Meet Chuck

One of the main ideas for this project was for each person to be displayed through photographs. Chuck chose not to be identified through pictures of any sort, which is his right through and through. Chuck or as I call him “Cousin Chuck” is my oldest cousin on the maternal side of my family. He is the oldest of eleven grandchildren. Here is his story…

Personal Background

Chuck is twenty-three years old and holds an associates degree and is currently finishing up his bachelors in criminal justice. He is originally from Wall Township New Jersey, and sees himself as a regular guy going through the motions of school and society on a daily basis.

There are some aspects of each party Chuck finds appealing, but overall he is a centrist who is mainly right leaning. He hesitated to pick one political party and says he is a registered independent. Growing up he attended CCD (Confraternity of Christian Doctrine) went to church (with parents) received all Catholic sacraments and is a fully confirmed Catholic. Being raised Catholic does not influence how he thinks about politics or how he votes.

There weren’t many times Chuck could recall his parents talking about politics in the home growing up. A few times he would hear his father and grandmother discuss the first Obama presidency – they were pro Hillary. His mom “doesn’t know, doesn’t care.” When it comes having political discussions with friends, family and coworkers Chuck does not really see a problem. “I’m comfortable, I want to hear other peoples ideas and opinions. When it comes to family our disagreements are not out of disliking each other, it’s out of wanting to hear each other.” If Chuck doesn’t agree with these people there isn’t much controversy to it. “If it’s a family argument we move on, others or friends we could debate a little longer but eventually we move on too and still stay friends.”

News

YouTube.com, Minds.com, Dailymotion.com, Styxhexenhammer666, Carl Benjamin, Tim Pool, BitChute and some Television Clips. On average Chuck consciously consumes about three hours of news per day and twenty-one hours per week. If there is a special event or crisis going on news consumption can go up more.

If there is anything Chuck wished people of other political parties knew about his it would be, “Things are too polarized. We need to try and understand each other. We are human beings not crazy evil monsters. We all have feelings, emotions, reasoning and certain understandings. We should try to move them closer instead of beating the shit out of each other.” Chuck has never participated in a protest, rally or march. He is too busy, but he also said it depends. “If it were a rally for our civil liberties (1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 8th.) or a rally against bail reform I would be there. There was a Trump rally recently in Wildwood, (NJ) but I didn’t go I was too busy.”

Vote Against

Monopolies “Silicon Valley. We need to trust bust the fuck out of them. I’d like to see Google and Disney broken up too. It’s gross how much they own, they are too big and exert too much power politically.” Anti-Censorship “It goes against the first amendment and we should see good and bad ideas. Nazis should have the same rights because they are U.S. citizens, but what they say isn’t right. It can’t be hidden, we need to laugh at it. Socialism “It’s the starting point of the collapse of nations. A little is okay. If you vote for too much socialism the government becomes too bloated to help the right people. When everyone gets help its not quality help. You aren’t really paying attention to resources, they just become handouts.” Those going against our civil liberties. “We need to prevent the government from becoming even more powerful.”

Vote For

Second Amendment “I feel very strongly for the second amendment and would always vote to protect it. I am a registered member of the NRA and Gun Owners of America. I joined the NRA before I even had a firearm. Now I own four. I have an AR-15, Blackhawk Revolver, SKS Rifle and Hi-Point 995ts.” Chuck has all legal paper work completed to own his firearms. He uses them at the gun range and just enjoys the sport of shooting.

Chuck isn’t one hundred percent on there being a third party in American politics.”I think there should be an equally represented third party in American politics. The Greens or the Libertarians kind of count. Neither are great. Maybe something like the Bull Moose Party, a progressive party founded by Theodore Roosevelt.” On the topic of women running for president Chuck feels that we haven’t reached the right woman yet. “Yes, a woman can run for president. As long as she is qualified. Hillary absolutely not. Sarah Palin would have also done poorly.”

There was a time in Chuck’s life where he didn’t always lean so much to the right. “In high school I was a pretty big socialist, super Pro-Bernie. I was a junior in high school, and then I started to pay attention to what happens when you go too far left. People need to understand that communism is the end goal of socialism.” Chuck mentions a time or two when he was asked to leave one of his college classes for voicing a different opinion. “I was kicked out of my sociology class one time. I am absolutely fine standing alone with my own truths and beliefs. I like to play devil’s advocate even if I agree. I want to see where they are coming from and with what ideas.” Dating someone from a different political background isn’t off the table. “Variety is the spice of life. A person’s politics isn’t everything, it should be the smallest thing. It doesn’t define your worth as a person. I also have many friends form all sorts of political backgrounds.”

“I would say family holidays and parties are a lot more fun.” Chuck doesn’t recall anything bitter or too tense arising from discussing divisive ideals. Chuck doesn’t really ever see himself as the type of person to avoid a hot topic or discussion. “I mean if it’s something I don’t know enough about I’m not going to talk about it. It really depends on the circumstances. Some peoples opinions won’t change. For example, I don’t really care about abortion because it doesn’t affect me personally. People are going to do what they want to do. For me its the second amendment. If something happened to it, it would directly affect me.”

General Government and Policies

When asked “if the government were to propose a new budget plan, what do you believe should get cut first to save tax payer money?” Chuck had a few ideas.

ATF “First off, its unconstitutional, For alcohol we have the FDA, tobacco we have the CDC and firearms should not be regulated. Sure anyone can say wait the ATF also does explosives, but so does the FBI.” Education “I don’t believe in the No Child Left Behind Act. Kids shouldn’t be failing every class, still get pushed forward and be allowed to graduate. I also think the government needs to get out of the college loan system. It needs to be a private matter.” Military “We can definitely shave it down. As a country our military is so far ahead and it would help take of a couple million.”

Chuck does feel there are certain rights the government has the possibility of taking away. “Free speech, privacy, the right to firearms, self defense, the gathering of friends and family (during COVID-19 Pandemic especially) and general government overreach.” If these rights were indeed to become under attack Chuck would cast his vote for someone who would establish protections. “It’s a big possibility I would join a political movement that advocates for the preservation of our natural rights.” Chuck has voted in all possible federal, state and local elections so far. In the 2016 presidential election Chuck voted Donald J. Trump for President of The United States.

Chuck has never relied on government assistance in any capacity. Yet, he does believe in paying taxes. “The Government does have a place in the world. We need some government to help it run. I think some people pay too many taxes. There should be lower taxes. Poor people especially pay too much and so does the middle class. We can’t ask the rich to to pay more in taxes, they have all of their money in offshore bank accounts.”

“A good presidential candidate for me would have to fall decently within my beliefs. Really more in my beliefs than anything. I mean Trump isn’t the best on the second amendment but I am willing to compromise on things.” The most recent policy change that affected Chuck was not imposed by Trump but by Governor Phil Murphy of New Jersey. “Stricter firearm laws were enacted and you had to go from fifteen rounds in a magazine to ten. Its not even half, but whatever.”