Questions?

I have been absent for a while. Part fatigue, part frustration, part looking for a new spin on things. Debate excites me because it brings questions, or perhaps more accurately, it brings answers to questions.

When you are questioned, you are forced to really examine and defend what you believe. If you are asked why you believe socialized medicine is the right path for this country, or why you think that cap-and-trade will devastate the economy, you are forced to develop an answer. It is not enough to say that you HEARD on the radio that something won't work or that your local congressman SAID they believed that debt might ruin the successes of this country. If you are asked a question for which you must provide an answer, you will either tell yourself and others why you believe, or be shown that you don't really know. This can be equally illuminating to yourself as it can be for others around you.

The curse of a forum like this is that we don't really have to answer the questions that we don't have an answer for; but the beauty is that when we aren't quite sure what our answer is, we can take a moment, think, ponder, and decide what our answer is.

It may sound silly, but when I started this blog, I purposefully put my name on it...my real name. It's easy to hide behind a false name and to remain anonymous. It's easy to keep saying that you think both sides are wrong and we should all just get along. It's easy to NOT take a stand. However, things can get tricky when our beliefs become knows; when we take a stand on an issue and say this is ABSOLUTELY true. Absolutes are a big problem for a lot of people.

It has become clear to me that without criticism, without someone questioning my beliefs, I can never really know them to be true. Further, without the questions, and the resulting answers, we can never really lead ourselves to real solutions that solve the problems we face.

We are told by our progressive leaders today that they embrace debate and want to bring all views together to craft legislation that will allow everyone to prosper. The problem lies in the 1000 pages bills that they have already crafted behind closed doors, waiting in the wings to unleash on the masses. No debate. No questions. In fact, they give us answers without the questions.

I expect to be questioned, because without the questions, I won't find the answers. I haven't been disappointed by conservative values yet. When the rights of the individual are upheld and extended to each person regardless of color, social status, economic status, religion or hair color, every person wins. I love to answer the questions of those who disagree. Hopefully we can all start answering questions, taking a stand, and stop pretending that un-answered questions don't really matter.