In whatever you vote or think, reasoning and principles are everything!
You don’t need me to tell you that in politics, what is left & right, black & white, or up & down has totally changed in the last 5 to 10 years.
A good 10 years ago, I was considered a ‘Leftie’ in my political beliefs in that I was pro-environment, pro-gay marriage, pro-freedom of speech, pro-free thought, pro-small government and all for personal freedom.
As the world has changed, my views above classify me a ‘right winger’ in the eyes of some and I have found that many of the ideas I once held were strongly unpopular with them now becoming the popular norm.
I spent the wonderful day in Newtown (Sydney) today with my family attending food festivals. Newtown would be easily one of the gay / fringe leading suburbs in Australia with the rainbow flag flown high in almost any direction.
Activists were even out in force handing out ‘I voted YES’ stickers everywhere and we were all proud to adorn them in celebration of libertarianism.
Even though these are serious topics; I saw the humour in that by voting YES, it’s one of the few times in my life where I have taken the ‘popular’ side of an issue (remembering that I am a PRO TRUMPER).
The big problem I see on all sides of politics is that people tend to vote by what is popular in their cliques and not by any actual clear thought out principles. What makes me think this is studying how people are thinking.
It’s not just that people have asked me what I am voting to inform their own choice; it’s also how people argue their own position. You can tell how is voting because their friends are not because they have any actual principles.
I then started thinking of what ‘Principle’ is defined as and thanks to Google:
- “a fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of belief or behaviour or for a chain of reasoning.”
Talking both sides, I can tell now when people are driven by ‘popularity’. You get arguments like this:
- Lefties: Love is love and people who vote NO are evil.
- Right Wingers: My God says it’s bad and YES voters hate children.
These are the common arguments I heard from both camps and what has surprised me is how people are using ‘popularity’ to guide their decision-making repeating what their camp has told them.
You get the intelligent however, that regardless of YES or NO are following their actual principles to make an informed decision. When you speak to them you get really well thought out reasons as to why they are doing what they do which helps restore my faith in humanity and the political process.
My advice and thinking? What this debate has taught me is that going with popularity is a real ‘follower’ thing to do. When we make serious decisions in whatever point of our lives, it’s important to think it through critically on our own end and wash it against our core principles.
This is a key step on the path to authentic living which is rewarding, fun, energising and sets us up to lead big time.
Never follow the crowd, take your own path and let people judge who. Then you come the point where you conclude ‘who cares’ and you get a kick out of doing your own thing.
Love your work, thank you for the great and vote YES or NO – I hope you have come at it from strong principles!
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