What’s on your political CV?
What is meant by being “conservative” or “liberal”–politically or culturally–these days? I, for one, do not know any longer. Like many Boomers who grew up in GdOP strongholds and were fortunate to attend a selective university, I voted Democratic most of the time, even when as years passed it was not always in my interest economically to do so. But I saw myself as a “liberal” human being. That meant a few things. I was someone heavily oriented since high school toward the humanities and the arts. Free speech and expression were important to me. Also, I was an internationalist, or world citizen. I was grateful for successful parents, and the schools I attended. As a result, I was compelled “to give something back” to that world. Many of my friends or role models from similar backgrounds at the time had similar ideas–and they were Democrats. As they grew older, many returned to the fold. That meant a return to the Republican Party candidates which their parents–like my own parents–supported loyally most election cycles. Me? My “politics” changed little with age or more money. It surprised a few people to learn I generally voted Democratic; they wouldn’t have expected it. For me it was an easy identification with both (a) a relatively progressive set of social ideas that put people first and (b) a cultural literacy I intended to keep building on.
In short, I aspired to be a Humanitarian and Renaissance man in all things. Certainly, such a man, politically at least, would be at home in the Democratic Party.