"The Long and Winding Road"

Okay, so I thought I would come here and explain a little better what this is all about. So far, there are three of us, including myself, who are together to debate. I am Jeffrey Hunter, the "Deranged Mind". This whole thing is my fault. Blame me for it, for the good or the bad, I don't mind. I have, for years, considered myself a liberal, and all that that came with. I even blindly looked at Democrats as good and Republicans as bad. Now, I'm mostly seeing corrupt politicians.

Next, there is the Fool on the Hill. He watches the sun going down, while the eyes in his head see the world spinning round. Nobody listens to him, for they know that he's just a fool. Nobody seems to notice, that he knows that they're the fools. I do not know just yet what the Fool will post about, but I can pretty well guess that it will be environmental in nature, being that it is what is foremost on this Fool's mind. Surely, it must be foolish to see the air turning brown, and wonder where your next breath is coming from. The Fool is a well loved and trusted friend whom I have known as far back as I can remember; the one Fool who could make another wise.

Finally, we have Neo RiNo. He is here as our opposing viewpoint, who will help us find the middle ground by being on the other side. I do not like many of his views about politics and environment, but they are his to have and hold, and his to share with all of us. I felt it would only be fair to have someone to cross foils with while debating. He and I have known one another for only a short time, but he strikes me as an intelligent and interesting person, who does think about what he thinks about (well, so do the Fool and I, but if he didn't, I would not have invited him here). He has already introduced himself better than I can, so I will leave it to you to read his post.

Real quick-like, I wanted to re-define liberal for everyone who may have their own ideas about the word. The reason for that (if you read my first post, I touched on that a bit) is that everyone has their own ideas about words. I realized that when I noticed how I felt disgusted to learn of any conservatives in existence around me...then realized that they are not angry, greedy, slimy evil people. They are people, like you and me. And so are "liberals".

So, what does liberal mean here? On this blog, Liberal is the idea that all people have a right to say their mind, no matter how little I or anyone else may disagree. To that end, post as you want. I will not censor you, I will not remove your posts. The only exceptions are spam posts, which have no relevance and will likely just fill the pages, or if your comment is one word or sentence repeated continuously to fill the entire comment block. I have seen people who protested blogs this way, and I will not have it here. I will repost what you said, but only the first one, if you chose to do that. Like I said, all opinions are valued here.

It is preferred, however, to keep the gloves on. Is language permitted? Preferably not, because I do not want this blog removed from listings. That will make it harder for people to find us. Are insults? Well, I prefer that they stay out, also. Like I said, let's keep it clean here. I don't want it getting too personal, and I want us to still be "friends" when this is all over.

I want to bring to you my own personal feelings right now. There is no research on this, just my feelings, but I think they are entirely valid. If you are a Republican, or a conservative, you are not my enemy. I might not be as nice to you, but I do respect your views as yours. I just ask that you do the same for me. I am an atheist. Let me get this strait right here and now, for any Christians reading this: I am not your enemy. We are here, and here we are. I do not believe in making labels, because it pits "us" against "them", whatever the hell that means.

My goal is one of unity. Not that of conformity, for that destroys individuality, but the spirit that we are all brothers and sisters in this. The only real enemy is the one who seeks to separate us. I may not agree with you. I may not even like you. But that does not make you my enemy. I will just agree to go my way, and you yours, and we can have peace.

Death and war are not answers. There is no way that true peace can ever be achieved through war, for it breeds hatred by necessity. We hate Iraqis. Why? Not because of anything they did to us, but because we are made to believe that they are "them", and therefore evil and against us. We hate Afghans, again, not because of anything they did to us...need I remind you that 1) the country's people did not feel that the attacks were right, on the average, and 2) most of the people on those planes did not come from either of those two countries that I just listed, but Saudi Arabia (who's people's feelings are likely not reflected by either the attack or the government...maybe I'm reaching here, but I don't believe that that many people feel that killing innocents is good)?

So, I am not anti-conservative...I don't agree with their opinions, but I think now is the time to throw down our weapons of prose and poetry (and outright slander, insults and character assassinations) and learn to work together for a better world. Was Bush a unifier? Most definitely. He unified the country into two factions. Us. And Them. For Us. Or Against Us. He unified by dividing. And, more and more, we are letting it happen. Because as long as "We" are fighting "You", he is free to take away all of our rights. How much longer before those who compare him to Hitler are irrevocably proven right?

As a side note, earlier today, Neo RiNo and myself had a discussion...it was about the rights of people and the rights of animals. I am not going to point fingers, or go into any real details, but I will say that both of us walked away from that pissed off at the other. I will not apologize for my opinions, nor will I apologize if they upset him, any more than I would ask him to for getting me worked up. That is the down side to debate. People will get hurt. People will get cheesed off. I just ask that they stay civil, and that we can still be friends when it is over.

And, to that, I say to Neo RiNo, that I hope you will still count me a friend. I still count you one.