Standing in the Middle

[Skot David Wilson]

Am I conservative or liberal? Am I democrat or republican? Am I right or left?
I know some people wonder what some of my views are and how I got to them, so let me explain a little...

I consider myself a radical centrist. I see the Rush and Bush "wipes" on one side, and the Sharpton-Jackson-Teddy K fools on the other, and neither one has a real clue as to what direction we need to be going in.
I fell in love with America when I was very young. I real the federalist papers and so much more really young, and by the time I was 13 had read most of Jean Jacque Rousseau, Kant, John Stewart Mill, and Alan Watts.
I was an idealist, and still am.
I believe fully in personal liberty, that freedom only stops when you abuse the rights of others, and "others" to me means even nature, because I truly do see us as having a responsibility to protect the earth we live on and are part of.
This is a good part of why I am running for city council.
I see much of council serving the interests of money, and those who have it.
I am a capitalist, fully, but believe also that comes with a responsibility, when you live in a community, to insure that things are fair and everyone gets a break.
If you read the Preamble to the Constitution, and apply it to your soul, you have no choice but to fight against the abuses of power and give charity to the poor, as long as they are willing to try to do for themselves.
I believe no one should get a "free ride".
When you read the words "promote the general welfare" it should tell you clearly that it is a social responsibility to insure your fellow beings all get a fair shake.
Our American history is full of abuses... slavery, woman's sufferage, the right to a free and equal education... they all tie together as much as fighting special interests who use their wealth to rig laws and tax structures in their favor.
Should a CEO of a publically traded company get millions of dollars while their workers get laid off or have their pension accounts plundered?
Should developers and realtors and insurance companies give loads of money to install lackys who make laws that give them favor over those who can't afford to fight them?
Craig Field is a prime example of how money serves money.
Our whole energy policy is another, as is health care.
The 262 million gallons a day that the SJRWMD wants to steal from the St Johns to"sustain growth" is yet another.
And why don't we have a good and efficient light rail and mass transit system? Maybe the oil and automotive industry used their money to get law and policy designed to lock them in as the only game in town.

I think they all have a right to conduct business, but not to twist society to suck profit like a vampire sucking life blood at the cost of hurting society in general.
Why are teachers underpaid, and why is the middle class under attack from the very wealthy?
No one should ever have to work all day and remain in poverty. All work should have a base value that allows someone to sustain themselves, and maybe a family.
This is a right to work state, and unfriendly to unions, yet without unions this nation may have had a communist revolution in the depression.
Yet, again, our American history is rich with corruption and scandal. Just look at the Peyton administration and the grand jury being called upon city council members, who we all know are as guilty as sin.
I see no answers coming from the far left or right, and regular working people who are fair minded and have reason have no voice.
In my lifetime equal rights is still an issue, poverty is an institutionalized state imposed and supported by government, and people have been murdered because of their color or sexuality.

We invade Iraq for stupid reasons, one of which is oil, yet do nothing as millions are murdered and abused in Rawanda and now the Sudan and Chad. We allow China to have an unfair exchange rate that hurts industry at home, but maybe allows the rich to have a better portfolio, and our products come under tarrif while other nations get to import duty free>
A nation that produces nothing spends and goes broke, and our debt is something like almost $40,000.00 per person and rising.
And we don't even vote... we have like the lowest voter turnout and most uninformed population on God's green Earth.

Here are some centrist views of mine...
Evolution is proven, period, and if someone want to teach the mythology that it all just "popped" into existance 5,000 years ago, let them do that at home. I do personally believe that God used evolution to create, and have a stong belief in God, but as a much more universal being than we allow ourselves to think.
I personally believe only a man and a woman can be "married", but I support civil unions because it is not my place to judge anyone or deny anyone the rights God and our American ideals give them. If someone who is gay wants to call their "civil union" a marriage and their mate their "spouse", then fine...
I think "welfare" and government assistance are fine, but should not be abused and that people can pay part of it back by community service. I really like the Obama plan to offer college that you pay for with civil or community service.
I think education is a right, and that parental responsibility is important in that. Crime and poverty can find deep roots where education is weak or has failed, like here in Jax. 4 out of 10 19 year olds don't have a diploma, and many more have a sub-standard education... that does nothing for our "common defense" in the long run, because it makes us all weak.
We all suffer when kids are leaving school under-educated. How can we grow with a bunch of dumb@$$es running around who are unemployable? I think we need to toughen up and demand that our kids get a good education, and raise the drop out age from 16 to 18, use detention over suspension, and hold parents accountable for the actions of their kids, and maybe start up some alternative schools to reach and teach these kids.
I think we don't need the cost and damage of housing so many non-violent offenders in jails when they can be at home, finding jobs, going to school and doing community service. I think we need to makes jails places of learning how to be good citizens instead of warehouses for people we turn into trash... and leave the space we create to deal with the people who really might be trash and who need to be removed from the streets for a while.
I think we need more high density neighborhoods, instead of sprawl, and make developers pay impact fees instead of putting the burden for their infrastructure needs upon our tax dollars.
I think we need a good mass transit system, started by tax dollars and bonds but made so it pays for itself... and feel the same way about a desalination plant, and to use tax incentives and other incentives to bring 21st century businesses to town, like alternative fuels and other green thinking corporations, tying them to a vocational school system that produces workers for that industry, and do so with partnerships with unions and corporations to pay for part of that worker training.
I think we need to fund police and fire/rescue better, maybe use more civilians for administrative roles, but surely get more cops on the street with the tools they need to do their job.
I think we need to make teachers more accountable yet pay them what they are worth.
I think health care should be affordable for everyone, including dental and vision, so the elderly don't live in poverty just because they need meds to survive, and so people can not lose time at work because they are sick. On a national level, I really liked the Edwards plan, but the Obama one is not a bad start either.

Things need to change, and they will, but what the face of things will be depends on local politics just as much as it does from the national arena.
I am not part of the political machine or game in Jacksonville, and not in anyone's pocket. They can't own me because I don't give a damn about the "good old boy" network that yes, does include black democrats who act more like replublicans from Ortega or Ponte Vedra than they do representatives of the people who elected them.
I am the outsider who thinks outside of the box, and I think well centered plans and ideas from regular people who understand what it means to fight bills and worry about survival is what this city needs. Most people who are elected don't live near where the murders and crime are. They are insulated by who they associate with and where they live. They are not in the thick of it, and just don't understand how the once safe middle class in now the new working poor.

So I stand in the middle, and wonder why others who are sick of the far left or far right don't start standing up as well.
Right and wrong are much easier to understand than we often allow ourselves to consider them.
Secret back door deals and sneaky people who lie and break their word seem to be the bulk of what we can expect from who we have sitting in elected offices. I wish there were more regular common working people standing up and getting involved instead of the same recycled fools who show up to suck tax dollars or direct them to their friends while they screw the rest of us.
People, regular people, who reside in the center, need to stand up and take our society and country back.
That's why I'm running for office.