| March 22, 2005 Letter From A Liberal Alaskan by Owen Cruise I’m an Alaskan. Born and raised. In fact, my mother's family has inhabited this awe inspiring land for 10,000 years, give or take a few. I’m a carpenter by profession. Alaskan carpenter, sounds pretty average right? But why is this Alaskan left feeling “out of touch” from not only the majority of the people he works with, but with most of his fellow Alaskans? The answer: LIBERALISM. Somehow, during the past few years I have become infected with an affliction known as “liberalism.” In severe cases the patient gives a fuck what happens to the soil he/she so desperately loves; he/she is alarmed at the leverage that corporate America has in deciding how it’s own business is regulated; he/she regards “sexual deviants” such as homosexuals as no different from themselves, entitled to any and all rights they themselves receive. And no, this Alaskan is not a Christian; but this Alaskan does not believe for one second that Christians have some sort of monopoly on morality. None of these issues present me with any sort of dilemma. I believe that my being an evil liberal is in the best interests of this country. No, my dilemma is a cold, hard, economic one. Alaskan Liberal has a family to feed. My fellow construction workers will tell me that development is good. Of course it’s good. It’s money in the pocket! What happens when economic considerations conflict with ideals? This Alaskan became infected with the contagion some time before becoming a carpenter. I don’t believe that unlimited, unrestricted development is good for our state. I strongly believe in maintaining the “character” of a place. That’s in addition to leaving the smallest environmental footprint possible. My vote in a municipal election could directly correlate to jobs for me and my fellow carpenters. However, when I hear about large projects such a convention center that will cost untold millions and clog an already densely trafficked area; or hear about a road to Juneau (this Alaskan's hometown), red flags go up. These decisions are lately compounded by the fact that I’ve been out of work for over two months. Another layer to this problem is my opposition to our bloated military. The same one that has a tendency to kill a large number of guests at weddings (oops! Sorry). A significant percentage of Anchorage area construction jobs take place on the military bases in the area. And so the questions: How do I reconcile my environmental conservancy ideals with the impact that many of my jobs entail? When will my family be hungry enough for me to start building for our military? When do I say “The artificial economy of Alaska cannot support me anymore.” and pack my bags? Because I don’t want to have a negative impact on a place I so dearly love. I love it so much I could leave it. |
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| Copyright 2005
Insurgent Media. All Rights
Reserved. in-sur-gent (in sur'jent), n. 1. a member of a group which revolts against the policies of its leadership. |
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