Conservative Refocus

By Liberated Girl

For the majority of my adult life, I proudly proclaimed myself to be “liberal” in terms of my political affiliation.

I was not “raised” to be “liberal.” My father has always been a staunch Republican. When I first registered to vote at the age of 18, I registered as a Republican—following in his footsteps. The first vote for President I cast was for Ronald Reagan. Still, at that point in my life, I had no real understanding of politics.

Then, I went to college. I pursued a “Liberal Arts” education—major English. I was surrounded by people who defined themselves as “Liberal Democrats.” I thought/believed, well, I am one of them…and changed my party designation to Democrat. Still, I had no real understanding of politics.

At that point in my life, I associated “liberal” with everything “good” and “conservative” with everything bad. Liberal was progressive, free-thinking, open and accepting of difference.—an undiscerning, casual “we are the world” kind of openness. Conservative was unmoving, closed-minded, hatred and fear of difference (racist, sexist, etc.). Looking back it’s not hard to see why I felt that way—just take a look at any standard dictionary definition of both words. And I had absolutely NO understanding of the complex intertwining of government, law, economy, and liberty.

My political alliance distanced me from my family—particularly my father. A typical scenario at any family gathering during that time (and throughout most of my life): My father would bring up a politically-charged issue. I would immediately become silent and filled with anger. Everyone in the room would become silent. I would huff and puff and walk out of the room proclaiming, “I can’t talk to you about this!”

I couldn’t talk about anything political with my father because I could not defend or explain my “position” on any issue. I had no real understanding of what I “believed” or why. Because I could not verbalize or justify my beliefs, I was unwilling and unable to engage in any meaningful conversation....

Read More:

All Right, Now