?  Ask folks in LA in 1992… ask folks in New Orleans after Katrina hit. 
Why have a gun? Are you paranoid? Are you afraid? Well, if I am, is that not a good enough reason to have one? Tell the woman with some man stalking her…. she’s afraid, is that not enough of a reason?  Do you have a fire extinguisher? Do you have a first aid kit, or at least some Band-Aids? Do you wear your seat belt in a car?  What are you worried about? Are you afraid of a fire? or a cut? or a collision? Aren’t they the same sort of thing? Wanting to be prepared in case something horrible happens? Slim chance as it may be, we’re all willing to take a little extra precaution to protect ourselves and preserve our lives… why would being capable of defending yourself be any different?   

It’s about hunting and sports. Well, perhaps in part, but ultimately no it’s not. It’s about protecting ourselves from tyranny.

Yeah yeah, Homer Simpson said “If I didn’t have this gun the King of England could just come in here and start pushing you around.  Do you want that, well do ya?” But really yes that’s what it’s about. We’re getting to a point where our government is forgetting who it is to serve. The culprit? Ourselves. We refer to those people as “our leaders” but they are not… they are not to lead us, they are to serve us. Of course the best leaders know they serve: Tao Te Ching 68: “The best leader follows the will of the people”. (also see #57). We as a people have given up too much control to a few, and have meddled and fiddled and continue muck with things. We manipulate too much, we mess with the natural order of things, we’re just too much busy-bodies in some ways and too apathetic in other ways. And it comes back to bite us.

Look at any country in the world throughout history. When someone comes to power what’s the first thing they do? disarm and weaken the people. If the people are in equal footing and there’s injustice, the just will rise and conquer. If there’s injustice, the best way to keep injustice going is to weaken the opposing side… keep them oppressed, disarm them. Note that we can’t have unequal footing and justice, since unequal itself is unjust. So the only way to be just really is to be on equal footing. Difficult to achieve, sure, but not impossible. My Taoism is showing I guess. 🙂

But the more “the state” and “others” try to control us, try to force power over us, the less equal we will be. If the state can have massive power and control over us, what will happen? What’s the net consequence of this? How just will things be? We cannot allow for that to happen. The founders of this country knew that if government could become corrupt and need to be overthrown once, it’s well possible it could have to happen again. They did it, they wanted to leave the door open to do it again, should it be necessary. The only way? Arms. So it’s not just about hunting or sport (in fact it’s barely about that… that’s just a side-effect). It’s mostly about protecting ourselves, primarily from government and “rulers”, corruption, and anything else to defend our freedom.

To defend our ability to just be.

But hey, if everyone else just let things be… then we’d all be free, and wouldn’t be having this discussion in the first place.

 

The crazy thing about this? I originally wrote this back in mid-2008. It’s now the start of 2009, and we’ve had massive government bailout after massive government bailout. An “economic stimulus package” is in the works. There are many things on the horizon that signal massive government growth and intrusion and control into every facet of our lives. Is this good? Is this how a free people live? 

 

So as you can see, I’ve changed. Years ago I was one way. But the past some years I’ve changed. I consider myself a logical person, and as I went through my life experiences and learned about how to take care of yourself, I found my old prejudices and ignorance fading. There’s just a sound logic to taking responsiblity for yourself, be that in providing for yourself or defending yourself and what you believe in. I just listened to all sides of the issue, and I just can’t find logical faults… which is how I’ve ended up where I am now.

Why I’m (now) a gun owner. (Part 3)

/ hsoi

Back to part 2

So why a gun? I think it’s just been a natural progression. While traditional emtpy-hand martial arts are nice, I can’t dodge a bullet. I can’t reach more than 3 feet in front of me. I can’t throw a rock at 3000 feet-per-second. My hands and feet just aren’t much of an equalizer to someone armed with merely a stick. Weapons always give you an advantage, and without one you’re at a disadvantage. So, there’s nothing wrong with a little cross-training in modern martial arts. And so again we come back to some great things about Texas, having concealed carry and also Castle Doctrine.

