There is a point upon which I have been pondering for some time.

Then yesterday, along comes James pondering upon more or less the same point.

What am I?

There seems to be a desperate need these days to apply some kind of label to people.  It is no longer sufficient [apparently] to say that I am a male of Irish nationality, but have to add a whole string of categories after that so that I fit in with some very arbitrary group.

So we’ll get the easy ones out of the way first.  I am a white male of heterosexual persuasion and am non-religious.

But then it gets complicated.

When I was a student, I was radical [but then isn’t it an obligatory part of studentship to be a radical?].  I was anti-capitalist, not quite communist with maybe a soupcon of socialist.  But then life got in the way and I was too busy paying a mortgage and putting food on the table to worry about my political leanings.  I did halfheartedly consider myself Left of Centre in that I was more concerned with the working man than in the old conservative values.

But then something happened.

I don’t know quite how it happened but suddenly being a lefty meant that you were in favour of government control and the might of oppression over the individual.  So I am no longer Left.

I would now describe myself as a fairly staunch Libertarian with a touch of Anarchist.  I say “sort of” Libertarian because apparently there are several flavours and I’m not sure which one I belong to.  And I say “Anarchist” because I don’t believe in bad laws and it is my duty to disobey them.

I believe the State should be there solely to serve the People and laws should only protect the individual against others and not be involved with protecting particular sectors such as Big Business or [particularly] those in power.  I believe in democracy but not the kind of democracy that elects unaccountable professional power grabbers.

I am not anti-immigration [provided the immigrants adapt completely to our way of life], not homophobic [unless they start demanding special favours or rights],  nor am I anti-abortion [not my say – it’s up to the woman involved].  Despite yesterday’s little brainfart I am not sexist either.  I simply believe that merit beats gender.

As a consequence I am very pro-Brexit [i.e. anti-EU] and pro-Trump [simply because the election result upset the Establishment so much]. 

So I’ not quite sure exactly what political class I belong to nowadays [not that I care].

As James would probably say –

I am a proud member of the Curmudgeonly Party!