Are you a Liberal or Conservative?

Or Why you should fuss at people who insist on applying labels to you.


I grew up in Alabama. I grew up in Alabama when an avowed republican couldn't get elected dogcatcher and there were a whole lot of pro-life democrats. MadDog and Mommie Dearest were never really label people so I don't remember hearing the words Conservative or Liberal around my house much. I won't go into their actual politics, because I know they would not want you to know that; they're old school "Things We Don't Discuss in Public" voters.

Smart, my parents are.

Ok, so I went to a private liberal arts college. In Florida. This is about what I knew about politics as a freshman: I once did gymnastics on the stage where Ronald Reagan beneficently waved. I listened to the Ollie North debacle for 6 straight weeks while driving around the U.S. in a Honda Accord not being allowed to read because I was missing the scenery...in Kansas. I met Howell Heflin. I was bussed to school and knew that it was because of a lawsuit about making the schools nice in all neighborhoods. Somehow, I never had a history class that got past WWI (and always glossed over the "Late Unpleasantness".)

So, I get to College and naturally, being Southern, I had been strictly trained to automatically use Yes Sir/No sir Yes Ma'am/No Ma'am when responding to adults. Naturally, this carried over to professors. I had profs who loved to call on me and then point out to the rest of the class how deeply ingrained my socialization was because I had trouble *not* saying it even when I knew I would get teased. Apparently, merely uttering the symbolic tag of patriarchal hierarchal classism was enough to make me a Conservative.

I was also armed with such important aphorisms as: Poor people have poor ways. Reputations like fine china are easily broken and poorly mended. Lie down with dogs, get up with fleas.

I was quickly labeled The Conservative, except that my proffs could never get me to go the Dualist route with Descartes, and I've always been Pro-Choice.

College opened my eyes to a lot of things, but I still felt the same way politically. I think that ***my parents raised a smart daughter*** so I'm not going to tell you what I think.

So, then I went to Law School at Alabama.

One day in class I had to comment because I felt very strongly about a case we were discussing. I said that IF there were women who had a desire to run around in their underwear and do pushups, and, IF they could make it through the same rigorous training as the men, they should be allowed to attend the military institutes, which are after all, supported by American's tax dollars.

I had a student throw a Mother Jones magazine at me after class and say, "Here's some stupid liberal reading for you hippie freak."

**** mind blown*****

I realized that Liberal and Conservative are just stupid labels and pretty much no one worth talking with would adhere dogmatically to anyone else's political agenda anyway.

(Note for you aspiring attorneys: pissing off people in law school is a bad idea. I have a long memory. I am so proud of what I said to that twerp: "My dad says that the people we meet here today are the people we're going to be practicing with for the rest of our lives. We will be the senators, Judges and leaders of this state. One day you're gonna regret this stupid incident." and I walked away. (Thank you Thomas Jefferson Quote) OHHHH and best of all, he did in fact live to regret it even before he graduated lawschool and apologized.)


So quit it!! The next time you begin to say someone is Conservative or Liberal stop yourself. Lets attack the individual idea with which we have a problem. Besides, if you know anything about international politics, you'll realize that the spectrum is wide and by and far most Americans are to the right of almost all Europeans. One Country's liberal is the next Country's Conservative. Plus, have you ever changed someone's mind about a core issue? Those are decisions we do not make logically, but emotionally, no matter what people tell you.