"Liberal" and "Conservative"

I was speaking with a friend this week and during our conversation he informed me that a mutual acquaintance of ours had labeled me a "liberal." For those of you who do not know me personally, I strongly resist labels, especially the nomenclature of political idealogy. So, of course, I was a little disappointed to be pigeonholed so readily by someone who truly doesn't know my theological or political viewpoints. With that said, he was right.

After reflecting for a while I realized that I am a "liberal"... compared to him (at least I think). We often use these descriptive terms so absolutely to characterize ourselves and others, but I believe they tend to be more relative than we allow. For example, I was a substitute at Perryville Elementary this past school year and recieved the opportunity to play with third and fourth graders at recess. I shot basketball with them, chased many of them in fun, and went down the slides. While playing, many of the children called me "fast." I could run faster than them, and maybe faster than other people they had watched run. But--placing that ego-building compliment aside for a moment--am I fast?

As a football player, I was not fast. I wasn't slow either (although in high school I did have a coach inform me that he watched me score "the slowest touchdown" he had ever seen). I would consider myself of average speed. Now compared to some, specifically linemen, I was pretty fast. But compared to others, most notably Centre College's Adam Clark and Adam Blandford (who were exceptionally speedy), I was rather slow. So what am I? Slow? Fast? Well, I guess it all comes down to your frame of reference. Maybe the schoolkids were right: I am fast... compared to them.

The truth is terms like "conservative" and "liberal" are both very relative. They are descriptors which do not indicate the actual gradation of "conservative" or "liberal". For instance, what exactly is between a conservative and a liberal? Are these people neither conservative nor liberal? Or are they a convergence of the two, both liberal and conservative? Some may think one can't exist without falling neatly into one of the two categories. In contrast to this, I think we are all liberal, and we are all conservative. How much of each makes up our present perspective.

Whatsmore, our perspectives change over time. We might be a liberal liberal as a college student, and swing to be a liberal conservative after three kids and a mortgage (notice how "liberal" and "conservative" are both nouns and adjectives). It might not be fair to characterize anyone as a liberal or a conservative unless we are willing to acknowledge the historical deviations of that person's past and the potential changes of their future. I think it would be a good-faith gesture to recognize the descriptors "liberal" and "conservative" as being uniquely present-tense.

So, yes, I am a liberal. I am also a conservative. I am the individual who is both liberal and conservative, and if you want to know how that mixture is currently balanced, ask me. Labels are too often used for dismissals or uncritical support. I hope you do neither with me or anyone else. Instead, I hope you ask what people think, talk with people about their ideas and concerns, and work to make a better future for all of us. I don't care if you are "liberal" or "conservative." Because its the people who make this world better, not the names we give them.