With the national election one day away, God Forbid guitarist Doc Coyle has written us a blog about making decisions with your heart, not the blanket promises and expensive advertising slogans of one political party or another. He also discusses the definitions of the words "liberal" and "conservative" in an effort to elaborate his views. Thank you for waiting. The doctor will see you now:
In a sense, I hate doing political blogs. I can completely understand how a reader might feel patronized by some “head in the clouds” rocker who truly may be out of touch with the concerns of the average citizen. With that said, so many people of supposed importance -- like musicians and actors -- have offered their varied opinions on our current heightened political atmosphere. It is presupposed that artists are usually liberal in nature, and we often hear these terms like “liberal Hollywood elite,” and the context is usually negative in regard to the predictability of it all. Simply put, Lindsay Lohan telling you how to vote can be pretty goddamn annoying. I thought it might be interesting to dissect why this may be or at least appear to be so.
The fact is that I am no more qualified than anyone else to be given the soapbox to ventilate my views. What I, and other working artists like me, do have is a slightly altered paradigm than the average Joe. Artists get to spend their time creating with the sole purpose of sharing their work with others. My band and I spend months creating a piece of music, and than spend months or years traveling the world, symbiotically connecting with other people with purely positive energy, or taking negative energy and channeling it in a positive way. This exchange is highly emotional and, some may say, spiritual. I’ve had conversations with friends where I’ve compared the concert going experience to the church or religious experience. The emotional expenditure and purged release leave one feeling powerful and cleansed afterward.
This frame of mind can free one from the worker bee, consumerist, capitalist ideals that are beaten into our heads in school and reinforced when we grow up and enter the workplace. When you able to go to all the corners of the planet, you see that there is much more that binds us together than divides us. When your life revolves around creation and positive exchange, you tend to open up and see the potential of humanity. I think this is why most artists tend to be liberal, which is why supporting Barack Obama or being anti-Bush might be seen as a cliché at this point.
The idea of being liberal or conservative is fascinating to me, and lately I’ve been on a mission to figure out exactly what makes someone one or the other or a mix. First off, let’s look at their meanings:
liberal |ˈlib(ə)rəl|
adjective
open to new behavior or opinions and willing to discard traditional values: they have more liberal views toward marriage and divorce than some people.
favorable to or respectful of individual rights and freedoms: liberal citizenship laws.
conservative |kənˈsərvətiv; -vəˌtiv|
adjective
holding to traditional attitudes and values and cautious about change or innovation, typically in relation to politics or religion.
(of dress or taste) sober and conventional: a conservative suit.
(of an estimate) purposely low for the sake of caution: the film was not cheap—$30,000 is a conservative estimate.
I think how you are raised determines much of your viewpoint. For example, if your parents are lifelong Republicans and/or devoutly religious, then it’s likely that you will absorb some if not all of their values. From that perspective, I would hope that most of us would try to take our backgrounds and upbringings into account in understand why we believe what we do and not just blindly support an ideology just because we’re used to it. That’s why I try not to judge people on their political affiliation, because more often than not there are very good reasons why someone may lean in one direction or another. If it was beaten into your head as a kid in rural Indiana that Democrats were actually communists who wanted to take away your job, give it to some welfare-hooked black person who was not as qualified as you and take your guns away, I can see why you might still hold those views regardless of whether there is information to back it up. It may even be subconscious, so I don’t blame people out of prejudice.
With that said, look at the definitions above and really think about them. If being liberal is being open minded, than I think that’s a good thing. As far as I see it, being close-minded is a character flaw, and I’d be hard-pressed to be convinced otherwise. Being close-minded means always being on the wrong side of history, clinging on to obsolete ideas like slavery and believing that the earth is flat. At the same time, there are traditions and principles that hold a more timeless quality that I think should be respected. I also think being cautious is just being smart. There are old adages like “Look both ways before crossing the street.” That rule will never change. Also, I’m sure everyone wants the government to be fiscally conservative and be on budget. No one is voting for giant deficits. But being “cautious about change or innovation” is obtuse and stops progress. Does anyone who considers themselves slightly intelligent really stand against innovation? Of course not.
That’s a big reason why I find our political process so frustrating. Like Barack Obama, I believe most of us have more in common with each other than not. I think we should retire these flaccid titles because they don’t say much about us, really. I would hope that most people are open-minded and cautious, but intelligent about danger. I am supporting Barack Obama for President, but not out of allegiance -- not because I’m a f--king Democrat and hope my side beats the other side. Adversarial nationalism sickens me, and as people, we have to put these alliances down. Use your good sense, and try to be as objective as possible. Think about yourself and your family, not some stupid political party that is more concerned with its survival as a brand and a superpower. And, definitely don’t listen to a mascot, whose name isn’t Joe, who isn’t a plumber, who doesn’t own a small business, who doesn’t make $250,00 a year, and who would supposedly rather struggle harder in the middle class so that someone vastly more wealthy can get a few more bells and whistles on their tricked our luxury automobile.
I'm Doc Coyle and I approve of this message.
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