RUSH HOUR GOING INTO LOS ANGELES
3 PM, FRIDAY, JUNE 12, 2009:
RUSH HOUR GOING INTO BUFFALO, WYOMING
9 AM, MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2009:
I’ve always been very anti-authority, since I was a little kid, got in trouble arguing with teachers, scout masters, etc. I basically voted Democrat until a few years ago because I didn’t understand politics, and thought that liberals were compassionate and conservatives were selfish.
My road to libertarian had a lot to do with my road to Wyoming. My wife and I had wanted to move out of California since soon after we met, but it had more to do with not having neighbors than anything in specific.
Then we bought a gun, and I bought some gun and legal books, one was “You and the Police”, that was a big influence. I’d never encountered anything by a non-leftie non-criminal that told you how to stay out of the way of the police. It kind of blew my mind. That book was also the first place I ever heard of legal open carry….I had no idea such a thing existed. At that time I was going nuts with the thought that I couldn’t get a carry permit in Los Angeles, and Wyoming was on our short list of states we wanted to move to…..(It was Washington, New Hampshire, West Virginia, Wyoming and Idaho, in no special order at that time).
I finished “You and the Police” in one night, got on this forum that night, and nine months later we were living in Casper.
we’ve lived here seven months now and LOVE IT! And I got my carry permit last week, but it was a little anti-climatic after open carrying so much!
I guess there were a lot of influences….my Republican/libertarian wife, my Republican dad, my Goldwater Republican father-in-law, Boston, this board, the Free State Project (NH) board, and just “if you’re young and not a liberal, you have no heart. If you’re middle-aged and not conservative, you have no brain.” 
I am registered Libertarian Party, but vacillate between Republican, libertarian, minarchist and anarchist, depending on my mood (and how much Fox News is irking me that day.)
Here’s more about my “journey”
http://libertarianrepublican.blogspot.com/2009/12/punk-rock-california-liberal-buys-gun.html
And there’s more on the spoken word thing called “Letter to a Young Me” on the Right Arm of Wyoming CD. It’s me reading a chapter from this book I wrote:
http://www.lifeamp.org
I know that when I mention politics, some say “It’s all useless, all politicians are snakes”, but when I read older things by those people, some of those same people were involved in politics. Maybe I’ll get to where they are in a few years, but it’s new and hopeful to me now.
I got involved with the Republican party at a pretty hopeless time, and a couple months later, a Rep took Ted Kennedy’s seat, then all this cool stuff happening in the Wyoming state Gov, I feel excited about it.
Hope that helps explain.
MWD
Maybe I am not understanding this post but it seems that because you wanted to own guns, you had to move out of urban California to small town Wyoming and become a republican. My best friend lives in NYC, owns over 100 guns (legally registered, of course), and is a liberal. I don’t know. Maybe I am just not getting the reason for your switch of political parties.
By the way, you were right. Liberals are compassionate and Conservatives are selfish.
“Liberals are compassionate and Conservatives are selfish.”
So you say!
MWD
Your friend has 100 guns, but he can’t carry any of them in NYC, which kind of defeats the main reason to own them.
MWD
No, so it is!
When George W Bush ran for office in 2000, he was touting himself as a “compassionate conservative”. If conservatives were known for being compassionate, why would he feel the need to put that adjective in front of his political view? Conservatives are not known for their compassion towards people. They view money as being more important than people. They will also back corporations but never the little guy. Liberals have the reputation of standing up for the less fortunate. Actually, “less fortunate” is not the greatest terminology. Liberals have the reputation for standing up for the “others”. You know, those who are not white, nor rich, nor christian, nor heterosexual, nor etc. Conservatives have the reputation for preventing the “others” from having freedom. Kind of ironic, since “freedom” is a word conservatives love to embrace…but only for themselves.
Carrying a gun on you is not defeating the purpose of owning guns. You seem to think that this the ONLY reason to own guns. This is not true.
First of all, he does not feel paranoid that he is going to get jumped at any given time. Most people in NYC don’t. Just because one lives in a major city does not mean they will be a victim. NYC is a pretty safe town. I grew up there. So did my parents and the majority of my friend. Of all of the people I have met in my life in NYC, no one has ever been mugged nor rapped nor anything.
