Conservatively Liberal, or Liberally Conservative?

Just words, no pretty pictures this time.

Where does one draw the line between Conservative and Liberal and really, does it matter? I don’t think I know anyone who agrees completely with every particle of either the GOP platform or the Democratic platform. I doubt even either of the candidates for President, one of whom will (hopefully – as long as there aren’t too many issues with absentee ballots, early ballots and voting machine issues) be named as our next president sometime in the early hours of tomorrow morning, agrees wholeheartedly with the entire platform of their Party.  

 I write this having voted today (I’ll share my voting story another time!) and not knowing how the election will turn out. I have purposely avoided any and all media today, because I am a) sick to death of hearing about politics; and b) it is just a matter of waiting at this point and all the pundits analyzing exit polls simply will not make a difference and I find them annoying. Incredibly annoying. However, I must admit, I keep thinking about it. So here I am taking a few minutes I don’t really have to write about some things that have been on my mind for a while.

Labels. We humans do like to apply them. We label each other, lifestyles, school supporters, everything pretty much, especially things like politics. Apparently, we must be either Liberal or Conservative. Democrat or Republican, Libertarian, Green, US Taxpayers and/or whatever other miscellaneous party names are out there.  If we don’t fit into any of the above, we can conveniently call ourselves Independent, which, by the way, is what I’m registered as, not that it matters. 

Am I Liberal or am I Conservative? Well, I’m not quite sure, to tell the truth, because there is an ever-changing line that divides the two and I find myself straddling it most of the time. My leaning to one side or the other tend to vary depending on the issue. I have never voted a straight ticket ballot in my life and fail to understand how anyone could.

I am a Liberal, because I believe that Civil Rights should apply to every US Citizen equally, regardless of race, religion, ethnicity or sexual orientation. Republican Abraham Lincoln was the President who brought this issue front and center (After Thomas Jefferson and the rest of the early Constitutional Congress, who had the gall to approve the words, “all men are created equal,” later determined to apply to women as well).  I find it rather ironic that believing equal rights, basic human rights in US terms, should apply equally to all Citizens, is viewed as “Liberal Nonsense” according to a relative I will not name and far too many others.  

I am a Conservative, because I do not believe that asking someone to prove their citizenship before voting in an election that determines the direction of the country, state or municipality holding the election is unreasonable. I would not, for example, expect to be able to vote in Canada, in England or in France, even if I were living there and paying taxes (which I did, in England, for several years and I never would have expected to vote, it would have been ridiculous!). It appears to me to be perfectly reasonable to expect proof of citizenship before allowing someone to vote.

I am a Liberal, however, because I also believe that requiring identification means that it should be easy and affordable for citizens to acquire the required photo identification. No qualified voter should be prevented from registering and voting in an election because getting required identification is too difficult or costly.  

My kids could get an ID card in 30 minutes and for $5 while registering for classes at the beginning of each school year. Why can’t we provide the same option to those needing a photo ID for voting, without making it difficult and overwhelming to those with limited income and transportation options? Setting up temporary stations at high schools in areas most affected for a few days a year to offer that option doesn’t seem as though it should be that complicated or expensive.  Regardless, there have to be ways to make getting photo ID easier and less expensive if it is going to be a voting requirement.

I am a Conservative because I do not believe that government should intrude upon religious freedom. I believe that anyone and everyone should be allowed to worship how and who they desire, according to the dictates of their own conscience. I am a Liberal because I believe that laws should not be formed nor government administered that favor one religion above another, Christian, Muslim, Judaism, Wicca, whatever. I believe that religion has absolutely no place in government or law, except in the absolute refusal to give preference to any particular religion and that laws should apply to all equally.

I am a Liberal, because I do not believe that anyone’s personal religious views should affect the way others are allowed to live their lives or exercise their civil rights. Specifically, I find it heinous that a large number of people really believe that they have the right, because of their religious views, to determine who should and should not marry. I am astounded that these people somehow see their bigotry and intolerance of anyone who identifies as different from themselves as anything other than bigotry. I am completely unable to understand how they believe this different from the prejudices and resulting injustices which have affected African Americans, Women, Muslims, Asians, Catholics, Mormons and every other minority group that has ever been affected by prejudice and intolerance.

I also find it quite ironic that some of the worst offenders are members of groups, religious and otherwise, who once suffered from extreme prejudice and intolerance themselves. While these people see the persecution of their own group as just that, persecution; they somehow see their persecution of other groups different from themselves as justified. It really boggles my mind. I also believe that women and minorities deserve to be paid equally for the same job as a white man and cannot begin to understand how anyone could think anything different is acceptable, somehow this makes me a Liberal.

I am a Conservative because I believe that life is sacred. I am not in favor of abortion; in fact I think it is wrong.  I am a Liberal because I am pro-choice. No, they are not mutually exclusive. I know dozens of people who are pro-choice and not a single one who is pro-abortion.  I believe that the life of the woman who is faced with an unexpected and unwanted pregnancy for whatever reason is every bit as important as that of the fetus residing in her body.

 I do not believe that I, or anyone else, has the right to make such an intimate, incredibly difficult choice for any woman finding herself in an untenable situation and I find it unbelievably arrogant that anyone should believe that they do have the right to make that decision for someone else. That being said, late term abortion is just another term for murder in my view. If an embryo is far enough along to survive outside the womb, it is a baby.

My purpose here is not to debate abortion, however, I have known a few women, several quite well, who have had an abortion at some time and this has colored my views. A couple of girls I knew when we were teenagers found themselves in a terrible situation, one of them was a victim of rape. Having a baby would have literally ruined their lives. Some parents are more understanding than others; not every teenage girl or single woman has a supportive and loving family to turn to for support.

