I've been reading some essays by a self-proclaimed
href="http://www.ejectejecteject.com/">conservative lately, and he's got me a
little bit annoyed. The funny thing is, it's not because I disagree with him on
most subjects. It's not because I wouldn't like him, either: he's a pilot, a man
with opinions, a historian, and a hell of a good writer, all of which suggest I'd
enjoy meeting him. (Though I'm not sure it would be mutual.) What ticked me off,
mostly, is the scornful way he writes about liberals, all of whom are apparently
hypocritical yellow-bellied scum-sucking appeasers, as opposed to conservatives,
who are all moral, upright, freethinking heroes.
I don't like
stereotypes. I have not yet met a large group of people who all think enough alike
for a stereotype to be unfailingly accurate. There certainly are slimy liberals
who would rather be slaves than free men and women, as long as they could keep
their little luxuries, as well as conservatives who think for themselves, apply
logic, and live by their own moral code. On the other hand, I have encountered
liberals who are righteous freedom fighters willing to suffer to maintain other
people's rights and conservatives who are hidebound, hatebound, unthinking
followers of cheap idols. The labels are not wide enough to span the beliefs of
all those who march under them.
Furthermore, I have noticed that
while the most fanatic extremists on left and right tend to approach each other
somewhere in the swamps of fascism, there are a goodly number of moderates who
meet far on the oppisite side of the circle. That is, there are quite a lot of
Americans who don't want the government telling them what to do with either their
bedroom or their wallet. They have a wide spectrum of fine shades of belief on
other touchy issues such as guns or abortion, often winding up somewhere or other
in the intermediate area (that is, legal but with restrictions), and they are
almost all fervent believers in freedom of thought and speech. What I have seen is
that these people who share a core of belief describe themselves differently
according to their priorities. Typically, those who prioritize freedom in the
bedroom describe themselves as liberals, while those whose priorty is freedom of
the bankbook describe themselves as conservatives. (As I've already said I don't
like stereotypes, I want to point out I said "typically". It's not a universal
truth.) If people with very similar beliefs fall in under both banners, how can
one group be universally better or worse than the other?
I'll stand
up for my own beliefs here, in detail I rarely put up in a public forum. I believe
human worth and capability are not determined by gender, race, nationality, sexual
orientation, or any other external factor. I believe I should be the only one
deciding what happens to my body, and you to yours. Thus to me, whether abortion
is wrong or not is irrelevant; I can't make that decision for another independent
person, and by independent person I mean "self-aware individual", not "possessor
of human DNA". I'm a card-carrying member of the ACLU, and proud of it. (And why
aren't you? They're the only non-governmental organization I know of pledged to
protect our Constitution and the freedoms it guarantees for everyone, not just
those they agree with, and they've proved their convictions over and over. If you
don't like some of their stances, then join them and change those decisions.) So
mostly, I get branded a liberal. On the other hand, I think the NRA is actually
right about what the Second Amendment says; though I'm not always 100% sure I
agree with the Founding Fathers on that one, I'm also not sure they didn't know
more than I do about it. I support the death penalty, though only if it can be
fairly and accurately applied; we can't afford mistakes on something that
permanent, so if we can't do it right, we shouldn't do it at all. And I believe in
limited government. All rights not specifically granted to the government by the
Constitution do and ought to belong to the people. (Actually, the Constitution
says to the states or to the people, but I see no more reason to trust state
governments than national ones.) Based on those opinions, I am a conservative.
Labels don't fit me, and they rarely say all that needs to be said about anyone
else's beliefs either.
There are certainly gutless weasels,
unappreciative of their freedoms and those who have suffered for them. And there
are brave free-thinkers lovers of freedom. But you can't identify the players by
their shirts in this game.