Gee, I'm Different

Two months before the November mid-term election, a selective few KWMC listeners of Town Talk Live specifically made a verbal point to articulate that I am different.  That is a realization that I came to understand by the age of three when I could ride a bicycle without training wheels and I wore cowboy boots to bed. Their remarks were not a reaction to my wardrobe but primarily due to my conservative viewpoint. Webster’s definition of difference is ‘a point or way in which people or things are not the same.’   The synonyms include contrast, distinction, and variance.  Some listeners have an overall general problem and concern with the above.  They would prefer a more ratified, common uniform message for their personal political taste.
Friday, September 21st a business leader contacted the station owner in regards to something I said on Town Talk Live.  Usually, the disagreement or feedback from an individual comes directly to me during the broadcast.  That is the whole essence of the show.  Yet while I shared why I do not support Beto O’Rourke for the U.S. Senate candidacy, the highly agitated business leader fired a text message to Guillermo Garza, critical of Ken Herrera and me regarding our discussion of Beto.  Guillermo sent the text to us why still on the air.   I prefer to respond over the air while on KWMC, after all the show is not “Town Text Live”, and at the time I chose not to.
I’m a bit suspicious why the business leader responded to Guillermo instead of us.  Perhaps, this individual was applying the pressure for a reprimand, clarification or an apology for not drinking the Del Rio Democrat Kool-Aid.  The text message did not suggest that at all.  It was critical of us being too much like Fox News.  I find that remark hilarious.  Fox News does not take names for the H-E-B Heavenly Delight Birthday cake on Friday’s.   However it was the method which hits a sore spot with me.  The business leader did not participate on the show in regards to my political beliefs, but to question my presentation with the station owner.
I’m not going to publicly announce the name of the business leader.  If the individual wishes to appear on the air with us, they are more than welcome, as anyone in this community.  But I will not refrain from my difference or dissimilarity of what is perceived as the “local majority” on how I choose to vote or what I think.  My job for two hours a week is to engage the audience in matters of Del Rio and talk about them.  I have another responsibility at the station, keeping the listeners tuned to KWMC for another day of conversation.   I do believe I’m pretty good at what I do.  Friday got the attention of a business leader who chose to share his thoughts of variance with KWMC ownership.  
Our statements on that September Friday were not highly critical of Beto O’Rourke at all.  None were nasty as the multitudes on social media and political message boards.  In fact, we did say Beto had run an aggressive, grass roots campaign.  Senator Ted Cruz took a real jab at the first U.S. Senate debate in Dallas calling it a “254 county photo op with the press in tow.”   
What was said confirmed my conservative views in a nut shell.   Our Constitutional 2nd Amendment right, reduction within the Federal government and taxes, a fundamental right to life for the unborn, the abolishment of universal-social medicine, and a secure border that defines this nation’s sovereignty. As I recall, I also said that any blue wave millennial who doesn’t understand my views and shouts them down without discussion suffers from delusions of grandeur and should be branded as Liberal Fascism.
To the business leader of concern:   First, yes I’m different.   I’m a white male in my 50’s who votes conservative and lives in Del Rio.   In other words, in Val Verde County, I’m a minority.  Minorities in the United States have the same 1st Amendment rights as the majority within the community.  My expression of beliefs is not limited by the Val Verde Democrat Party majority, whether I was born here or not (as long as I’m an American citizen) the church or parish where I worship (or choose not to) or the color of my skin.
Second, I can’t fathom to think if text messaging was the only 21st century technology to have been in existence while Jay, Madison, and Hamilton contributed to the Federalist Papers.  If that sole petitioner had stopped the presses through a tweet, the United States would not have made it through Franklin Pierce’s presidency. (the second most divided time in our nation’s 242 year history next to present day).  If the consequences of an editor reaction to a hypothetical 18th century text message would have occurred, the generations which survived through it all today would live in a very poor agrarian society filled with famine and filth.   It was Freedom of Speech and the Fourth Estate that became the bedrock of a very young nation.   
This scenario reminds me of something I once read by Steven Covey:  “Most people do not listen with the intent to understand.  They listen with the intent to reply.”  Touché local business leader.   There was no intention of understanding on your part in September.  It was just a reply.  If you wish to engage in the conversation, please be our guest.  I hope someday you truly understand the definition difference.  As the old adage goes’ every man has the right to utter what he thinks truth, and every other man has a right to knock him down for it.   Meanwhile, I will choose to remain ‘different.’