I know a few women who had an abortion in their twenties or thirties, for different reasons. I know a woman who had a much wanted pregnancy and then found out the child was so severely deformed she and her husband were told there was no possibility the child would survive birth and would quite possibly die during the pregnancy. This was a decision she agonized over, along with her husband and in the end, they decided that it would be best for them, their two already existing children and for the child who would never live. I have known this woman now for over ten years and she still believes they made the right choice.

Every single woman I have known who chose to have an abortion agonized over making the decision. None of them took it lightly but all believed it was the best decision under the circumstances they were in, circumstances no one who hadn’t been in them could possibly understand. So no, I do not believe that taking away the right to choose is justifiable. Abortion is a tragedy, but it is a choice that should be made between a woman, her family if applicable, her doctor and her God.

I am a Conservative because I believe in the right to bear arms as specified in the Bill of Rights. I don’t believe that all guns should be outlawed and I don’t believe that obtaining ownership and a license should be so difficult it is almost impossible. I believe in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

 I am a Liberal because I believe there should be limits placed on gun ownership. I believe that anyone wanting to buy a gun should be subject to a criminal background check and a Psych Evaluation. I do not believe that anyone should be able to buy a gun at a gun show and disappear.  After all, the people we trust to carry guns professionally, Law Enforcement and the Military are subject to both criminal background checks and psychological evaluations.

So why on earth would we let any nut job off the street walk in and buy a gun and enough ammunition to say, oh, attack a Congresswoman speaking at a Mall, or shoot down classmates, or shoot random strangers driving on a freeway? Additionally, I have a vivid imagination and cannot come up with any reason a private citizen here in the United States needs to own a machine gun. Neither can I conceive of a reason an ordinary citizen would need to carry a gun into a church, a school, a library or any other public place where one has no reasonable expectation of being in a dangerous situation.

I am a Liberal because I do believe that Government has a responsibility to ensure its’ Citizens are cared for and have food and shelter, as a last resort in case of poverty and in cases of disaster. We have all seen the need for a Federal Government to provide help and leadership in emergencies all too vividly in the past couple of weeks. While I do believe that some things should be decided and administered at the State level, is there really anyone who thinks that New Jersey and New York should have been forced to take care of the effects of Hurricane Sandy on their own?

I am a Conservative because I believe that things like educational structure, local taxes, public education and administration of welfare funds should be left up to the States to decide. I believe States should come up with their own budgets and local municipalities should do the same. I believe that too much interference in private business is detrimental. I believe that taxes should be kept as low as possible, while still maintaining essential services.

I am a Liberal because I believe the Federal Government is necessary for oversight. Does anyone remember what happened just a few short years ago with our banking system and then the Economy due to lack of regulation (or enforcement)? How about going back a little further to the Stock Market Crash of 1929? Not many people still around who lived through it, but surely “The Great Depression,” rings a bell. The regulations enacted after the Great Depression were enacted to prevent it from happening again. These are the same regulations the Bush Administration, heeding the pleas of those looking to make money, proceeded to weaken and take apart, which made this latest banking crisis possible. 

Does anyone really believe that manufacturers can be trusted to look out for the public good without oversight and being held to standards on a Federal level? Think about the public safety issues we have now as it is; tainted spinach, tainted peanut butter and numerous other contamination outbreaks over the past few years alone.  Would you want to eat food canned and produced under a system with State controls over food safety? If so,  perhaps you should go back and re-read The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair.

 Currently we have an outbreak of meningitis killing people due to infected steroid injections. The contaminant has been traced back to a specialty pharmacy which has been cited before for quality control problems. In spite of warnings by many experts in the field, this is an area that has managed to escape oversight due to loopholes in the law. Thus far 30 people are dead, over 400 infected and it’s hard to argue that this is an area that should not be subject to federal inspections and practice guidelines in the future.

Think about how quickly the CDC has worked to track down and find the root causes of these problems. Does anyone really believe that is something that a state government, or several states governments if distribution has crossed state lines, could do anywhere near as effectively? So yes, I do believe we need a Federal Government and that there is a need for some regulation and oversight.

The issues above are just a few of those that divide and define Liberals and Conservatives, the list could go on and on. What’s important is that we’re all human beings, and that we all remember that. I’ll let you in on a little secret which probably isn’t much of a secret. I personally hope that President Obama wins re-election for several reasons. First, because I believe that Romney’s vague economic promises are just that, vague promises. I find Paul Ryan’s extreme and cold right wing version of conservative Catholicism and lack of empathy for others frightening. I do not believe that either of them has any understanding of what it’s like to live below the poverty level or for those who are struggling desperately to survive. I fear what a Romney/Ryan Administration would do to Civil Rights. I find their entire campaign’s disregard for facts and the truth troubling, to say the least. 

What I think doesn’t matter anymore, if it ever did, to anyone but me. Honestly though, I must say I really don’t think that the country will fall apart if Romney wins.  I think that we, as US Citizens, are fortunate to have two basically good, not perfect, but good, people who want to be the President of the United States (which frankly, I think is nuts, talk about a thankless job!) and I am grateful.

My hope and prayer is that our horribly dysfunctional Legislative Bodies can overcome their imbecilic partisanship and work together and with whomever the President ends up being, to find a way to work together and do what is best for the Country. The United States of America will go on. I believe that we will pick ourselves up from whatever knocks us down, we will persevere, we will innovate and we will figure out a way to make things work. Because that is what we do, it’s what we’ve always done and what we always will do, regardless of who is named as the next President of the United States.