Embracing Liberalism
I have always considered myself an anarcho-communist. I am a big fan of personal freedom and social responsibility. Lately, though, I have found myself politically leaning in other directions. Much soul searching has revealed something disturbing: I am a bleeding-heart Liberal.
Thats right: capital L. No one could be more shocked than I am. Want proof?
1. I am for gun control. Right inline with the liberal ideologues, I do not think the founding fathers would have approved of the use of assault rifles by the every day citizen. I am not anti-guns. I endorse the second amendment. Still, I consider it ridiculous that you have to wait three days in the state of Florida to get married, but only have to wait two days for a gun.
2. I am for affirmative action. Simply put: I do not think America is ready to give minorities a fair shot at jobs and higher education. I also think it is the government’s job to make sure they get one.
3. I am for big taxes and big government. This one really surprised me. Coming from the intellectual position of anarchism, how can I justify this? I can’t. But I am in favor of government protection of social security and socialized healthcare. "There!" you might say, "you are actually a socialist!" To a degree, you might be right. But aren’t socialists really just pissed-off bleeding-heart Liberals? I do not consider myself pissed-off quite yet. At any rate, I favor Keynesian economics—I believe in healthy government spending and acceptable budget deficits. Government spending spurs the economy. And that spending money comes from taxes. As such, I am offended by Bush’s "more government, less taxes" strategy. I think it is ruining the economy. Tax the rich, tax the middle, tax the poor, that is what I say! So long as the government is giving back quality public services (something that Democrats and Republicans have failed to do).
4. I am pro-enviroment. I believed that the indian was really crying over the state of the environment in those commercials we saw while watching saturday morning cartoons as kids (maybe you don’t remember, but I do). You can say that I was indoctrinated at an early age, but it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that large oil conglomerates could care less about the environment unless governments are willing and able to slap significant fines and sanctions against polluters. Also, I like trees. *hug*
I could go on, but you get the point. But let me qualify my political orientation. While I am fiscally and socially Liberal, I do not subscribe to any party. I am anti-Democrat, anti-Republican. I find the reduction of choices to a pair of (supposedly) polar opposites troubling and disgusting. I think a lot of people are excluded from our representative process by reducing the choices to "either/or".
More troubling still is the fact that both sides are really on the same team. I am not talking about both being "pro-American". I mean they are in collusion to eliminate alternatives, manipulating the machinery of government and media to give people the illusion of choice without actually sacrificing their hold on power. Wait a minute…
…Maybe NOW I am a socialist!