I once called myself a liberal and I was a good member of the party...until I got kicked out. (parts 1 - 4)

I once called myself a liberal and I was a good member of the party...until I got kicked out. (part 1)

I was against the Viet Nam war when I went into college. I attended a few antiwar demonstrations. That was good and I was appreciated as a fellow traveler. But I was looked upon as one with questionable loyalties when I said I was against the Viet Nam war (as it was then being fought, frankly) but I DID NOT HATE the Military nor despise those who served. This attitude was mitigated because I did everything I could (legally) to not be drafted. BUT I was being monitored as a possible turncoat.

I once called myself a liberal and I was a good member of the party...until I got kicked out. (part 2)

I believed that racism was wrong. I believed that men and women were all equal under the law. I believed in funding the “social safety net” to help the disadvantaged. But I also believed in financial accountability and cost efficiency of every government program, particularly "social" programs. Well, I think I was considered something of a hater, but I was an accountant and at that time financial accountability wasn't an anti-liberal thing.

I once called myself a liberal and I was a good member of the party...until I got kicked out. (part 3)

I believed that marijuana was not a problem (frankly even cocaine) and it should be legalized. Well, we were all on the same page in the party. Good times. Later, upon reflection and observation, I changed my opinion to marijuana was not dangerous but it did have some unacceptable consequences with some users. So, maybe if not legalize, then definitely decriminalize it. Sending users to jail for a toke? Ridiculous!

The right thing to do, I said, was to legalize it and treat it same as tobacco was...then. It would make it safer and provide tax revenues. Win-Win, right?

Well, that was a great recommendation for my fellow Liberals...at the time. How forward thinking, how logical, how....superior we were to all the neanderthals. But then my fellow Libs came down on tobacco smoking with a vengeance and forced smokers into ghettos and to stand out in the rain to smoke, while at the same time still claiming that potheads had better rights not to be bothered, it was all personal choice. I found that to be incongruous and said so. This was not appreciated.

I once called myself a liberal and I was a good member of the party...until I got kicked out. (part 4)

I wasn't religious but I DID NOT DESPISE those who are believers; in fact I expressed love for many of them.

Okay, now it was pretty certain I was in fact some kind of religious kook even though I rarely went into a church. BUT at that time even a few liberals attended church and expressed some nominal religious convictions that even involved the Christian bible so I wasn't called out on that.

Oh, and even a very few of fellow travelers were against abortion on moral and religious and biblical grounds.

(I know, hard to believe, right? I swear it's true. But remember this was before the Liberals/Democrats forbade true believers from the top echelon of leadership.)

I once called myself a liberal and I was a good member of the party...until I got kicked out. (parts 5 - 7)

I once called myself a liberal and I was a good member of the party...until I got kicked out. (part 5)

I was extremely pro-choice, but which I mean I insisted that a woman could abort her baby whenever she felt like it. An inalienable right, one could say. Oh, and that a loving, supportive State should pay for it.

But then I became radicalized on the matter and proffered that The State/We The People even had an interest to ensure abortions. I was almost Red Chinese on this issue in that any woman on public assistance should be forcibly and strongly counseled on aborting her baby. And I was even open to the idea of forced abortions if The State was going to be responsible for taking care of the “child” after being born.

Not my best hour, I agree. Also this is when I became aware that the Left was always the Totalitarian Party. All must submit to The State.

This really confused some of my fellow travelers. Abortion was good...but was I a hater of the downtrodden and protected classes? Yet still I was a believer in unrestricted abortion and so remained a member of the party...thus far.

I once called myself a liberal and I was a good member of the party...until I got kicked out. (part 6)

Regarding homosexuality, I was then in very good stead. I was against any recriminations of the gay lifestyle. Whether due to nature or nurture or a Fun Saturday Night, this didn't matter to me; gays were my fellows in this world and had the same rights.

I did draw the line at gay marriage because I knew that marriage historically had been between men and women so what right-thinking person would want to mess with that issue when there was a much better way to go. THAT was “civil union” or at worst having gays establish “civil partnerships” with all rights and duties legally identified. Add a durable power of attorney and the gay couple could represent each other within the law. Hell, I even thought that was a great way to go for most hetero couples in lieu of marriage.

And I was regarded as a caring Liberal, an intellectual Liberal! But of course that was over 20 years ago. Now that position makes me a Gay Bashing Hater. But back then, I was still welcome to play on the Liberal playground. My how times can change, and quickly.

