Greetings from East Jesus Nowhere

In general, I don't have problems with conservative people.  I have quite a few friends who, I consider, very conservative.  Conservatism is something one gets used to growing up in the "red" half of Washington State.  However, when I meet someone who is so blinded by his/her belief set that nothing else is allowed in for consideration, it irritates me. 

This quarter, I decided that since CWU was holding my degree hostage, I would demand another quarter of financial aid.  There's no reason, after all, to begin paying back student loans if my degree has not been awarded.  In any case, after a highly successful and very fun quarter with K-Bour, I decided to brave the waters of Political Science, again, and take Introduction to Public Administration.  There are some familiar faces in the class, Sparkle (yes that is her real name) and the interesting Lee Trevino are taking K-Bour again, but this quarter has brought with it a larger class and some people I've never seen before.  I don't know any of their names; in honest I only know Sparkle's name, because, well, HER NAME IS SPARKLE!!  And Lee Trevino, because he is an idiot (apparently Kennewick Man rode a dinosaur across Pangea).  The only person who has left an impression is Captain Conservative.  I call him that, because, again, I don't know his name, and I think he may be the only conservative in America who is still singing the praises of George W. Bush. 

In any case, a few weeks ago we were discussing the Blackwater group and watching clips of testimony before congress.  We discussed the issues that lead the government to investigate and Rep. Henry Waxman's rat-like appearance (seriously, check him out).  Out of nowhere, Captain Conservative (CC) says, "I don't really see what they did wrong," to which K-Bour, says "Well, the theory is that killing groups of innocent people is wrong."  At that point class ended and CC was the first to leave.  The following class session we discussed ethical structures in bureaucracies (oxymoron?).  K-Bour began the class normally, diagramming issues related to the formation of ethics and then turned to engage the class in discussion.  On the white board K-Bour writes, " Moral Laws" "National Laws"  and then turned and asked the class which guided each of us.  Being the smart ass I am, I asked for a third option.  CC said, "all laws are based on Biblical law."  And we were off.

At that point, I set my pen down and prepared for an exciting discussion.  K-Bour is not one to attack students or their belief's, but he does ask questions aimed at getting people to defend that belief.  And that is exactly what K-Bour did.  He turned to CC and asked what he meant.  CC went off on a diatribe about the Founding Fathers ALL being biblical scholars and that they were Christians.  Neglecting the fact that Jefferson and Paine were often called atheists.  But why cloud belief with fact?  Anywho.  K-Bour continued on, asking him if he believed in creating the greatest good for the least cost.  CC said that it depended what the cost was.  So K-Bour gave him a hypothetical; "you have the cure for HIV/AIDS in your blood, can I kill you to save all those infected?"  CC replied "no, you can't take a life against the person's will."  This line of questioning went on for a few minutes, each time CC saying that killing is wrong; then, finally, he said that killing is only ok if the government sanctions it.  WHAT?  So, of course that lead to a discussion of war and CC decided to play on K-Bour's military experience saying, "you hated everyone you killed right? That wasn't murder."  K-Bour just stared and then moved on.  The next point was the "Cult of Life" that as a Christian CC proclaimed to be a member of; so K-Bour asked about the death penalty and CC stuck to his guns, "if the government says that it's ok, than it's ok."  BAH!  K-Bour countered with, "well, some of those people on death row are innocent."  CC stated, "I suppose you're going to tell me that there are innocent people in jail."  I turned to look at him and said "Uh, yeah."  At this point CC took us all back to the discussion of war.  He argued that if we left Iraq that the region would descend into chaos and that we weren't in the country for oil, but when questioned as to why we were there, couldn't answer.  So, K-Bour asked why we shouldn't just pull out and let the various Muslim sects do what they want to do, carve up the region if they want.  To which CC replied, "As a Christian I believe that Muslims should be stricken from the planet."  My mouth dropped and I looked at K-Bour...he winked.

Those pearls of intolerance and ignorance were shared with the class two weeks ago.  The next week CC didn't come to class and I thought maybe he felt as if he'd been attacked for being a Christian.  Apparently I didn't give his ego enough credit.  He'd come down with a cold or the flu.  In any case he showed up to class last week for our discussion of affirmative action and economics. Through the course of the class he informed us that he "knows" when someone is hired because of affirmative action and that that is the kind of person that he can't be friends with or associate with at work.  Okay!?!  He also told us that he is completely unwilling to give up driving his car in favor of public transportation (should a good system actually exist), because he loves driving his Porsche. 

Thus the title of this piece:  Each night after class, I have found myself either behind or just ahead of a 1980's GMC pickup truck.  Not a nice truck, a beater.  Behind the wheel of said truck is CC.