Street Smart

Practical vs. theoretical experience

 

September 12, 2019



Winston Churchill said, “If you’re not a liberal at age twenty, you have no heart. If you’re not a conservative at age forty, you have no brain.” I’d amend that and swap the word “experience” for the word “brain.”

My last three columns were an attempt to describe my personal journey from a liberal philosophy to one that is quite conservative. I’ve used examples from my own experience to try and explain that transition.

I believe that most conservative thinkers follow a path similar to mine in terms of experience. Meaning simply that they have some! A conservative’s experience is practical, while a liberal’s experience is theoretical. I guess another example is in order to help me illustrate my point.

When I was 26 or 27 years old, I’d been a police officer for about five years. I reconnected with a high school classmate who had gone straight from high school to college, where he earned two degrees. After college, he moved back home with his parents while he looked for a job. He had remained quite liberal in his thinking, while I had changed considerably and become quite conservative.

We didn’t argue, but instead agreed that this made perfect sense. He’d spent his years after high school on a college campus, only working during the summer. I’d gone to a junior college for two years while working full time. I then became a police officer, while he remained in school.

My day-to-day experiences were vastly different than his! My classroom was a police car in south Los Angeles. His was a real classroom. His views were shaped by things he’d read and discussed with other students and professors. My views were shaped by the things I saw and the people I encountered first-hand on a daily basis.

This explanation for me is the difference between practical versus theoretical experience. As a side note, this same friend caught up to me and became quite conservative when he entered the working world.

The type of experience I’m trying to describe makes a person very much a realist. We see things unfiltered and the way they are, rather than the way we’d like or hope they might be. Admittedly, this same experience can create a level of cynicism if an individual isn’t a critical thinker. Being a realist isn’t always a quality either. We can be too direct and put people off. I know I’ve been called out for that very thing. However, I look at it like the situation where the doctor tells a person he/she needs to lose 25 pounds. Do we get mad at the doctor for stating the truth or acknowledge we’re receiving information we need to hear?

The following is a snapshot of what I’ve learned. Clearly, I can’t speak for all conservative thinkers and all readers will be able to call up an example of someone who doesn’t fit the following description. That said, I’m confident that I’m speaking here for the conservatives I know personally and discuss political issues and ideology with often.

First, the color of a person’s skin, their sexual orientation, their economic status or religious beliefs mean absolutely nothing. I spent my formative years and my entire career living and working in the most diverse environment imaginable. Through all that time there was one constant. It’s the content of a person’s character that matters… nothing else.

I support a strong immigration policy because I’ve seen the chaos caused by weak policy. Legal immigration is an asset to our nation while illegal immigration is a detriment. Liberals want to make immigration a race issue. They’re wrong, it isn’t.

I think everyone who is able, should carry his/her own weight. Clearly, we should do all we can to help those who can’t help themselves. However, I’ve seen that entitlement programs for the able bodied are nothing more than a form of slavery. Entitlement programs cause people to become dependent on the government rather than on themselves. Give a person a job and their dignity/self-esteem skyrockets! Entitlements should be used to give a person or family a hand up and an opportunity to rebuild. They should never be allowed to become a lifestyle.

Life is about choices and we’re all responsible for the outcome of the decisions we make. I have no tolerance for people who whine, blame others and make excuses for their own incompetence or a stupid decision. I respect people who acknowledge/own their mistakes, learn from them, and move on. There’s a segment of our society that lacks the character I mentioned above. These people are quick to blame racism, sexism, and every other type of “ism” or some sort of phobia for their failures. I think these “isms” and phobias would die of natural causes if liberals would stop doing three things; quit inventing new ones, quit resurrecting old ones and stop keeping them all on life support.

I believe in and strongly support the Second Amendment. I know that, as badly as we want to be, cops can’t always be where we need to be when bad things happen. The Second Amendment provides the authority and the means for good people to defend themselves. That said, I also understand the theory behind a requirement for background checks. The same experience that taught me good people should be able to carry guns, taught me that there are individuals out there who should never have access to firearms. We need to know who they are.

There are so many more points to make but I’m out of space. Thoughts?

Blaine Blackstone is a retired Los Angeles Police Sergeant who enjoys the simpler life in Thompson Falls. He can be reached by email at [email protected].

 

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