Great question. I hope I can answer it in a way that makes sense.
In my late teens, I heard someone say once that you can only get what you never had by doing what you have never done. Of course, this was referring to legal endeavors, not crime or anything like that.
For whatever reason, that statement stuck with me.
When I served in the military, I used to stay up late and watch Rush Limbaugh's TV program. I used it then as comic relief. I just thought the guy was funny as all get out. But after a month or so of just laughing, the things which he said began to make sense. But I wasn't ready to embrace conservatism, much less any Republican whatsoever. I was still in my Malcolm X, Jr. mode of thinking. Yeah, that's right. I blamed whitey for everything. If it rained during PT, it was whitey's fault. If my Frosted Flakes were stale or if I didn't have enough milk to eat them, it was whitey's fault.
I didn't know if I was mad because I was black, or if I was black because I was mad. So goes the mind of a 20 year old.
After I left the Army, I moved to Dallas with my sister. I met a wonderful woman who three years later would become my wife (and she still is). Her brother-in-law owned a limousine service, and I began working for him on a part-time basis.
It was on this job that I had a revelation of sorts. I was picking up someone at Dallas' Love Field. While I was waiting, I looked around the airport terminal at all of the shops therein. Roughly 95% of the business people coming off and going on the planes were whites. Yet, as I perused the terminal, all of the restaurants, newsstands, and shoe shine/barber shops employed blacks and Mexicans. Something about this picture didn't sit right with me. It became irritating to my psyche when I thought about it.
My next trip was to Dallas/Ft. Worth International. There I witnessed the same thing; white business people getting off and getting on the airplanes, and blacks and Mexicans in the service industry. For whatever reason, whenever I thought about this I became sad. Then it hit me. The people working in the service industries were healthy, had their faculties in order, and were capable. Why weren't they engaged in business instead of low-wage labor? The answer that came to me cut me like a knife: They, and you, chose the positions in life you find yourselves.
There was no denying it. The answer was true. From that moment on, listening to Jesse Jackson, Kweisi Mfume, Tavis Smiley, Al Sharpton, and Maxine Waters was not the same. Their words rang hollow. Once I realized that I was more responsible for my lot in life than anyone else, life changed dramatically. I didn't view myself as a victim anymore. I believed and knew that I was just as capable of doing what my heart desired as anyone else of whatever hue.
It was this that forced me to wholeheartedly reject the Democrat way of viewing the world. It wasn't easy. Always falling back on the excuse of the white man holding me back was difficult to give up because it provided a catch-all excuse for every failure of my life.
Later, as I defended my stance of being a Republican at my family reunions (you could have sworn that I had a Klansman hood on my head by the way I was treated by my own relatives), I became more bold and began to state my conservative views unapologetically.
Now, at the ripe old age of 30, my conservative reformation (if you will) has paid tremendous dividends. I am now a belligerent, cocky, self-confident individual in love with God, my wife and stepson, and the United States. I tell life that I'm real, raw, and will switch up and box it southpaw. Confidence is exhilarating when it comes from within, and not some sense of victimhood.
Ya heard? Good. Ya dig? Even better.
There's a ton more to this, but you have the Cliff's Notes version, and it should give you an accurate, although abbreviated version of my switch.
Love, peace, and chicken grease my people.
Do you like Tony Evans? I don't care how he votes. He atleast preaches Biblical conservative values and responsibility. I love that man. I can't wait to go down and visit his church. I was just curious about your opinion of him. It's ok if your opinion differs from mine. LOL
Whoa -- whatta great story! Welcome home!
May God continue to bless you and your family.
Hope you'll continue to be outspoken, as well:-)
And that in a nutshell my friend is what makes you and others like you dangerous to the "cause" of the liberals. When y'all start thinking for yourselves you become a threat because you more than any others can cast a light on what they're really about. They have no desire to solve the racial problem or any other problem for that matter. Their agenda hinges on voter ignorance, particularly ignorance in minority communities. I would suggest that this is the reason they push so hard to keep public schools intact and at the status quo as well as the explanation as to why they keep pushing for bilingual programs, regardless of how ineffective they have proven to be. Let's face it, somebody who can't speak the language doesn't present too much of a challenge to their leaders' superior intellect. Bingo. Instant voter block.
I appreciate your sharing and I admire you for being able to see through all the lies and vanity and reach your own conclusions and stand by them. That is quite an accomplishment in this new age of manufactured racism.
It is hard to approach these topics sometimes with out being taken the wrong way.
Thanks for validating that! I am proud to be your fellow American and I applaud you for your success!
TRS
God bless you...