Clark County Administrator Heidi Wetzler has had enough of those who find it unacceptable for others to hold conservative views
To Whom it May Concern …
You do not speak for me. I am not easily defined. I refuse to be falsely clumped into a group with a simple, misleading label. I am an individual. One individual among a nation of other individuals. The freedom to be an individual is one of many bedrocks of this extraordinary nation.
The fight in this nation today is attacking my ability – my right — to stand alone. In this space I have tried to stay neutral in my opinions. I have tried to appeal to the broadest audience possible with my personal insights and life experience. But if we are going to save our nation, we must use our voices. We must stand up even if it means we stand alone.
I have said before that I have friends all over the political spectrum. I am personally very proud of that. I know this isn’t the case with many people. Families are estranged. Friendships are severed. All because effective communication is no longer valued. The stereotyping and name calling that runs rampant today are actually the two lowest levels of communication according to Graham’s Hierarchy of Disagreement. We have learned it from our leaders. We witness it parroted in the news. Our young people are “educated” in this manner. This type of argument insults the intelligence of the receiving party. And requires little of the speaker.
The most common form of this emotionally charged communication is dumbed down with gotcha moments, ripe with attacks on one’s character. Too often if someone calls you a racist, bigot, fascist, misogynist, or homophobe, that is the be all, end all of their argument. They are not required to back any of their claims up with a single fact. Often they don’t even have a single fact to offer. And when pressured the next predictable go-to retort is “if you don’t see your own depravity, you are a waste of my time – and my mad typing skills.”
Funny (but not really funny) how it used to be acceptable to hold conservative views. Now it apparently isn’t even tolerable by the left. A full 74 million people need to be reeducated in their opinion. What incredible arrogance. Conservatives generally believe in smaller government therefore lower taxes, individual liberty and responsibility, free markets and a strong national defense.
Because Donald Trump ran on this conservative platform, conservatives voted for him. Now, because you voted for a candidate that shares your conservative views, you are supposedly an official member of a cult. You are racist. You are all of the other “ists” and “isms” and “phobics.” You are a vile member of a disgusting movement that needs to be reprogrammed. All because one man was president for four years. One mortal man. One president that has come and gone.
The never-ending news cycles of Trump hate actually is responsible for where we are today. Let me say that again. The hypocrisy and hatred coming out of the Democrat party and powerful colluding entourage CREATED the awakening of conservatives. Typically, conservatives are a group that goes to work, comes home and takes care of their families. And, conservatives are happy to give their neighbors the same freedom to live as they wish, even if their opinions differ from their own. If the left and news media really want to change minds and hearts, they would do so by example. Not by relentlessly attacking one man who will not be president forever. It is revolting to me and should be to you how much time and taxpayer money was spent on trying to oust, impeach, vilify, and delegitimize one man whose time as president was limited by law. What kind of leader rips up the president’s State of the Union address? That is not leadership. The fact that that is admired and supported is really what is disgusting.
At the end of his presidency, I was actually hoping that Trump would lose because I was exhausted from all of the hate. I was looking forward to a break. But not surprisingly, the hate has continued. But now that hate, coming from the self-proclaimed morally superior party, has turned on every one of those that dared to vote for him. Republicans are Trumpets and Trumpers. Lovers of the big bad orange man. Again, this name calling is the most base-level communication above simply screaming. Which is actually done a lot too.
New enlightened terms, social justice ideologies and potential progressive policies are invented and introduced daily. And if everyone doesn’t get on board, the effort to shame and disgrace and cancel those who may think differently is painfully alive and well. Enough is enough.
No one has the right to tell me who I am. Or define what I believe. I refute and recuse myself from your labels. I can hear the self-righteous arguments now … if I don’t acknowledge my privilege then I must be blinded by it. My friends on the left … you don’t get to make up the rules. You don’t get to come up with something five minutes ago and then hatefully judge others by your new-found self enlightenment. Especially in the name of love and progressivism. What an oxymoron. In a free society, that is not how this works.
If this intolerant situation continues, my wild fairytale pipe dream for the future is that America can split into two countries. One for Republicans and one for Democrats. One that wants to follow the freedoms awarded to each and every one of us in our constitution. And one that would be free to “encourage” everyone to have the exact same opinions. I imagine that Republicans would be all for this type of arrangement. And something in my gut tells me that the left would be against this as they would lose the opportunity to try and control the minds of ALL the people.
I am also a proponent for school vouchers – freedom of school choice. The ability to take your tax money and send your child to whichever school you choose. Again, the left is staunchly against this idea as they would no longer hold captive the hearts and minds of the majority of young people. Because they want that control. They believe their ideas and ways are superior. Consequently, the school system today largely teaches our youth to name call and not consider competing ideas. It is such a sad and dangerous thing.
So, please. Stop calling me names. Stop demonizing a whole group of Americans because they believe in controlled immigration, which only a few short years ago was not a partisan issue. Controlled immigration is not racist. Stop telling me who I am. That is lazy. That is tyrannical. That is wholly uneducated. We as a nation are devolving, not evolving. Wake up sleeping people. We need to demand better from our leaders. And from ourselves.
