A Liberal in the Dirty South

Back home (Central New York) I am not considered to be politically left or right by most people. Back home, I can be a moderate. An increasingly frustrating thing for me lately has been the constant label of 'liberal.' Often it is said tongue in cheek, often it is merely implied. What frustrates me about this is not the association with the left, so much as the things that I talk about that give others the impression that I am liberal minded. Two issues come to mind that, by merely bringing them up label me as politically left down here in Northeast Georgia (especially at a conservative Bible college!).

The first is the urban poor in America. When did caring for the poor, something emphatically stressed in both the Old and New Testaments, become an exclusively liberal idea? Didn't Jesus, prophet to some, teacher to others, God to Christians, stress the need to feed the hungry and clothe the naked? Am I wrong in thinking that this is NOT an exclusively liberal idea?

The next issue I recognize as a more complicated one, but is not, in my opinion, one that should determine whether one lies on the political spectrum. War. I am a pacifist. In the minds of a majority of people down here, I am a pacifist, I am therefore a liberal. I am outspoken in my disgust for the Iraq war. It is not a just use of force, by any standards. Even proponents of 'just war theory' have to acknowledge the problems with our Iraq conflict. Plenty of conservatives (politically) doubt the justice of our current conflict.

Generally speaking, I consider myself to be a political moderate. I am not big government. I am not big business. I am not militaristic. I believe in the value of education and infrastructure. I think we should try and create a government that fosters social equality for all races and ethnicities. My views on the poor and war should not label me 'left' or 'right'. Why does this frustrate me so much?

Far to often people use these labels as defense mechinisms so that they do not have to engage in a real discussion. If someone is a 'liberal' or 'conservative' and you fall in an oppositional camp, you don't have to take them seriously. That seems to me to be the only explanation. A lot of people don't want to think about these issues critically so they label those with conflicting views to be members of an oppositional camp in order to make illegitimate their position and prohibit dialogue.

One more thing that frustrates me. Political conservatism does not imply or necessitate religious conservatism, and visa-versa. One can be politically left and religiously right. I have had few come out and say it, but I have had some imply that because I care about issues seemingly left politically, I am somehow a religious liberal as well.



I don't normally get this angry when I post, and much of this is inarticulate and not well thought out. Just some thoughts on my mind this morning.