Convince me to stay a liberal.

[F4lconF16]

48. Thank you for this post.

I appreciate you posting your thoughts.

A few things in response...

We do have a choice. Between humanity and respect and understanding, and rejection of all of that.

But I don't know if the choice is between liberal or conservative. You have to understand, I have not had a long relationship with liberalism or the Democratic Party. I have never held a party membership, or been interested in one. To me, when I look at history, liberalism has simply been a much nicer form of conservatism. And it absolutely has been--the "republicans and democrats are the same" canard has never held much truth for me. There is a wide, wide gulf between the two. But there's an even wider gulf between liberalism and socialism, or communism/anarchism/etc.

I of course will always do my best to stand with the oppressed, to help them have their voices heard and their demands listened to. We absolutely need to send a clear message (and civil suits are one way to do that) about where our priorities lie--about the choice we have made.

But I guess this is the problem for me. Liberalism does not seem to do that. We talk about abortion and women's rights, but Democrats have not made it a priority. Look at Sanders--his movement is probably the most truly liberal movement I am likely to see in American politics in my lifetime. And it barely mentions gender inequality and the value of women's rights. We talk about BLM, but liberalism has shown again and again, countless times, that black lives are NOT a priority.

I just don't identify at all with liberalism. My question in the OP is, can I vote for a liberal in good conscience? Of course if the only options are between Democrat and Republican, I will always choose the former, but if there is a third-party running? I don't think I can. Sanders is the perfect example. He exemplifies the modern "left-wing" (by american standards), but his focus is 180 degrees from mine.

I can't tell you how much I agree that black folks need to be leading whatever new movement emerges--they, and women, and trans/gay folk, and others. We cannot succeed without prioritizing those voices.

So far, your post has come closest to salving my conscience. When you say that black folk have endured for hundreds of years, it reminds me that there will always be more progress to be made and that there will never be a perfect candidate or a perfect theory or a perfect party.

But then I listen to BLM protests downtown, and I hear them saying that we must reject the establishment. That we must reject what we have now. That we must NOT endure any longer, that we must RISE UP in opposition. And I have to say, I hear that message loud and clear. It's time for me to stand up in support of the oppressed, in rejection of everything about our current situation that places them at the bottom. It's time for me to listen to and fight for them.

The question for me is whether voting for someone like Sanders is going to help that. When history tells me he will at best postpone a movement and a rejection of our current society that we dearly need.

Apologies if this post isn't a great response, I'm fairly drunk at the moment...