As I get older, politics and how people label themselves makes less sense to me…
When I was a teen, one of my BIGGEST issues for which political party spoke to me was choice. The freedom of choice touched nearly all of my friends in one way or another. I thought that women were most capable of deciding what was best for them (mind, spirit and body) and so I was a democrat. I also thought that unless we faced something as terrible as the holocaust that war was a terrible idea as well. This also lent itself to my ideology of identifying with the liberals.
Towards the end of high school I took an economics class and learned about fiscal conservatism. It made some sense to me. As a young adult I met plenty of men who identified themselves to me as fiscally conservative and socially democratic. It kind of made sense. Although I still couldn't appreciate how one party could be so interchangeable for another during an election. How were there people who could float between the candidates of different parties?
Then I realized how many of my friends were gay. More and more people came out, and hate crimes and hateful legislation began to show up in the news with alarming frequency. People who were politically conservative (republicans) claimed that to be gay was to be anti-GOD. Huh. So all of the sudden there was a religious element to being right-wing. The so-called "Christian Right." Although Jesus Christ himself was a liberal and supported social causes…. But last I checked the Bible teaches to judge not, lest ye be judged. The ultimate judgment is for God to make, not the republicans.
The republicans claim to want LESS government. But at every turn they fight for MORE control in government and people's lives! They put measures on ballots to take rights AWAY from gays (mostly in the name of God although we are a country built on separation of church and state), they want laws to keep women from controlling their bodies (abortion, birth control), they only fund public schools that teach their agendas (abstinence only education, creationism as science, etc…), they spend BILLIONS on an unnecessary war that seems to serve little purpose other than to create the terrorists of the future and to line their pockets (through non-bidding contracts and record oil profits), they don't want a nationalized health care because it would take PROFIT away from the insurance and drug companies (and clearly profit is more important than the health, safety and LIVES of the poor and working class). These same "anti-big-government" conservatives are creating the largest National Debt EVER.
And the issue of global warming seems so cut and dry to me… not only is it a proven scientific fact (in dozens upon dozens of peer reviewed journals) but even if it were somehow not true, aren't we better safe than sorry on acting to prevent calamity? If enough Arctic and Antarctic ice melt, the landscape of the WORLD will change. Millions of people will be displaced. New York City will be underwater, as will Florida, and the coast of China…. How can this be ignored?
When I was younger I was offended by the term bleeding heart liberal because it seemed so derogatory to me. If caring about the poor, the less fortunate, those without voices in the political process, and the state of the world make me a bleeding heart liberal, then I wear that badge proudly. I know that one person can make a difference, and I intend to use my entire life to make the world a better place for not just me, my family, my city, my country, but for the WORLD. In the name of all that is good and liberal…..
