My Reasons for the Way I Am

Many in my misbegotten family wonder why I am a liberal, at best they feel I am naive and lack some basic understanding of how the world works but more than likely the explanation for my strange behavior they share with each other involves a lack of IQ points on my part. Truthfully, my liberal tendencies are something I have had to deal with most of my life often hiding my true feelings to fit in what can be sarcastically called “Jesus Land.” Although, little in the way of the true teachings of Christ can readily be seen in a state that still takes a large amount of pride in slavery and armed sedition with the former only whispered about amongst the right kind of people. Sure, the majority around here happily clutch their expensive leather bound Bibles as they dutifully walk into church every Sunday morning but as painful experience has taught me, few base their Christianity on the enlighten views of the New Testament. They cling to a vengeful Old Testament God who plays favorites among Humanity and never forgives.   

Hell, I will even admit to flirting with conservative beliefs for a few years. However, I always came back to my core liberal values because I could not shake the feeling that conservatism for the most part was mentally trying to put a round peg in a square hole. To be fair, I do know some sincere conservatives and their point that government can be tyrannical and that a person has a right to their liberty and property is not something any intelligent person can blithely dismiss. I just wish these honest and intelligent conservatives would rise up and reject the Ayn Rand inspired insanity and proto-fascist stance of those who now control the party of Lincoln.     

To see a multimillionaire get on television and almost cry into the camera claiming some special privilege as compared to the rest of society first smacks of lunacy and then of a basic lack of understanding of what modern America is suppose to be about. Call me a dinosaur but in this country all men and women are suppose to be equal under the law with no one entertaining special aristocratic privileges. That these multimillionaires and self proclaimed “Job Creators” have so many sycophants in the middle and working classes makes me wish immigrating to Australia or New Zealand was easy.

I hold liberal values because I do believe we are our brother's keeper. That while self-control and personal responsibility are vital for a healthy and productive individual and society, life is far too tumultuous and chaotic to classify those less fortunate as just lazy and wanting to live off those who work. It would be nice if modern conservatism just stopped there, but in recent years it has an embraced a fatalistic view that as long as I have mine the rest of the world can go to Hell. Very little binds these people to the collective fate of us all, except of course when their lives or processions are threatened by some disaster.

As it can be guessed, I will be voting for President Obama on Election Day. Unlike many progressives, I never saw him as a Messiah; he is just a man full of weaknesses and flaws like everyone else. To believe that in four years he could have solved all the problems this country faced and personally addressed the countless pet issues of a spoiled population defies logic. In truth, it is a simplistic view that rivals the worst of the moronic conservatives.

I am voting for President Obama because for me it is a statement that I am not just part of a nation that at one time attempted to make life better for everyone no matter their place in society. But that for me it boils down to at least a little knowledge of history that says expanding the scope and reach of freedom is always the right path and the belief, however imperfect, that we are in this cold and hostile world with no one to depend on but each other.