A new direction, perhaps.

So, I've noticed that two of my siblings also have blogs (if you are interested in reading them they are at http://meditativemormon.blogspot.com/ and http://livelaughlovethink.blogspot.com/ both updated on a non-regular basis), and every time I see my brother's I think, "Man, that kid has got his stuff together, he's got a definite topic that he follows." And then I'm embarrassed to update mine because I have, historically, had no direction. However, lately, events have caused me to come up with an idea for the direction of this blog. Let's discuss those events for a moment.

As you may know if you know me, I have been in the process of buying a house for the past couple of months. Due to a small snafu about a month ago, I have been living in one city and commuting an hour and fifteen minute to another for work. In any case, initially, when starting this new job I was hesitant because I would be working with people I didn't know. Luckily, there is a guy that works there who is right around my age and seems like a fairly cool guy. Don't get me wrong, he's fun to work with and I can relate with him on a number of topics, but there's one topic of conversation where I say nothing.

This topic I speak of is politics. Now, I don't talk to him about politics because I learned long ago that you do not talk politics with someone you disagree with if you want to continue being friendly with that person. So, because I disagree - sometimes quite strongly - with his viewpoints, I choose not to discuss them. However this leads to a fun time where he will rail on a specific point and I'll just be quiet and insert noncommittal "hems" and "haws," while inwardly I want to let the debater in me out. This usually ends with me taking a large portion of my drive yelling at the imaginary concept of my coworker.

This is where the blog comes in. Within the next few days I will not be having to take the long drive between work and home anymore, so how on earth am I going to vent my frustrations at my coworker? Simple, by throwing those frustrations to the internet and hoping that someone is interested in listening to what I say.

Now, a bit of a disclaimer: If you plan on continuing to read this blog it is important that you understand where I stand on a variety of issues, since I will probably talk about those and may or may not offend you in the process. So, here is my general political profile:

I am a self-labelled conservative-moderate libertarian. I personally believe that the national government should have very little power and that municipal and state governments should have the bulk of any power.

I am, on most fiscal issues, very conservative. I believe that the government needs to be very particular on what they spend and how much they spend. I feel that welfare programs have a place but they need to be better handled.

I am, on quite a few social issues, moderate to conservative. I am not for same-sex marriage simply because I feel like the government shouldn't dictate what is and isn't a marriage. I am pro-life.

I am a straight, white, male. If you feel like that alone disqualifies any opinion I have, leave this blog now, you aren't going to be happy.

I live (or at least will in the next couple of days) in the state of Utah. I am also LDS.

You will no doubt find that things I say disagree with you, please don't hate me for that. I hope that I will be able to explain the reasons I have the views I have as I discuss them so that you can understand where I come from. If you wish to comment, afford me the same courtesy, don't just say I'm wrong, give me some background to show why you believe I'm wrong.

Expect a new post soon, perhaps a rant about something my coworker said.