My Idaho at 120 BPM

Until recently, I have been a registered Republican for most of my life. My Mom and Dad grew up during the great depression. My father was a navigator on a B-24 in World War II.
They were defined by these hardships. They learned to be frugal. They were honest and patriotic. The end of the war brought incredible pride and respect for the
American effort and the depression was finally behind them.
Going forward life was good. America was strong and the federal government had implemented systems to prevent an economic crisis of that magnitude from happening
again.

By the time I was in junior high school I witnessed the older brothers of some of my friends being drafted and sent to fight the war in Vietnam. Fortunately for me,
I was just a little too young to have my number called. I don’t remember questioning why we were engaged in the war. I was told that communism was bad and America was in
Vietnam to prevent it from spreading to South Vietnam. I remember the nightly news was dominated by the coverage of the war and the daily ‘body counts’. It seemed as if the ‘body counts’ were a way of keeping score. It was
about this time that music started to become a huge influence in my life. I remember the music became the theme of the times. It was in the music I first started
to question America’s involvement in the war. Why were so many artist writing songs with messages about how wrong this conflict was. The Patriotic establishment
spoke out against the youthful protests accusing the protesters of being communists themselves. This was a confusing time for a kid in the late 60’s living in a patriotic
american family. It wasn’t until much later in my life after watching documentaries about the war that I finally realized how wrong and misguided America’s involvement in
Vietnam really was.

Through high school and college I grew my hair long, worshiped the music of the day and basically had a lot of pride in America. I didn’t really understand politics
or even have an opinion of those running for office. I remember riding my bike to a Robert F. Kennedy rally at a local shopping center. I recognized his youth but
never took the interest to understand his message. My parents were republicans I figured I must be as well. Honestly I don’t remember that the difference between
a republican and a democrat was all that great back in the day.

Fast forward to the hot tub at a hotel in Salt Lake City where I was staying with my buddies on a ski trip during the Bush administration.
I was angry and hurt after Sep. 11. I wanted somebody to pay and I knew the Bush administration felt the same way. The US is my team and I watched the invasion of Iraq like I was watching a game, rooting for a powerful and dominating victory over the bad guys.

It was there in the hot tub that my buddies had introduced me as their “republican friend”. At first it didn’t even register. It wasn’t
until later that I started to wonder what they saw in me that would have them identify me in such a way. I certainly didn’t view myself as a right wing conservative, just the contrary. I supported the war because my Dad was an officer in the US Army Air force and I had great respect for our military. He trusted the US leadership to do what was right for America, but what if the invasion of Iraq was misguided as it was in Vietnam?

Was war necessary in either of these cases? Can war be a political tool, an economic tool? What political party is more apt to choose war as as a solution to conflict? A recent poll indicates almost half of registered Republicans would support a preemptive strike on North Korea. Scary.

I have always had great pride in America. I view America as a beacon of hope to the rest of the world as a nation founded on the principles of  freedom, integrity, compassion and equality, but America has made mistakes. From misguided wars, slavery, racism and the abuse of wealth and power America has struggled at times to connect with it’s principles.  I can only hope that as we continue to focus on education we learn from these mistakes. Times change and change is necessary. Those who resist positives changes set America back. The idea that America should take a step back to be ‘great again’ is ludicrous.  I believe liberal thinking promotes positive change and I want to be part of that change.