A Personal Manifesto

By William L. Garvin

Over the course of my years, I have been privileged to reap the counsel of many people who are wiser than I will ever be.  Much of their wisdom has faded into the recesses of an aging memory but some has stayed with me as personal, lasting immutable truth.  One team of psychologists wrote in a memorable treatise as to how, as a society, we have fallen into a pattern that is dangerously oriented toward “raw advocacy” rather than  “pure dialogue”, the latter defined as the search for meaning via the free flow of information.  Another lesson came from a distinguished executive who said the following:  “I will always tell you the truth, based upon the facts that I have available to me at this time.  I reserve the right to change my mind as additional facts become available.”  To paraphrase another well respected author: “as a society, we have fallen into a pattern of making technically accurate statements with the intent to deceive.”

As a left brain dominant male, I know that I do gravitate toward discussions that rely heavily upon facts.  I am also aware of my tendency toward raw advocacy when it comes to matters of principle with which I have wrestled for years and have reached what, at least to me, are logical conclusions bolstered by available facts.  That is not to say that I am devoid of right brain emotional responses.  Logically knowing my faults as a man, husband, father, citizen, and Christian does not inure me to feelings of regret and sorrow.  It does however spur me toward trying to be a better person in all the aforementioned categories.

Not surprisingly, I also respond to emotional attacks upon myself and my compatriots in an all too typical “fight or flight” syndrome.  Being old and with bad knees, I no longer have the flight capability of youth.  Being blessed with a modicum of wisdom and experience, I do have the ability to discern between fact and fiction and choose to stand and fight the latter.

For instance, as a conservative, I am frequently called a racist by people I have never met.  I have a son and daughter who have each blessed me with two beautiful “mixed race” grandchildren.  As a proud grandpa, my two granddaughters are beautiful beyond compare and my two handsome grandsons make Adonis jealous!  I would vote for Ben Carson or Allen West in a heartbeat, and despite his flaws, believe Martin Luther King was courageous and showed incredible humanity.  I also believe the policies and leadership of Barack Obama are unfortunate failures for his presidency and for the United States.  I believe these decisions are based on fact not skin color.

I am also told than because I am a conservative, I am waging a “war on women.”  Apparently I have no mother, wife, sisters, daughters or other close relations of the feminine persuasion with whom I have any particular affinity.  This is as nonsensical as saying that because I am a conservative, I’m for “dirty air and dirty water.”  Apparently, conservatives like myself have an indefatigable supply of clean air and clean water that is not accessible to the leftist perpetrators of this canard!  Furthermore, conservatives are nothing more than “corporate shills.”  One letter writer even suggested that the Koch brothers were my “patron.”  If so, the brothers are way behind on their payments!  Nobody pays me anything for putting my pen to paper, excuse me, my fingers to keyboard (old habits die hard!), not even this newspaper.  And if you ask my wife, I spend far too much time researching thoughts, ideas, and facts before I commit anything to print.  By the way, I hardly ever quote Fox news in order to avoid provoking leftist angst, vituperation, or apoplectic fits.

I also believe that the United States is a remarkable, an exceptional country that has spread more wealth over a broader spectrum of its citizens than has ever happened in history.  I believe that the founding fathers were brilliant intellects as did John F. Kennedy when he quipped at a 1962 dinner for 49 Nobel laureates that the evening was "the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever gathered at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.”

So if you think that because I believe the Constitution restricts the federal government to specific enumerated powers, that I believe free market capitalism provides the greatest opportunity for the most people, that I believe the massive federal debt is a threat to our security both individually and nationally, that I believe government spending and regulation is out of control, that I believe our God-given rights stem from Him and not from government, therefore I am some kind of radical, right wing terrorist…then here I stand!