Secondly, he has guns primarily to go hunting in New York State.
Third, in case some one does break into his house, he is prepared.
Finally, some people collect comic books, others collect coins. He collects guns. He loves the way they are designed.
Michael, I know you love guns and that’s cool but you shouldn’t let paranoia get the better of you. It has convinced you that you must have a weapon on you 24/7. I know you legally can carry in Wyoming but just because you can doesn’t mean you have to. Personally, for me, I would hate to go through life assuming I am going to be attacked at any second. And this is coming from someone who has spent the majority of his life living in the NYC metro area.
I got mugged at 2ed and B in NYC, knife to the throat. If someone hadn’t come around the corner, I’d be dead.
I’m not paranoid. I’m very relaxed. I just know that things can happen anywhere anytime.
MWD
I am very sorry that you had experienced that and glad that someone did come around the corner, preventing the situation from getting worse.
I wasn’t saying that crime doesn’t exist in NYC. Of course it does. It exists everywhere. What I was saying is that compared to most cities, NYC is quite safe. In fact, in 2009, NYC had the lowest murder rate since the mid-60s.
I would assume, due to your horrible experience, you wouldn’t feel NYC is safe. I just want you to know that NYC is not a consistent episode of Law & Order.
A co-worker of mine was born and raised in Brooklyn. He claims everyone he knows is packing heat and almost none of them legal because the “legal” process is a joke.
I’d also like to add that there is a differece between compassion and forced compassion. Conservatives support personal charity whereas liberals claim to be compassionate by forcing others to give away their own private assets to help others.
If all the big shots in the Democratic party would “spread the wealth around”, as Obama said he wanted to do, by giving away their own money instead of mine and yours, they would look a lot better.
smartest comment all month.
MWD
It all depends on what part of New York you are from. I am from Staten Island, the tamest part of NYC. I don’t know what part of Brooklyn your co-worker is from but there are some nice parts and some really shitty parts. If it is Bed-Sty, I wouldn’t be surprised about your friend’s claim. Michael was attacked in what is known as “alphabet city”. Most New Yorkers know to stay away from that area.
I love how the republican get so pissed over Obama’s “spread the wealth around”. Reagan had the “trickle down” theory, which didn’t really work that well. However, it was the same idea.
Please explain how people are being “forced” to give away their private assets to help others.
Started another thread to answer this question.
MWD
TS – I’m not sure what part of Brooklyn he’s from. But his mother lives in Park Slop. He last lived on Staten Island before he left NYC. I wasn’t trying to imply that NYC was dangerous. Simply that my co-worker does not agree that it’s easy to legally own a gun in NYC and he stated that most people he knows aren’t legal gun owners because of strict NY/NYCs gun laws.
I have a friend in Newark. Whenever I visit we typically end up in Alphabet City at a bar called Zum Schneider. It’s yuppieville now. He took me around to many bars and showed me the area. I guess it used to be all crack houses and the streets were littered with druggies and whores.
Liberals are always looking for new excuses to raise taxes and cherry pick from my paycheck that I work hard far. I have no say in the matter. I’m forced to give up more money for the greater good.
Don’t kid yourself, republicans do the same.
yeah, 2ed an B is yuppie ville now. But I don’t care how nice a place is, there are always crappy parts of town a stolen car ride away.
MWD
I never said they didn’t. But liberals are more prone to raise taxes under the guise of the greater good. You can’t deny that. Seriously, man, you live in a place where they want to tax people for drinking pop.
Yeah, NY’s Governor Patterson is probably the governor NY has ever had. However, in his and New Yorkers defense, he was not voted in. He became governor by default after Spitzer’s prostitute scandal. Patterson’s term is up at the end of the year. He will not run for re-election. The soda tax will not pass. It’s purpose was to a) raise money and b) curtail obesity. Yes, that is nannying. However, in NY, it works on the other side too. NYC’s Mayor Bloomberg, who is republican, has been the cigarette nazi ever since he got into office. Thanks to him, It is about $10 per pack.
Sorry, I meant to say that Patterson is probably the worst governor NY has ever had.
This is one of my favorite political cartoons