It’s true that there was very little chance of me ever being a conservative. I grew up on the liberal side of a liberal state. I went to a liberal arts college where I didn’t study Business or Nursing, but English and Religion. But, mostly, it’s just in my bones. No one convinced me to be a liberal. I just am one.
That’s not to say I grew up surrounded by liberals. I come from a family of apathetics and moderates, the only exception is my dad who is fiscally very conservative and socially very liberal. My dad used to be a Republican. His views haven’t changed much, but he’s no longer a Republican, if that’s any evidence for how the party has changed. I also had an AP Civics teacher who almost convinced me I was really a moderate with his arguments for small government.
What I’m saying is that I’m not a liberal because I don’t know anything else. And, I’m not a liberal because I’ve ignored the strongest arguments of conservatives. I listen to most of what present day Republicans have to say and I get almost nothing out of it. It’s not smart. It’s not genuine. And, it’s not useful critique. But, I have been strongly influenced by more traditional conservative principles and they have remained strong influences even as I have come into my own as a liberal. That’s why I believe so strongly that we need at least two strong parties and not whatever it is we have now.
I don’t need to say again how over the moon I was when we elected Barack Obama. Out of all the possibilities open to us, we got the best one on November 4th. But, as I said in one of my first political posts, I wasn’t immediately drawn to Obama, because, prepare yourselves, he was not liberal enough for me. For all the talk from the right about him being radical and the most liberal Senator, I didn’t see it. He’s a moderate. And when he was elected, I thought that’s what we needed.
But over the last few months, I have grown increasingly frustrated with Obama and especially with the Democratic party in general. For a while I believed all the talk about bi-partisanship, even if I didn’t agree with it. I don’t mean that they promised bi-partisanship and then didn’t deliver–I mean that they used bi-partisanship as a reason not to upset the corporations that fund them by really being progressive.
It would be one thing if I was out here on my own holding up the left wall, but I’m not! We voted for a Democratic president whose views I hope most of us were familiar with before we voted. And, we put that Democratic Congress in place too. The polls coming back on health care show that Americans want a public option while the Democrats in Congress keep saying it’s not likely. But, it’s a lie. They can make it happen and they are choosing not to, because they are so heavily influenced by the insurance industry. I don’t expect Republicans to suddenly change their opinion on this, but Democrats should know better and they have the power. I want them to stop pretending they couldn’t make this happen if its what they wanted.
Just to be clear, because I guess I should prepare myself for Democrats who want to disown me and Republicans who want to try the impossible task of putting a unique spin on Obama’s Change motto, I am not sorry we elected Obama and I think he’s performing brilliantly on a lot of things, foreign relations especially. I cut Obama and the Democrats in congress a lot of slack (too much) for a long time, because I said to myself that I’m a political realist and playing political games and appeasing interest groups is part of the deal. But, I’ve changed my mind. Now, I not only think it’s wrong for our country. I don’t even think it’s smart politically. On the issue of health care alone, Democrats are missing the boat and that might still leave them the lesser of two evils with the public, but it’s not going to keep them in high favor. I think the public will forgive them in the short-term for not doing what they should on the torture issue, but they will not forigive Democrats for a prolonged economic crisis or if they mess up health care again.
I have sometimes made a point of calling myself a crazy liberal, because I know I sound radical. But, I don’t want to apoligize for being a liberal anymore, because I’m not sorry. If I sound radical, well, okay. But I am not unreasonable and I don’t believe what I do by ignoring all opposition and I pay my taxes and I support capitalism and I don’t think it’s too idealistic to know that you live in one of the best countries in the world and to want it to be even better.
Related posts:
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
As you know, I’m not big on the political realm. If I ever had a question or inquiry about political standpoints, etc, I’d totally hop out on a flight to CA. Yes, I would do that over e-mailing you because well, I think we’d need to have beer or something, it might be a long conversation.
What I will say is that I enjoy that you just don’t state your views and move on..