I once called myself a liberal and I was a good member of the party...until I got kicked out. (part 7)
But I then went a bridge too far.
I was pro-choice, no doubt about that. BUT I began to question the faith of “indiscriminate abortion at any time and any place and how the hell dare you to say otherwise.”
You see, I do believe in Science, including Medical Science.
When I allowed myself to think logically about abortion, I ran into a intellectual problem.

At a certain stage, the fetus is not simply a clump of cells, equal to the same matter as something that you spat out as part of the process of clearing your throat. One clump can have a heart beat, that inconsequential clump can feel discomfort, that annoying clump can look like a human. Then I made myself look at pictures of aborted fetuses and you know what?; some of them looked like little babies. So I questioned: when does a clump become a fetus and when does a clump become a baby?

You see, I was starting to question the only true religion of the Party...a Woman's Right To Choose.

And I was losing the faith. But not yet lost.

I once called myself a liberal and I was a good member of the party...until I got kicked out. (parts 8 - 9)

I once called myself a liberal and I was a good member of the party...until I got kicked out. (part 8)

The day came during the Clinton years (1993-2000) when there was a national debate on abortion. Remember, some of you, when BJ Clinton said he wanted abortion to be legal, safe and rare? A great thought that mirrored my thoughts. (Still does.) But at the same time....NO LIBERAL would even consider that Partial Birth Abortion should not be allowed. And that bothered me. You see, my fellow Liberals...all loving, all kind...stood by the position that Partial Birth Abortion was very rare and was only done to save the life of the mother. EVEN though that would be an impossibility given the way that the procedure is performed. I had done my research to support my pro-abortion proclivities and found that (wait for it): There IS a birth, it's just that the “fetus” is manipulated to come out only part of the way so that the doctor can puncture “its” brain and destroy it. If the doctor slips just a bit, there would be a live birth. If you performed that same procedure then, you would be murdering an infant. But a few seconds earlier, while still in the birth canal, you are performing a therapeutic abortion. And how the hell can that be better for the mother than allowing the birth?

At around the same time I saw a picture of a surgeon performing an intra-utero surgery on a “fetus” to save “its” “life.” That particular clump of cells had a fully formed hand with fingers that stuck out of the “mother” and grabbed the doctor's hand. Interesting action for a clump of cells, I thought. And that thought hurt. And this time I didn't turn away. Well, not fully away.

So I remained “pro-choice” but with (what I thought was) a small caveat. Partial Birth Abortion is infanticide, so don't do it. Let the woman still have the right to destroy her creation, I mean, clump of cells at some earlier stage BUT draw the line at murder. Surely Medical Science could come up with such a line.

Now I knew my revised position was riddled with inconsistencies (and still is) and I was very queasy with my position, but I was still pro-abortion, wasn't I?

Yet, that was it-the final straw.

I could not be a member of the Liberal class if I didn't fully support unlimited and unrestricted abortion. Hell, I wasn't able to even question a portion of it. Abortion was the Sacrament. My position was Sacrilege; this was Heresy worthy of the ultimate punishment of the religion.

So I was kicked out on my ass. Couldn’t even play in the playground after my former fellows went home.

And haven't regretted it.


I once called myself a liberal and I was a good member of the party...until I got kicked out. (part 9)

You see, I'm pretty much the same as I ever was.

And I've been able to question my positions and prejudices without being charged with blasphemy.

Quite freeing.

So I've self-classified when needed as conservative because the lines have been drawn and sometimes you have to choose a side. I “enlisted” in the Republican Party because there are still a few economic and realist conservatives who reside only there. I do not threaten the “religious right” who at most would convert me (and pray for me, which I appreciate) but do not threaten to ostracize me.

So I've found my niche. It's comfortable enough for now. And I've confused some people because I don't fit in a particular box.

I've found that Libertarians are those who usually don't want to take a position for which they will be held responsible. So they get to bitch and bitch...with a superior attitude. I've found that Progressives...hah, what a word for smug totalitarians...are just Liberals who are just Democrats.

My philosophy: “Don't screw with me or mine. And I won't screw with you or yours.”

In short, let's all of us leave all of us the hell alone. Maybe then we can find that common ground. I won't care who you're sleeping with, and you shut your yap about what I eat. I won't care if you believe that Mother Gaia is angry with her children, just leave me alone with my opinion that there is little we can do to prevent climate change. I won't care what your drug of choice is, and you will allow me to peacefully smoke what I want. You get the gist, right?