Loving Liberally
It has taken me 26 years to figure out what political party I don't want to be affiliated with. I know that doesn't sound right, but its true. I haven't given my vote away to any party - yet - but I know who won't get it. I have always been a registered Independent (mostly just because I love the word - INDEPENDENT!) but the past year I have found myself moving closer and closer to the left. Dare I say it? Am I becoming (horrors!) a Liberal? Before you write me off, hear me out.
Here's a little bit of my political history:
My Mom is a Republican
My Dad is a Democrat
I have no idea what my sister is
My husband is a Republican. A conservative Republican.
I have never taken an interest in politics until recently.
I have found myself growing more and more disappointed with the Republican party. This is ironic since this move to the left has occurred while I have lived in Texas, the Republican capital of the world. I think Texas is a large part of why I have found myself unnerved and disgusted with much of right-wing politics. Racism, homophobia, big and rich things run rampant here. I also have a more diverse friend base. Diverse people tend to vote Democrat and care more about poor people and what we call "opportuny." I started reading Donald Miller and Anne LaMott.
I have questions. How do I reconcile my thoughts on abortion with my thoughts on capital punishment? How do I find a balance between what so many Christians think is right and the horrible treatment of homosexuals? When do poverty and so many other issues in the Bible become important to me, as a voter? How about war? Should it anger me that churches have voting drives and only have Republican registration tables? How can one injustice possibley be "more OK" than other?
So there is my struggle. I am trying. I am growing. I know that what is right for me may not be "right" for the majority of Christians. I am working on being OK with that and on how to control my tongue. I know the Religious Right drives me crazy with the blind eye they turn to so many causes in the Bible. I do not want to be a single issue voter. But how do you vote when there is no party that aligns with all that you believe to be true, Biblical and just?
Benji, my husband, tends to get the brunt of my rantings/questions/challenges/questions. He is patient. He is also conservative. We talk. We argue. We compete. At the end, we are spent, but I have made my point and he, his. Here is how our talks end:
Benji kisses me on the nose and says "I love you, my little liberal."
I kiss him back and say "I love you, my crazy conservative."
And then I smile. Wickedly. And say, "Aren't you glad I love you liberally, and not conservatively?"
And he just shakes his had, gives me the"You exhaust me but you are the funniest woman I know" look and says "Yes. I am glad."
posted by Greta @ 8:08 PM
7 Comments:
well as I am the first non-spam post on your blog, I would like to welcome myself.
Good questions!!
Single issue voter:
-The term is a pejorative, but should it be. It is used to highlight someone who only thinks about one issue, but in reality doesn't everyone have one issue that is more important. If I take all issues into perspective, ultimately I have to choose a side, and it seems like in most people one issue will push them over. Then they are a single issue voter, or at the very least two issue and all we can do is hope the party you dig agrees on those two issues.
I don't want to be a single issue voter as much as the next guy, except I have found that ultimately it will be one issue that pushes me over the edge and thus gets my vote. Maybe that makes me the bumper sticker?
looking forward to your continually thoughts.
Brady
amber and I fought about this for a while yesterday, and I think I might have jumped the gun on the definition of a "single issue voter"
Is a SIV a person uninformed on any other issue?
Or is it a person who ultimitely votes with the most weight put on one issue?
I think greta hates us
Blacks:
First of all, my blog is not in any way ready for human consumption, I have no idea how you actually got a hold of this address, unless it was in the 12 hour window that it was on Benji's blog, but anyway - thanks for your thoughts! You've inspired me to actually tend to this blog so hopefully this weekend you will see it new and improved. Just quit it with the Jedi tricks as you try to seep your way into every asepct of my life!
Regarding "What does SIV mean?" - it means both. To me it references more stronlgy someone who votes out of ignorance of other issues vs someone who votes because they simply must choose between issues. But I think it encompasses both.
While I agree Brady that eventually it will be one issue that "pushes one over the edge" - my question is - how do you decide what that is? If I am against abortion and also against capital punishment, how do I decide which is worse - based on a feeling? I am not comfortable judging which sins are worse based on feelings, specifically my own! And if sin is just sin and not "worse sin," then it continues to leave me at a loss.
So the questions you guys have posed are the very questions I cannot answer and love that you are asking them too. I guess the bottom line is that too many Christians I know have a set of "important issues" but ignore many other issues that I think are "important," but because they are not bandwagon Christian issues I am labeled a liberal. Which as you know I don't mind that label, but I feel like the ignorance is overwhelming.
But speaking of ignorance, if I say I care about the poor but then you ask me when the last time I physically helped a poor person and I say "UHHH?" really intelligently, then I look and feel just as much the fool, ignorant. Which is pretty much where I am at this point.
You guys rock. As there are only 3 people who know this blog exists, I am glad you are two of them.
I can't believe you are keeping this a secret. Good things here. Things I wish I had put down first.
I didn't vote last week. Not because I didn't have the time...I would have made the time.
I couldn't decide...and THAT I couldn't believe. What's happening?
have you read
"God's politics"? by the Sojourner dude?
Greta-
I didn't vote a few weeks ago, because I couldn't decide what I wanted (that is for Prop 2). On one side I see that the Bible does make it difficult for one to say that it is OK to be a practicing homosexual, however, on the other side I ask myself, "what does it matter if they get 'married?'"
When I look at Jesus, he usually erred on the side of extreme love and tenderness. Can I do that to homosexuals? Would Jesus have? But on the other hand, how would this change the next generation of Christians? Would it tell them that it is OK?
And then I ask, "what is it that I want most?" I think it is that I want people to know the love of Christ and enter God's kingdom. What does it take for that to happen without compromising what it is that this kingdom calls us to. It is at this time that I get so frustrated (or other people get so frustrated with me) that I write another blog. :o)
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