It was just a couple years ago that I actually started off thinking just about home defense, shotguns and the like. You see, while we live in a good neighborhood and have good neighbors that look out for each other, things still happen (no neighborhood is immune). You’ll have people breaking into cars at night. A few homes get broken into. Thing is, those things tend to happen in the middle of the day! Makes sense. At night, people are home and a burglary will be more difficult than during the day when they’re away at work and most everyone else in the neighborhood is too. But the thing is, we’re home all day. Wife and kids are home, schooling. I’m at home, telecommuting. I know my house has been cased numerous times over the years we’ve lived here. We have our alarm system but well, I know it’s only a mild deterrent. Call the police, call an ambulance, call for a pizza; see which arrives first. I recall in our first house our friend was taking care of the house for us, we forgot to give her the alarm code, the alarm went off and she waited for 30 minutes and the police never arrived. So if we’re home and someone opts to break in — a real possibility no matter where you live and how nice your neighborhood is — there’s no way we’re going to be victim.

Let me touch on something I mentioned: the police. I have nothing against them, but I know they are not here for my protection. To a degree they offer deterrence, but only when they are around (yet a day doesn’t go by without fark.com posting a story of some genius committing a crime right in front of a cop). There just aren’t enough cops to be everywhere to deter everything (and I’m not sure I’d want such a police state either). Furthermore, countless court rulings have made it clear that the police are under no legal obligation to protect you (if you don’t believe that, the truth is just a Google away). You also put a lot of faith in the 911 system. Back when I originally wrote this “why I’m a gun owner” in May 2008 I had read two stories in the news. In one story a store owner in Columbus, Ohio found someone that broke into his store. The store owner, having a CHL, held the burglar at gunpoint and called 911. Not only did it take at least 5 minutes for the police to arrive (and then the first on the scene was a retired deputy that happened to live by the store and heard the local alarm), but the 911 dispatcher was treating the store owner like HE was the criminal. In another story a college student in Madison, Wisconsin died from 911’s lack of response. Apparently the victim of a random crime, someone broke into her apartment, stabbed and beat her, she called 911 for help but not only did 911 not respond they apparently didn’t believe a crime was being committed. If you really want to believe that help will come, we can always try an experiment. You pick your way of wanting to call for help. I’ll give you a head start and let you start calling for help (dial 911 and give them all the details, yelling to those around you, whatever). While you wait for help to arrive I will hit you repeatedly with my fists until help arrives. While help may arrive, consider the damage you will take while you wait. And consider that it’s just my fists — what if I had a club? knife? gun? Not that I would really undertake this experiment, but consider the situation in your head. So if there’s no one around to protect you and even if they are they don’t have to, and even if they want to how long will it take for them to arrive, who is going to protect you and your loved ones? Only you.

It’s disgusting to me how modern society believes you should not fight back. That if someone wants your wallet, you should just give it to them. Who is to say they won’t also take my life along with my money? And I’m to just take it? So, what if instead of wallet I put sexuality. That is, rape. Are you supposed to just give it to them? just lie back and take it? Oh, then it’s ok to fight back? So if there’s apparently some line somewhere where it’s ok to fight back and where it’s not, please tell me just where is that line and what justification you have for drawing it there. For me, if you try to take something of mine that I don’t want to give you, I’m not going to be happy with you and will somehow fight you for it. It might be a fight of words, or maybe using lawyers, or maybe my fists. But I fail to see why I should just lie back and take it. If that’s the way you want to be with things, then please just hand over all your money to me now. No I’m not mugging you, but if you see no reason to fight back then you might as well just give up now.

So coming back to the guns, it’s about fighting back. It’s about deterrence. DC v. Heller and Texas’s Castle Doctrine codifies in the law what God has granted to us: that we are able to defend ourselves when we have reason to believe our lives and property are in danger.  If you know there’s a 12 gauge on the other side of that door, are you going to break it down? I would reason most criminals would move along looking for the easier target. So, I would say that I carry a gun not because I want to use it, but because I hope by carrying it I won’t be in a position where I’d have to (Syd sums it up well). Which brings me to concealed carry. While I still believe shotguns and rifles are good for home defense use, I believe that a concealed handgun will provide me with the most options. The main reason? I can always have it with me. What good is something if you don’t have it when you need it? What about the Boy Scout motto to “Be Prepared”? That’s what this all comes out of. I may not have earned my Eagle Scout (got to Life rank), but the teachings of Scouting are very much a part of me.

