By Tim Newman
I am a talker, a writer, a listener and now a contributor to The Island News. I honestly thought long and hard after I was asked over a turkey sandwich to think about offering a piece of my mind to one of our few local sources.
Saying “yes” was easy and impossibly hard. I knew that many would welcome a more centrist, conservative perspective on the world as it affects us. I also knew from reading most local outlets that they are labeled as biased, propagandist and far too liberal for most of the people in my circle, the circle that also represents a majority of Beaufort and The Island News’ “passive readers.”
I see other opinions in many outlets attacking and slandering the right while the acts of the left are ignored, I remind myself how stupid I would be to offer myself up to such with only words and common sense to defend me. I said “yes” because I have trusted this community for my entire adult life to disagree respectfully, to show restraint when faced with some ugly truth and to show grace when disgraced.
I know my future contributions will be ill received by some and anger a few, but they may also give the usual outspoken voices or commenters some realization that left or right, we are not that far apart from each other and we can respect our neighbors views to say or feel what they want without gangs of villagers running through the streets with torches and pitchforks.
I spent most of my life in service, from the military to public safety and back to government service in some of the worst places on earth. I have honestly seen a lot. I’ve seen what evil humans can do to each other from the barbaric Middle East to tranquil spots in Burton. I have learned politics from our own county to D.C., to Foggy Bottom and Green Zones. I have studied people and how they can and do react to every situation imaginable. And I have screwed up and had amazing successes in my life.
I do not think my opinions are unique. They are shared by people on the left and right, they are what makes me, makes us, patriotic Americans.
One thing I routinely do personally and encourage others to do is take the time to understand the real party views you honestly align with, who you side with. There are non-biased internet quizzes you can take that ask you policy and platform questions that are relevant to the world today. Mine delivers results in several ways but offers you a political pedigree: You are 78% GOP, 65% Constitutionalist, 38% Democratic, 11% Libertarian aligned.
Not your 100% Dem voting record, but no matterwhere in the party’s or the candidates’ platform you align, no one is honestly 100% anything. If they are, they are certifiable or lying on the quiz. Everyone should take the 20 minutes to honestly see how much political DNA we share and see the crucial topics we differ on.
Just as no one is 100%, no candidate is 100% what we want; I can disagree with my candidate on a lot and appreciate another’s point of view on something else. But my vote should come from an educated balance of my critical priorities, my personal values and my desired outcomes, not a blind connection dictated at birth, not a racial or genetic code, not an economic position inherited from those who came before us.
Realizing that politics is a game of percentages and passions, the future will be decided on the votes of the 6% balanced in the middle and the fringe that can be radicalized into casting their first vote when they are 40 years old. Sadly, some parties and most of the media are targeting that fringe to win elections rather than presenting truths and platforms to that critical 6% who identify as Americans rather than Republicans or Democrats.
I promise any future contributions will voice far more divisive topics and opinions, there will be plenty of room to debate or argue. I just hope that my trust isn’t wasted.
Buy local, vote local, live local and be local.
Tim Newman is a local former Marine, law enforcement officer, international DoS contractor, advocate and a pirate. He migrated to Beaufort from Charleston with the U.S. Marine Corps in the 1980s and then had a long career with the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office. Redeploying to Iraq with the U.S. Department of State in 2003, Tim was severely injured by an IED, losing his leg along with other injuries. After a year, Tim returned to work developing the CivPol Employee Advocacy Program, caring for the program’s injured and the families of casualties in Iraq, Afghanistan and the War on Terror. He fully retired in 2010. Tim lives on Lady’s Island with his wife Beth and can be reached at sctopcop@gmail.com.
