I Consider Myself To Be Right Wing, But What Does That Mean?

A couple of years ago, I was chatting up a pretty lady in a bar (it was maybe our fourth date), and as the conversation continued, it became pretty clear that she was left of center, at some point in time, she asked me if I was a Republican, and that label did not really fit how I see myself, so I paused a minute, thought about it and I told her that I was a right-wing libertarian. She gasped and a look of shock and disbelief appeared on her face. I was a little taken aback and blurted out, there's nothing bad about that. I can only imagine what was going through her head, rows of Nazi's sporting roman salutes or some kind of skinhead hate group, because the media has conditioned her to believe that right wing is bad, while being a left wing communist is an acceptable political persuasion.

What she did not realize is that like Communism and Socialism, Fascism is a collectivist ideology that minimizes the individual to the point that he has no rights that supercede the group, therefore the sacrifice of an individual for the good of the group is an acceptable proposition. All three are leftist, collectivist ideologies.

But what is right wing? For me it is supporting the constitution, free speech, the second amendment, individual rights, free markets, capitalism (not the crony kind), small government, fiscal responsibility, personal responsibility, anti-communism, borders, language, and culture. How on earth does this get a bad name? These are the core values that made America great, and somehow are disparaged in the media in a never ending fountain of hatred and vitriol. 

What we call right wing today is closer to classic liberalism in days of past. At the same time, left wing today is becoming ever more radicalized, pc, intolerant, communist and anti-free speech.

I continued to date this lady for more than a year, mostly because we had a very satisfying mutual physical attraction to each other. I loved her easy laugh, and she appreciated my easy-going kindness, charity, and responsible nature.  We tended to avoid politics, and both of us knew our relationship was eventually doomed to fail. 

At the beginning of this year, she moved to another state, the juxtaposition of left and right was consigned to oblivion and Florida grew a little colder that day.