Since the beginning of my political thought, I have been a liberal. It is not a title I ever feared. Never did I substitute it for democrat or progressive. In the country I grew up in I firmly believed liberal values best served the citizens there in. For over a decade now I have faced off against the reactionism dominating much of our culture. I grew angry at their red meat, and savored any thrown out from my side. It was more than just a political opinion, it was the identity which defined my place in this nation.
However, this year has shaken much of that belief. This nation, my nation, acted in plurality in a way I didn't believe possible. Pundits will debate the mandate given, but I feel sound in my own understanding. To me this nation voted for a man, who didn't try to define them. Because of this, he also didn't force any division within them. Obama didn't define republicans as the problem, he defined America's challenges as the problem. That is what I believe struck a chord.
This is truly a novel concept. As long as I've been alive, we have been fighting about who should be trusted to manage our nation. Two ideologies were thrown into the ring, and forced to claw it out. Each debated a hypothetical vision of America, and requested that the voter choose which one best suited their own utopian vision. It was implied that the two visions existed in opposition, and hence half the country wished for their heaven at the expense of your own hell. With the events of the past 8 years, I saw the country in exactly that framework.
Then came an African American, that I like others believed would highlight this opposition. I had seen racism in my community and family, and assumed it to be one of those defining evils of the other side. But Barack Obama didn't make that case. He never asked people to confront their reactions to his candidacy on a moral racial ground. Please understand that I personally feel that argument he abandoned was a very legitimate one. Still he presented his case without invoking any shameful history. Then the people voted without considering the prejudice, I had assumed was just under the surface. Somehow by saying we didn't need to rehash this, people just listened without bringing it up.
Then came the inevitable fight over the last president. If this was truly a liberal versus conservative fight, George W Bush should have been Satan. Again Barack shocked me, by never going that far. No one was criminal, they were just wrong. Not wrong in a sinister fashion. It was merely that an action resulted in a unfavorable consequence for our nation. There was no red meat, and my philosophy began to starve. It was then I realized he was not speaking to me, or at least not the liberal soldier I had become.
With each passing success his opponents grew more ideological. Their attacks began to ratchet up to a fever pitch. He faced the very core of liberal populism and the mantra of social conservatism. Despite the fury of his opponents he maintained an even and measured approach. He spoke only to actual realities of the nation he sought the highest office in. It was in the first onslaught of the primaries I finally understood his message. He was a pragmatist.
How else could he resolve the obvious inequity of race in our nation? How else could he still call for bipartisanship in the face of the greatest force in democratic party politics since Kennedy? How else could he quote Reagan and Lincoln along with Roosevelt and Truman? All of a sudden I realized that this new politics he spoke of was to him a reality. This was not any form of liberalism I had come to know, and I found myself ready to jump ship. I found myself ready to put down the sword.
It was in March I truly was converted. All of a sudden came a barrage of character attacks and whisper campaigns from within my own party. His race was exploited by people I knew prior to this primary. Rumors of Muslim affiliation were posted from people I knew weren't ones to discriminate based on religion. A whole sinister narrative was written by people who a year before were part of an inclusive vision for America. Finally I saw a reality, which had alluded me. The war between liberals and conservatives was fictitious. They were nothing more than labels used for the purpose of exploiting issues. They were seeds of division. These issues could just as quickly be replaced, if the opponent changed. We were in fact, no better than them.
Let me be clear that I have not abandoned my issues. I have simply abandoned the exploitation of my issues for the purpose of moral superiority. What I believe must be addressed in this nation, is no longer in the name of advancing an ideology. We are in a period of history, where these issues have become larger than any political affiliation can address. Our children will exist in a nation left behind by us, not by democrats or republicans. Right now that future is perilous. This is not about moving to the center, left or right. It is simply about finding practical solutions to as many problems as we can, as quickly as we can. It is about governing the nation we live in, and not about a hypothetical nation we would like to live in.
The purpose for this diary may not be clear yet, but it will be. Over the next couple years, many here may feel abandoned by our president elect. The priorities and solutions defined by this administration may seem to diminish the ideological victories we hoped for. I doubt many will look back at the substance put forth before crying betrayal. Our enemies may not be slain, but instead tasked with a role. You will be faced with one of two possibilities, though ego may not allow the latter. First and most likely will be a new wave of disillusionment and cynicism. This is the easiest way to see a world unlike the one you may have envisioned. The second is you can finally put down your sword, and just be another American trying to find an answer.