The measure of man...

*** IN THE FOLLOWING POST THERE IS MISINFORMATION. Please see this post to understand the situation. The overarching concept still applies minus the propagation of a rumor. I'll leave this post up, it is The Transparency Campaign after all ***

Under the guise of saving taxpayers money, and providing a Colorado Springs a more honest government, the citizens voted to elect a "strong mayor"; ousting a city manager form of government. This election will cost the taxpayers upwards of $1 Million dollars, and will also bring about a strong mayor form of government which is notoriously corrupt. We'll see how this works out...

Even though I do not live in Colorado Springs I'm supporting Richard Skorman, a gay man, for mayor. I honestly do not think I would have been in favor of a gay person being any political figure even just a handful of years ago. Growing up in the conservative Christian household that I did, I learned that gays are to be feared and distrusted. So now many years and miles from that environment I've come to realize that those two things prevent me from loving them. And also prevented me from seeing the value that they have. Peoples' being gay felt like how one might perceive someone who is mentally challenged; like they cannot be productive members of society because they [gays] are "deviants, perverts and pedophiles".

When I mentioned that I back Skorman for mayor to someone close to me they immediately replied, "He's a liberal." And was shocked that I'd support him. I didn't want to hurt their feelings or get in an argument over it so I left it alone. But what I wanted to say was, "What do you know about Skorman? Have you done any research as to who's the best candidate? Are your opinions your own?"

So what if Richard Skorman is a "liberal"? I'd vote for Siamese-twins if they were going to do the best job as the mayor, or for president for that matter. Jesus was a liberal too (yes I know, different kind of liberal, and a whole 'nother discussion). We are so quick to jump to conclusions or put others down because they don't look, talk, walk, like us. Where is the willingness to be flexible and invest a moment of our time into finding out about and hence, loving, others? It isn't like Richard Skorman if elected mayor is going to squash freedom of religion, or have any sway in the abortion debate (like Republicans have accomplished anything since 1973 anyways, that's another discussion too...)

When I jumped through all the hoops to get my job, it was to determine whether or not I was a good candidate for the job. All the rhetoric, campaign slogans, and media frenzy surrounding elections always distracts us from being the best citizens possible. We after all are the ones on the back side of that long interview table. We must not merely take things at face value, but do a little research. Those of us who try to eat healthy don't merely take a label on the face of a package saying "HEALTHY!" for granted, but we flip the box around and inspect the nutrition facts and the ingredients. In the same way let's not vote for someone only based on the packaging "Liberal" "Conservative" "Republican" "Democrat". Let's weigh who our potential representatives are by their true substance, and their true motivations. After all a label weighs nothing in the measure of a man.

I am Tim Kippel and I support a gay man for mayor. I hope my mom doesn't read this.