Hi from Rick
I'm a liberal. Big time. I'm also a capitalist — one of the best capitalists in my hometown. I employ (both happily and profitably) scores of people. While my travels have made me a citizen of our planet, I love America and I would live and work nowhere else. I am a patriot.
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People care about the world beyond our borders in different ways and for different reasons. My passion for both our planet and the people who call it home is stoked by both my travels and my Christian faith. (I bring up my faith only because so many conservatives claim that God's in their camp.)
With this special edition of our travel newsletter, we hope to broaden the political discussion beyond the candidates' poll-tested sound bites. By sharing a travelers' take on political issues, we hope to shine a light on issues that divide our nation, offering voters another way to cross-examine their own often conflicted stands.
I'm writing as someone who once changed his personal politics 180 degrees (replacing my Ronald Reagan bumper sticker with "You can't hug a child with nuclear arms"). Why the big flip-flop? Because of lessons learned on the road and from foreign friends.
Travel contributes to a broader understanding of issues. A broader perspective is a good thing, whether you hang with the right or the left. This is nothing new. Fourteen hundred years ago, Mohammad said "Don't tell me how educated you are…tell me how much you've traveled." Thomas Jefferson agreed, and wrote "Travel makes a person wiser…but less happy." Mark Twain traveled through Europe, came home, and wrote "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness."
Why don't I just shut up and write my guidebooks? (As many people tell me — in ALL CAPS.) Three decades of people-filled travel and my personal faith have given me a passion for what I consider "the sanctity of life." While Conservatives claim to champion this issue, sanctity of life is about more than one issue.
People around the world who love and respect what America stands for are hoping the American people will exercise their role as the world's most powerful electorate thoughtfully. Since children, the world's poor, and the environment can't vote, it's up to us to take these needs into account and vote for more than our immediate financial interest.
This newsletter's articles share perspectives which are the norm in Europe. I hope they're stimulating and provide some worthwhile ideas as we work together to build a strong, yet compassionate America.
Thanks,
Rick Steves