Oh no! They Think I'm a Liberal!

Tammy was laughing last night. Again. She’d just had a conversation with someone who said he was really enjoying interacting with me in spite of the fact that he is very conservative.

“I think he was implying that you’re a liberal,” she laughed. “How funny is that?” Tammy has had ample opportunities to disagree with me about nearly everything. “In some ways,” she sort of sighed, “You’re the most ultra conservative person I know personally.” She loves me in spite of my views, not because of them.

This isn’t the first time. One couple quit supporting the homeless shelter because of something Tammy wrote in her column, even though the column had nothing to do with me as Executive Director or the homeless. Maybe I was just too liberal for acknowledging her freedom to write whatever she chooses. Another woman refused to shake my hand when introduced to me by the former mayor. “I hate liberals,” she glared when I stuck out my hand and said, “Pleased to meet you.” My response of “Well, we might have a lot in common” didn’t help. “Sure doesn’t sound like it,” she answered.

All of which has made me wonder, what in the world is a liberal and how in the world did I get to be one? I attended one of the most theologically conservative Bible schools in the world, voted Republican every chance I had until I went Independent four years ago, was involved in the global Bible translation effort for 25 years, and have almost always used “liberal” in a derogatory way theologically, fiscally, socially and politically. I don’t anymore, having finally learned that most of the fundamental freedoms I enjoy were achieved by liberals including, oddly enough, Jesus himself (just ask the Pharisees!).

Maybe it’s that I work at a homeless shelter. Tammy speculates that anyone working in social services is automatically considered liberal. Well, that would be quite odd, because the Bible spends over 10% of its verses talking about reaching out to the poor, and I assume those who take the Bible seriously would be considered rather conservative.

Maybe it’s because of my views on social issues, but how would anyone know my views? It's not as though I put them on billboards. (Okay, for the record, I’m pro-choice before conception, pro-life after, and I believe pre-conception is where we can unite in our fight, since countries where education and contraception are widely available have a better record in reducing abortions than do countries that just make it illegal. I’m in favor of the death penalty, but am passionately against the horrifically unequal application of any penalty in our country based on race, class, whim, wallet, convenience, politics, or religion. I’m against teen sex, but am pretty convinced, based on numerous studies, that while abstinence works, abstinence only “programs” generally lead to more unplanned pregnancies instead of less sex. Etc. Etc.)

Maybe I’m perceived as a liberal because I’ve lived several places in the world and I see us as connected to each other globally. Maybe speaking several languages and enjoying people of whatever color or nationality equally is liberal? That would seem a little odd, since there are a bazillion people of other countries who are far more conservative than any of us are.

Or maybe it’s because I’ve been working to help build a new homeless shelter, as though putting people in a place where the plumbing actually works and giving each individual a better chance to re-build a life is liberal? Almost all of the early homeless shelters, adoption agencies and other social services in early America were founded and funded by conservative churches. I don’t assume that those involved with the Bridge of Hope Child Advocacy Center, for example, are liberals, even if there is a correlation between children who get abused and undereducated ending up as adults who are homeless. That’s statistical, not liberal. So efforts to prevent homelessness start with the community that allows so many of our children to be abused and undereducated. That’s just common sense to me, and I think both liberals and conservatives can enjoy a measure of common sense.

Or maybe it’s just because I see positive efforts at change as a good thing. I think it’s great that women got the vote, that slavery was outlawed, that America was founded, that other countries are participating in the global economy, that immigrants come in many colors and bring fresh new perspectives and energy (foreign nationals living here contributed to 25.6 percent of all U.S. international patent applications in 2006), that there are small groups of people in our community working creatively and energetically to make it a better place to live, that my choice of next president includes a woman American, an African American, a Mormon American, a trial lawyer American, a Baptist preacher American... (okay, so that was a bit redundant, but it just felt weird to only say "African American", as if he's the only American in the lot) and that none of those labels tell us much of anything about how well they would serve us as President. (Wow--try to diagram that sentence!)

Or maybe it’s something else entirely. Goodness knows everyone has a different definition of liberal and conservative. I just took four different online tests to see if I’m more liberal or conservative, and got four different results depending on the issues.

The only thing that saddens me about all of this is that labels lead to preconceptions. The person on the phone with Tammy gave the impression of being surprised to discover that he enjoys interacting with me. I’m sad that he  expected it to be any other way. Some of my best friends in North Platte are so different from me that one might wonder how we ever end up in the same room, laughing, talking, crying, sharing cookies and hot chocolate. Yes, shocking as it may seem, both far out liberals and whacked out conservatives love fresh chocolate chip cookies.

As the elections approach, I plan to attend campaign rallies of all parties and to talk to advocates of opposing positions. Please join me. Since the labels mean so little, that’s the only way I can imagine voting wisely on behalf of our grandchildren, or of being any good in this community. 

Comments

[Keith Blackledge]

Good peice, Ron. Maybe we need new labels. Your views would brand you as a conservative liberal or liberal conservative, I think. kb

[Colin Taylor]

Ron, your blog gives me a feeling of kinship, for I have also been labeled; slotted into other people's comfortable categories. Folks often see in others what they themselves believe, rather than what the reality of the subject is. We see and judge because of what we believe instead of coming to believe after we see evidence. Once someone flattered me by saying he couldn't tell whether I was a conservative radical or a radical conservative. He had it right, I think.
One difference I see in our volition to action; I see little of profit for me or the world by using my time to foster partisan politics. I have come to believe that non-partisan independence enhances the well-being of everyone more than the divisive posturing we are subjected to in our system.
I admire your ability to find inventive ways to foster positive action from people in our community. I am struggling to find ways to be a good influence and stay disengaged from the labels we apply to each other and to ourselves.
As for your being painted with others' labels of your wife, everything I have ever heard from or about Tammy makes me honored to be her acquaintence. Her values and actions make her an exceptional person in my eyes. You're in better company with her than you would be with any gossiping nay-sayers. (I do hold a prejudice against closed-mindedness.)