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MAF Blogger Danny
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At El Paso we were met with a smaller crowd than normal. There were probably a dozen and a half people there. That isn’t much but it actually made for a very intimate experience. I talked to everyone who was there, we shared our lives.

I talked a lot about myself and why I’m doing this. I was born in Long Beach, CA. I grew up for a while in Los Angeles County, until we moved to Cypress when I was in 2nd grade. Cypress is just across the border from Los Angeles County to Orange county so for the most part it’s quite like LA County in that it isn’t the picture of affluence you see on television. There are some really nice houses there, that have some insane prices, and it is for the most part White or Asian, upper middle class. The area has almost no crime and it’s usually just a great, quiet place to live.

I remember I started getting into politics because I remember one time hearing my grandpa talking about Clinton at a Christmas party. He was saying that he liked and trusted the guy. I don’t know why exactly but hearing that just stuck in my head for a long time. And when I was in 7th grade I think I was just barely starting to get an understanding of what politics was why people cared or made a big deal about politicians. I did not know why or what they really did, but I knew that for whatever reason, people were concerned or cared about these men and women.

I also remember my mother. She is a conservative, maybe too conservative. I really don’t even know why my mom and dad are republicans while my grandma and grandpa on both sides were all democrats. Perhaps it represents a shift in what those words mean over the years. Perhaps it’s just generational differences. For whatever reason though, I have always seen the most logic in what my parents tell me, as opposed to what I have been pushed to believe by teachers, news anchors, reporters, and the liberal activists that seem to get the most air time. Growing up had a lot to do with it also. I always remember thinking about how silly the kids at my school acted. They had their petty politics and social maneuvering, and they subscribed to the same typical fashions that the rest of their clique did. Whatever that happened to be. I remember just thinking that it was so silly to live like this, and that I wanted to identify more with my parents, the adults in my life, and my teachers than I did with my peers. I wanted to be able to engage them on their level, and on what they talked about. And people just love to talk about politics it seems.

So that’s kind of why I think I got into all of this to begin with. As I learned more about the political process, and how government works, I realized that this was important and that I should stick with it. But how is it that I survived college without being turned into a liberal?  Basically it was through reading. In college I was exposed to lots of texts that basically explained to me the reasoning behind all of the things I already believed in, but didn’t necessarily know WHY I believed in those things. Writers like Milton Friedman helped me to understand the political past and the reasoning behind free markets, capitalism, having choice, and maximizing liberties. If I had not read and learned these things by reading Friedman for myself I don’t think I would believe in them nearly as strongly. You see statistically, the biggest determinant of political party identification is the party identification of one’s parents. People generally tend to end up believing the same things as their parents do, after that brief period of rebellious adolescence of course. But having only that as your foundation, I think, leaves one weak to the suggestion of other points of view. Now I realize what I just said was quite a slippery slope.

I mean, how can you say that being open to other points of view is bad or weak? Indeed, closed minded people (on both sides) tend to be the cause of much unnecessary conflict and violence in our political system. But this is different from someone who has their own firm political beliefs and has good reasons for those beliefs and is open to new ideas but approaches those ideas with the same scrutiny that he looks at his own beliefs. So a person, who has reflected on their own beliefs and upheld them over other opinions that were equally scrutinized, has a much better foundation for defending their own beliefs.

Why am I talking about all this…

Well, for one thing it takes up space on this blog. Which is great.

Haha. I guess I just wanted to impart a little bit of myself onto this, so that people do not see these reports as simply little press releases that were doctored and collaborated on by the senior staff of Move America Forward.

These are the honest thoughts and observations of Danny Gonzalez. I’m from Cypress, California. I’m a registered Republican, I vote sometimes, and I like old cars and indie rock. I have strong beliefs and lots of goals but I am still searching for how to get there.

I am temporarily helping out Move America Forward, on the road, doing something I care about and what I feel is of critical importance. So what you read here comes from my heart, and it’s not some official statement made by someone who has worked for this organization for years and has a vested interest in making it look good.

In fact I’m pretty lucky that I don’t have to post these blogs on my own personal blogspace. I guess I just have not pissed off Joe or Sal yet, cross your fingers.

So, El Paso, I liked El Paso a lot. It was just a lot of fun talking to everyone and sharing my story with them, just as I have shared mine with you tonight. One woman who I spoke with, Angelique Whitt, has a husband currently serving in Iraq. Daniel Whitt is stationed somewhere in Iraq and he’s been out on the front lines alongside Iraqi police and Iraqi Army. He has spent time with the Iraqi civilians as well, and he has nothing but great things to say about the job we are doing. Daniel is in contact with his wife frequently and he always tells her about the children that he has met in Iraq. He loves those kids and as sort of adopted them in a way. She brought with her a poster that she had made and she wanted us to take it with us to use at the rally in DC. It shows pictures that Pvt. Whitt has taken of all the school kids he came in contact with and who he sees on a regular basis. The smaller pictures of smiling faces and kids laughing and playing outline the central picture which shows Daniel standing in a crowd of kids and holding a ‘thumbs up’ for the camera. The kids around him are waving and giving thumbs up and smiling for the camera. It’s a great, uplifting poster, but its message is somber. “If we leave, they will DIE.”

I thought this said a lot about our guys who are over there, and the kind of people they are. I know there are bad things that happen, and I know that our soldiers do not always conduct themselves professionally and ethically, but I firmly believe those are very rare exceptions to the rule. For the most part our soldiers love the Iraqi people. They have genuine compassion for the welfare and wellbeing of this country Iraq and its people.

They don’t want to abandon Iraq.
They don’t want to lose this war.
They don’t want to stop fighting until every terrorist who preys on the innocent is DEAD.

So why do so many liberals want to yank them back?