Brace yourself; I’m going to get political. Actually, I’m going to get personal about my politics. But because I truly believe that the personal can be universal, I’m thinking that there are many others out there like me.
I’m a liberal. But I’m not a liberal because I made a pointed choice between Label A and Label B. I’m a liberal because there is no other alternative for me. I’m a Cuban-American. I’m gay. I’m pro-choice. I’m for gun control. I’m not religious. I’m a total live and let live guy. I treat others the way I want to be treated. I care deeply about humanity. I’m also a vegetarian.
Oh, and I live in Texas. Whew! How’s that for an uphill climb?
I’m very passionate about individual freedom, about representation, about making sure our elected officials embrace all people – all nationalities, all sexualities, all ethnicities, all colors, all shapes, and all sizes. More than 30 years after I cast my first vote, it seems to me that increasingly there are less and less political candidates openly embracing all people. The segmentation is rampant. The exclusion is stifling.
In many ways, I’m the big whammy. I know who I am. I don’t hide it, yet I don’t flaunt it, either. I just live. Sometimes I wonder if it’s harder to live in full color these days. With all the advancements – literally and figuratively – you’d think that tolerance and even acceptance would be an everyday reality. It is, and yet it isn’t. The climate can be hostile, and yet it can be warm and welcoming.
This is exactly why I demand inclusiveness from our elected and to-be-elected officials. Open your arms as if you’re about to hug a house, and then take in as many good people as you reach. The more our leaders fight for the people, the more we all matter.
Let me pontificate on a few freedoms that I fervently defend. Women should have every right to choose whatever it is they want to do with their bodies and the body inside their bodies. Men, particularly men in government, have absolutely no business telling them what they can and can’t do. I’m a man. I can’t bear a child. Who am I to tell a woman that she must? Who is any man to tell a woman that she must? That still boggles my mind.
The LGBTQ community is near and dear to my heart. Sexuality is innate. We don’t choose it. If we chose it, everybody would choose to be heterosexual because it’s the easy, most acceptable way out. Who you love, who you allow in your bedroom, who you marry, and what physical and emotional transformation you undertake is your business. Live and let live.
And now, deep breath, the gun control issue. Look, here’s the deal: I don’t own a gun and I have no desire to own a gun. If you are a responsible gun owner who acquired that firearm legally, more power to you. Enjoy! All I want to see is officially regulated mandates to keep those guns from sitting in inexperienced, maniacal, dangerous hands. Period.
As far as I’m concerned, these are all common-sense passions. These are passions that I believe are for the greater good. I vote for the greater good. I vote to make sure that everybody – male, female, black, white, Hispanic, gay, straight, bisexual, transgender, Christian, Jewish, Atheist, gun owner, non-gun-owner – has a voice. I vote to make sure that everybody has representation.
We live in a huge country that’s perched smack dab in the middle of a gargantuan universe. We live next door to families, strangers, lovers, foreigners, military, civilian, and clergy. We must all co-exist. We all breathe the same oxygen.
My politics are personal. Maybe they are also universal. I’m a liberal and I’m proud of it.
Mario's Musings 
I agree with everything you wrote here. Several years ago I feared that the pendulum would swing and I convinced my daughter and her boyfriend to get married before their daughter might have to face being considered a bastard child. At least things haven’t come to that yet. But my daughter recently came out, and if they get divorced, who knows what will happen to their daughter even though they are on good terms? In this environment, will she be judged unfit? The same folks who say they want small government are quick to meddle in people’s lives when they want to. All politics are indeed personal and all personal things can become political.
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Dear Glenda, it so infuriates me when good people are forced to conform for the sake of societal acceptance. Your daughter is a good mother (I have no doubts about that at all). Her sexuality, her marital status, her personal life has nothing to do with her ability to be a good mother. I’m so sad and angry that she even fears any of that. It’s funny, people say they want small government yet seem fine with said government – no matter its size – sticking its nose into matters that are clearly none of their business. I shouldn’t be afraid to give Steve a hug and a peck on the lips in public. But I was until about 4 months ago when I realized how foolish I was to live in fear. No. More. Fear. Living in fear is not living. I’m rambling here, perhaps, but the point is crystal clear – we need to select our future leaders based on representation and fairness. And we need to live and let live. Live in full color. Thank you for reading, as always. Huge hugs to you!
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