I was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. I am a member of the National Rifle Association, I have a Texas flag in my room, and I know what the original Six Flags stood for. I put salsa and jalapeños on everything, and I am a Texan through and through before I am an American. But, this does not mean that I am ignorant, overly Christian, homophobic, or even fully conservative. I believe in the death penalty, and also gay marriage. I believe in the Second Amendment, and I’m fiscally conservative.
In regards to the death penalty, it should be state-based, but in the states that have it, I believe the decision of whether to enact the death penalty should lie in the hands of the families affected in a case-by-case basis. Where one family might decide that the criminal deserves the death penalty, another might not agree and might choose life in prison instead.
Gay marriage is always a heated topic and almost everyone has an opinion on it. Like most young adults, I do believe gay marriage should be legalized fully, in all states, and in a few decades I believe we can get to that. America is supposed to be the land of the free. We are guaranteed freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly and petition. There are too many people who claim the Constitution was based upon “Christian principles” and who regard that as wholehearted fact. I don’t think the founding fathers had this in mind. There are many other “sins” and “ideals” in the Bible we don’t shun or follow. This is a freedom we were all entitled.
Taxes, taxes, taxes. The economics of America still confuse me in many ways, yet I am positive I know where I stand on taxes. I do not believe any short cuts should be given to the poor. There is no way for me not to sound pretentious when saying this, but I don’t like people being given things for free or expecting handouts. Taxes should be an equal percentage between everyone so everyone is equally affected. The people who are wealthy shouldn’t be punished for their hard work by being taxed higher. Hard work should be rewarded.
Being from Texas, as you can imagine, the Second Amendment hits close to home. My family has multiple gun safes, and I am not ashamed to say I know my way around a rifle. I fully believe that citizens need the right to bear arms. The government can only protect you so much. Citizens need to have their own forms of protection within their household. You never know what might happen. I don’t see any apparent reason to abolish the second amendment — there are laws in place to keep people in control and keep people safe.
People underestimate the average conservative and underestimate the average Texan. Because of generalizations associated with these, people, especially young adults, blow off republican candidates without giving them any real thought. They base their opinions on news reports of random clips strewn together or off candidates’ personal or religious beliefs, when not everything the president believes will even affect everything or anything. We still have the Senate and the House.