I also think that carrying a gun forces me to live to an even higher standard. To obtain a CHL in Texas there are a lot of strict laws to follow: you must be able to legally purchase a gun (and all the legal that brings to the table); can’t have felonies or even misdemeanors on your record, even pending criminal charges; no chemical or alcohol dependencies; must be of sound mind; no restraining orders; not default in your taxes or child support or student loans; must have a background check, fingerprints taken and checked against the FBI database. Furthermore you must attend a class that spends most of it’s time talking about ways to resolve issues without violence, ensures you are familiar with the law, and pass a shooting proficiency test. So to first obtain a license you’ve got to be a very well-behaved member of society. Now if you want to keep your CHL, not only do you have to renew every 5 years and thus must continue to adhere to the original guidelines, but if anything happens to you (e.g. you receive a DUI) your CHL is revoked and you won’t be eligible to reapply for many years. You’ve got a great incentive to carry yourself at a higher standard than the rest of the citizenry, if you want to keep your CHL. So basically, CHL holders are a cut above your average citizen, both originally and must continue to be to remain a CHL holder. So, personal responsibility gets taken even further.

The one thing that I didn’t intend to come out of this was something political.

On to part 4

Why I’m (now) a gun owner. (Part 2)

/ hsoi

Back to part 1

I don’t know if it was Texas itself that started to shape me, but I would like to think that Texas being Texas at least enabled me to evolve this way. From the people, to the way of life, to the laws and landscape. I think if I lived in California things would be different. I would also like to think that a big change came from being married and having children. I’m the head of my house. I’m the sole source of income and “providing” for this family. I have people whose lives depend upon me. I would reason that had the biggest impact on me. Certainly I found myself investigating Libertarianism more. People like Harry Browne were pretty cool to me, and this Ron Paul guy was great because his Congressional District was right next door! When we were looking for our second house, one reason we thought Bastrop might be such a nice place to live was because it’s within Ron Paul’s district and it’d be wonderful to have him representing us. But probably the biggest thing that grew on me was self-reliance, personal responsibility. 

I see people standing at the intersections in town wanting a handout. Same intersection, same people, day in, day out, for years. If these people really wanted help in getting off the streets and doing something with their lives, they’d be making a bigger effort. But they’re not. They have their well-decorated signs, some even asking for pot as well as food and money. I’m sorry, but this behavior just reeks of a parasitic lifestyle that wants something for nothing. I just don’t jive with it. You’re telling me that I’m supposed to bust my ass to make money, then you just want me to give you some so you can blow it on drugs or booze? Not just “no” but “Hell Fucking No!” There’s no desire to take any sort of responsibility for themselves, no desire to rely upon themselves. Now if someone truly is homeless, truly is down on their luck, these people will be able to find help. My family and I do give, money and food and time to help out in avenues that we know can help out people in need. Granted there are probably some in that avenue that are taking advantage of the system, but at least I know I’m giving to a means that tries to seriously help folks that want to help themselves, instead of folks that just want to leech off me.

It also comes from the fact that there’s no one that’s going to help me. Now granted I know if I’m really in a bind I can get help. But basically I can’t just stick my hand out and expect someone to fill it to feed and clothe and shelter myself and my family. I have to do it. If I want something, I have to go get it. I have to take care of myself and my family. So to that end, when my wife and I had our first child we of course started to think about educating the child. I can’t recall how the seed was first sown in our heads, but we knew there were three options: public school, private school, and home school. Private school was out merely because of cost (tho maybe if I didn’t have to give up a portion of my income every year to a system I don’t use I might be able to afford a private school). Public school wasn’t high on our list because while I attended public school, it’s a failing (failed?) system. I believe it’s become nothing but glorified babysitting, children are treated without respect, teachers are given no authority or ability and are basically neutered in both what they can teach and how they run their classrooms. It’s just a fiasco and I refused to subject my children to it. I could go on, but that’s another subject for another day. So that leaves us with home school. It wasn’t a bad decision though, because my wife’s degree is in early childhood education, so what a plus! The only real downside was it would mean we’d be a single-income family, but we’re doing ok and the sacrifice is worth it.

This perhaps plays back into living in Texas, both the zeitgeist of the state but also the laws. Laws regarding home schooling in Texas are fairly open and unregulated, which is wonderful in the true sense of freedom. Of course some people feel that lack of regulation means that the children will come out with some sort of substandard education. To that I offer a few things: 1. explain to me how government regulation equates to superior results? not just in education but in just about anything the government (over) regulates.  2. the government currently regulate public schooling, and that’s not exactly a stellar example. 3.  come speak with my children and judge for yourself. Don’t worry about their socialization either as we’ll let them out of their dungeon into the sunlight to grunt speak with you for 30 minutes (yeah, I’m still sarcastic at times). The larger point of our choice of home schooling though comes back to taking care of ourselves. Why is it someone else’s job to educate our children? Why isn’t it our own job? Why is it that at 6 weeks old we shove our children into the primary care of strangers, and they remain in the primary care and influence of others until they’re at least 18 years old? They keep calling for more parental influence, yet we do more that causes us to distance ourselves from our children. They call for more parental involvement in our children’s lives, yet we’re not willing to make the sacrifices to put ourselves more into their lives. No this isn’t easy, but since when was life supposed to be easy?

