Sometimes I jokingly tell people that I'm the most conservative liberal they'll ever meet. Usually, they interpret that as "conservative DEMOCRAT" and think I'm a moderate. But no, I really mean it. What I mean is that I am a very conservative person. I dress conservatively. I don't kick back much. I have views on faith and behavior and relationships that could be described as conservative- even very conservative. And yet...
I am a liberal. Not a democrat, but a liberal. I strongly support gay marriage rights, even though if my religious denomination tried to marry Gay couples I would oppose it. I am not in favor of banning abortion, even though I think it's almost always a great moral wrong, because I think Roe V. Wade was properly decided. I don't want to go outlawing divorce, even though I think no-fault divorce encourages very poor choices. And then we get into economics and environmental and energy policy, where my being liberal is (to me anyway) an issue of pragmatism as well as moral value, assuming that what we're all after is a prosperous, peaceful, sustainable, and equitable state. I'm not posting any of these statements to start arguments over any social issue--I know that most people here don't share my beliefs on abortion and divorce, especially, and I'm totally cool with that. It would be rather arrogant of me to get offended about it. But I am curious- do you think that my self-assessment is inaccurate? Can a person with conservative personal values and beliefs be a liberal? Some would argue quite cogently against it. Are there any other conservative liberals out there?