“I’m a Democrat.” “I’m a liberal” etc. You back it up, and with good reasons.
This is why you’re the brains of this operation.
Hmmmm, now I’m curious to see who you were initially drawn to in the presidential race. I definitely agree that Obama isn’t as liberal, or radically liberal, as many paint him to be but I also don’t know if he’s a “moderate” either. Actually, I think all these labels are getting to be a pain so I’ll just side-step all that.
I think that this health care issue is proving to be so tricky because there’s still lingering fall-out from the Clinton plan which gave us Newt Gingrich and all that loveliness. And they probably didn’t go about the Gitmo stuff the best way, but at least they (the administration) identified there was something wrong there and something had to change. But I agree that all this bipartisanship stuff needs to go, because it’s not working because the other side (the Republicans) aren’t operating in good faith. So while it is important to have bipartisan support, it’s not necessary and it’s time to start moving along without worrying about it.
Maybe I’m willing to cut people a little bit too much slack, and it’s been well documented that I’m a ginormous Obama supporter, but while things aren’t going perfectly I’m not ready to be frustrated or start bemoaning things. I get the feeling these things are missteps. I mean, JFK presided over something pretty disastrous at the beginning of his term (Bay of Pigs) but that’s generally seen as a misstep, especially when you see what happened after (Cuban Missile Crisis). Also, we’re in a culture that really demands instantaneous things, based on how we get our news/information/even our food (Burger King- it’s a wonderful restaurant!) so we want the instantaneous results and change, but that change that Obama brought and represents might take some time, as all things do, to be fully realized and actualized.
In closing, what a lovely and thought provoking post, you crazy liberal you! (haha)
I have noticed, and I hope this is more prevalent than even I am aware of, that people my age, which may be close to your age, tend to look at politics situation per situation, more so than preceding generations.
I’m fairly liberal and voted for Obama, as there really was no other choice — the fault of the way our political power system works and will always work, unless it is changed from the bottom up. I expected the next 4 years to be difficult, but am increasingly disheartened by the health care situation, both on a congressional and executive level.
Democrats are no less likely to be influenced by the various lobbies and incentive than Republicans, I think they all gauge their votes by their ability to get reelected, so it is up to the people to communicate what they want to their own legislators. I understand their is concern that if the Insurance industry fails a large chunk our our economy goes with it, but how congress or the president worry about the demise of an industry with such coercive practices seems an indication that on some level industry will always come before the people. This is really unacceptable to me.
It’s nice to see someone my age taking stock of all this though, liberal or conservative.
I’m not a fit-the-label kind of girl when it comes to politics. I consider myself moderate if anything, but I go with the different parties based on what I think is right. The person I felt myself most drawn to was Mitt Romney. Now I know what you are thinking, he’s a republican. Well, he has that label yes, but I agree with how he analyzed and situated problems. I’m all for equality but sometimes when you try and gain equality for one group you end up ostracizing the rest.
One example is universal health care. Please don’t jump on me, but I don’t believe that health care is a right. It is a privilege. Those that pay get better care. Not to mention those who pay for the higher costs of health care already pay for those who can’t pay. I don’t believe that I should have to pay for someone else, especially their stupidity if that’s the case. Our capitalist society encourages competition. Sometimes it does spiral, but having the government interfere is worse. Though I agree the insurance system is messed up. But that isn’t something I feel can be fixed by universal health care.
Like I said, I sound republican now, but I am all for reform of health care insurance to lower costs, but to all – not just middle class. You cannot leave out the upper class who provides jobs to the middle class. The upper class will not be supportive of that.
I am pretty apathetic on politics now-a-days, and it’s because I’ve realized how little power we have. Choosing a representative that is SUPPOSED to represent me, then often times doesn’t, has thoroughly frustrated me. Every time I vote, I don’t see many results. I truly wish we could cut the middle man out and have a real democracy. Do you want to go to war? Vote yes or no. Voting on every issue like Greece did back in the day. Then I would feel less apathetic.