So while it’s nice to get help from others, I do my best to be self-reliant and be responsible for myself. Another area of this is one of self-protection and self-preservation. When we first moved to Austin we lived in an apartment complex in a nice part of north Austin. One day I was at work and my wife opted to take a walk around the complex pushing our then infant son in his stroller. My wife spied a man across the street behaving strangely. Next thing she knew he was across the street, grabbing her breast, then running off. My wife was shocked, ran to the apartment complex office for help. They called the police, then called me. I of course left work and never found myself so angry. My wife had been violated. Now the thing is, this isn’t the first time such a thing has happened to my wife. My wife is a petite woman: 5’4″ 105 lbs. She is attractive, she’s small, and she looks vulnerable. Add in pushing a child in a stroller and she comes across as an even better target. After that day our behaviors changed. We got an alarm system installed, and we’ve had an alarm system on every residence since that time. To boot, we use the alarm system regularly. As well, when we walk in public, it is my job to be big. I am 6’3″ and around 200 lbs, mostly muscle. It perhaps looks bad to the outside world that there’s this big strong man walking around empty handed while his little wife is burdened down with children and bags, but this is our choice of how to carry on. The reasoning? It’s my job to be big. If I’m burdened, I cannot act. If a child is in my hands, I will be quite reluctant to drop the child should I need to take action. I am a big walking deterrent. I keep my eyes open, I watch for everything. I let the wife get the kids and herself in the car while I walk around the outside of the car keeping an eye on the parking lot. So there’s a method to our madness, and it’s all about protecting and preserving ourselves.

Some folks may call this paranoia. No, it’s not that. I believe most people in this world are good and law-abiding. But all it takes is one asshole to ruin it, and you just don’t know when that asshole is going to strike. As an example, consider your drive today. Driving to work, from work, to the store or back, whatever, just think about your drive. Generally speaking if there’s any driver that you remember, it’s that one asshole that cut you off, or wouldn’t let you merge, or nearly got you killed. But do you remember the hundreds or maybe thousands of other drivers that were sharing the road with you? Point is, most everyone on the road was good and law-abiding, and if nothing else they just left you alone and paid you no mind. All it took was the one asshole to ruin your drive. So we get taught to drive defensively, to be prepared for things to happen. This is how you stay out of trouble and get home alive. The way my wife and I carry on is the same defensive philosophy.

However, I acknowledge that being big only goes so far. Since I was a kid I wanted to take martial arts, and I finally got up and did that. The primary reason for my study of martial arts is actually one of exercise. I needed a physical activity to keep in shape, get me out from behind the computer regularly, and also provide some sort of mental stimulation. Lifting weights, walking, and various other activities just didn’t do it for me, but martial arts finally came to me as the way to go. And the fact I could learn some fighting skills was a welcome benefit too. As of this writing I’m a 1st degree black belt in the traditional Korean martial art of Kuk Sool Won. What I like about the art is the comprehensiveness, the beauty, and the simple self-defensive practicality of it. It is a contemporary of Hapkido, and both tend to come from traditional Japanese Ju-Jitsu, so there are many locks, throws, and other practical non-sporting aspects. Point being, obtaining training in empty hand fighting skills is not a bad thing towards being able to care for yourself.

On to part 3

Why I’m (now) a gun owner. (Part 1)

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

Oh I have to be honest. One of my hot-button issues right now is guns. It’s one of the things that I’m really into right now, and given the current political climate in the USA, it’s one of the topics that I want to speak on in many ways. So I figure it’s a fair way to start off my serious blog content.

I wrote the following in my personal logs some months ago, and I’ve edited and updated it for posting here. It’s long, so I’m breaking it up into parts.

In May 2008 I was instant messaging with an old friend of mine from college. I mentioned about my recent handgun purchases (that I had 2), my intent to purchase some more firearms in the near future, the fact I was working to obtain a Texas concealed handgun license (CHL). He was kinda shocked that his old college roommate was turning into “a true fuckin’ redneck” (his words). 🙂  So I started to explain things to him, but IM isn’t the best communication medium for something so involved. So I thought that it might be worthwhile to jot down why it is that I’ve become what I’ve become. I’ve been revealing my recent purchases to some people and those people I know are people predisposed to guns so they’ve only been pleasantly surprised. But I know as more people become aware of my evolution I’ll have to defend/explain this more, so consider this something for them too.

