An Odd Conservative?

This post has been months in the making and I must actually be tired and bored enough to actually write this out. I got into politics in I guess it was the summer of election 2000. Thats when I first realized that politics and current events were interesting, and that I felt the same about a lot of things as my parents (for a teenager thats craziness).

I started getting into political stuff online, yahoo groups and all that jazz. I really liked going online and talking to other conservatives because outside of my family there wasn't really anyone that felt the same as me. So I met all these nice conservatives online and made some really great friendships which I still have to this day. It seemed like I was on the same page as everyone else, and everything really worked. All these places and friendships were much appreciated relief from the barrage of liberalism on campus.

Then I started using the internet as a way to learn more about my faith. There are a lot of bloggers out there who have really interesting stories of conversion or reverting back to the faith. I never left, it just turns out I never really knew anything. Getting on the internet and talking to other Catholics about the faith made me realize how little they taught me in catechism, and how much I really was missing out on.

Actually, a friend asked me this evening about why my parents were religious. Which is a story in of itself I would imagine, but then later I started thinking about why I practice. Why is my faith important to me? Why do I try to make it a part of my every day life and not just something for an hour on Sunday? I think the internet is a big part of that (the other big part would be Fr. Fred's wonderful example). I think my parents would be the obvious answer, but they may have kept me going to church, but that doesn't mean I had to be active in it.

In the past year or so I've noticed that some of my views have changed. I haven't really been fitting in as well with some of my new ideas.

Abortion:

I've always been pro-life, but lately it has been more and more important to me, as other issues seem less clear. I did a lot of thinking about my vote for governor in the last election. Faced with a pro-choice democrat and a pro-choice republican, what was I supposed to do? I mean its not an easy decision is it? As you might remember me saying I ended up voting for a third party candidate. Now we're coming up to the '08 election and what do I have to look forward to? Lots of conservatives all over the place are already really set on candidates that are pro-choice. How can I get behind and passionate about a candidate that is pro-choice? I personally like Brownback, but even if you don't like him, there are other candidates that are pro-life, why do I have to settle for a pro-choicer? It really irriates some people too. Some how by not supporting Guiliani or Romney I'm this horrible person who wants to hand over the country to Hillary or Obama. No, sorry, I'm just not wanting to settle for a semi-conservative. Being opposed to the rape/incest/life of the mother exceptions also can cause some problems.

Death Penalty:

This is one view that has certainly changed, a lot. I can remember being mad when Governor Ryan put the moratorium on the death penalty. Now looking back on it, I don't have a problem with the action (motives maybe) because I'm increasingly uncomfortable with the death penalty. I'm not someone who goes all nuts about the death penalty I don't know it just seems like it might not be the best option. I know the church isn't completely against the death penalty, but I'm just not sure on the whole thing. I guess my opinion on this is still a work in progress.

Contraception:

I guess before I started learning nore about the faith and getting more into the pro-life movement I didn't do a lot of thinking about contraception. It seems to come up more often than it used to. Some seemed to be bothered very much by my being against contraception. Lets face it, I can't stop anyone from using it (at least I can't last I checked), but I'm not going to give approval to something I believe to be morally wrong. I would just expect people to just say oh she's weird and move on, but it does seem to be a position that annoys people.

Immigration:

I just have a hard time getting really passionate about immigration, obviously I mean illegal immigration because I've never seen anyone I know get mad about legal immigration. I haven't done a whole lot of thinking about immigration, I'm sort of in the very broad lets make it easier to come here legally so we can track illegals easier. I don't like all these things where illegals are given social security, and bank cards, and all this other ridiculous stuff. But I also don't like it when those arguing against illegal immigration make it a racial thing. It makes me very uncomfortable when anything like that comes up at all.

International Intervention:

I'm generally supporting of intervening in places even when there isn't a direct threat to us, but there is a humanitarian crisis.

I guess those are some of the major things I'm looking at right now. So am I an odd conservative or what?