 

As I see it, it’s a matter of solidifying my philosophy on life and becoming more consistent with myself.

 

I can’t recall my philosophy on life from my single-digit ages. About the only thing I can remember from then was that I really liked girls. But I do remember my first real philosophical realization: that everything is relative. I don’t recall when exactly that hit me, but I know I was quite young. Since then, I’ve seen nothing that invalidates that maxim and quite a bit to support it. I also recall that I observed many things about life and being, but it was always scattered and disjointed. In my undergraduate studies came my first exposure to Taoism. While at the time I didn’t really grasp formal Taoist philosophy, the introduction was useful because since that time I’ve always found myself drawn back to Taoism and the Tao Te Ching for whatever reason. As I continue to study that and other Taoist texts and philosophy (not the fabricated religion that  has been imposed on it), I do find myself resonating more and more with that philosophy — those scattered observations and posits on life and the world that I had always held were basically Taoist philosophy, and now with Taoism itself I had a formal medium through which to solidify, express myself, and continue to explore. I guess that’s why Taoism always resonated with me, because I naturally discovered those same observations and conclusions on my own before I discovered the formal philosophy. Even my martial arts study of the past 6 years has brought me more in line with Taoism; not that the art itself has some sort of cult or ritual or that such, but the historical Korean influence is there. For instance, the notion of You Won Hwa (유 원 화) is quite Taoist in its nature.

Another part of my life that I’ve come to is one of responsibility. I know the seeds were sown in me by my father (along with that good Protestant work ethic), but I can’t put my finger on the point in time where I started to feel so strongly about personal responsibility. I do recall in my junior year of high school, in my American Civilization humanities class (2 hours mixing our English and American History subjects together) that 3 students put on a presentation about political parties. One guy was telling about the Republican Party, what it was about and why he was a member. Another guy was telling about the Democrat Party. And the third well… it was this girl that was one of the “odd goth chicks” (so she was already viewed as being on the nutty fringe by the clique that is high school), and she was talking about being a Libertarian. That was the first I heard of that notion. Until that point it was always Reps, Dems, and “Independents” (or “other”), and the edict from Dad was that you voted Republican or you were disowned. I just remember sitting in class, and the poor girl never got much of a word out because she was just booed out by everyone, drowned out, and never really given a fair chance to speak (and she wasn’t the best speaker either). So as usual, if you weren’t part of “the big 2 parties” you were a nutcase. (Looking back, I feel rather ashamed of how the class treated her. Sorry Suzanna).

Moving into my undergraduate years at James Madison University. JMU, being a liberal arts college, tended to have your good share of stupid 18-21 year old “open minded” liberals. When the Gulf War broke out, protesting on campus happened, but it always felt to me like it was contrived: we’re college students, there’s a war, let’s protest because that’s what they did back in the 60’s so that’s what college students are supposed to do, right?  Things never felt to have any conviction, they just felt stupid. I always was annoyed at some of the “open minds” of the “progressive” people at my college radio station, because their idea of “open mindedness” tended to be that you were open minded so long as you agreed with them. But like it or not, it’s college, and you do start to explore and change your attitudes on things. I don’t think I ever swayed to being a full-fledged liberal, but I probably swayed closer to that realm than any other time before. I do recall during my junior year sitting in my off-campus apartment with my roommate and discussing guns with him. He would go on about how “an armed society is a polite society” and other such things. I didn’t see the merit. While I don’t believe I ever felt the Second Amendment to our US Constitution should be repealed, I certainly didn’t feel much need for your average Joe to have firearms, hunting wasn’t my thing (tho if others did it, fine), and I too bought into the hype about assault weapons. I did feel there wasn’t much sporting to taking a machine gun out to kill Bambi. When I look back, I can see how far I’ve come and how ignorant I was.

After JMU I moved to Texas to attend graduate school at Texas A&M University. There I spent my time playing with computers, programming computers, smoking pot (I don’t do that any more), playing Magic: The Gathering a whole lot, teaching public speaking, and of course attending my own classes. While life in College Station wasn’t very metro, it certainly was introducing me to Texas. After two years I met my wife and moved to Austin, where I currently reside with my wife, three children, 4 cats, 1 hamster, a mess of fish, and now multiple firearms.

Move on to part 2….