Recently, during an impromptu discussion with a about four or five conservatives that included commissioners Bob Main and John Sweet I was accused of not being a liberal! Over pizza and calzone the topic came up over the NDAA when I remarked how encouraging it was that the extreme right could share common goals with far left liberals like me and work well together. 
It was Main who said it first, “you’re not a liberal.” Wait, what!!! At first I was confused and for once didn’t know what to say and remained speechless until I was brought out of my stupor by a chorus of voices echoing agreement.
Now, just seconds after basking in the warm glow of bipartisan cooperation I am indignant. How dare I be accused of being a conservative! Thinking back on it, the irony is pretty comical.
This isn’t the first time I have been confused with a conservative, however. The new young leader of the Coos County Republican Central Commitee, Jason Payne, told me he thought MGx.com was a conservative blog until he read my “about” page.
Conversely, self avowed conservatives who enjoy reading MGx have shared with me their view of State Representative Caddy McKeown as “being so far left of center its ridiculus.” Caddy may be many things yet in the eyes of this self avowed left winger, she doesn’t have a liberal bone in her body. Clearly, amongst their many differences, liberals and conservatives have very different definitions of liberal and conservative.
“Where do you stand on the 2nd amendment?” Main asked.
“Is that the litmus test?” I responded.
Now, I can understand Payne’s initial perspective because I don’t write about government funded economic development from a partisan point of view. Instead, I try to approach these issues as to whether or not the taxpayer receives a positive return on their investment. Does the deal payoff across the board or are just a handful of people benefiting at the expense of everyone else? These are not partisan or left right issues in my opinion, they are more shareholder vs taxpayer issues.
Aside from my obvious concern of the continued erosion of civil liberties these last few years, one of the reasons I am working so hard to encourage the commissioners to pass a resolution opposing provisions within the NDAA is the opportunity it presents to work with so many disparate groups. Admittedly, I sort of cringe when some individuals talk about the “evils of communism” because when it comes to essential services like public safety, transportation, electricity, water, health care, etc… I am pretty much an avowed socialist. At the same time I am excited that we share so many other common viewpoints.
A friend surmised that I am mistaken as a conservative sometimes because conservatives don’t think liberals support veterans or can read a balance sheet. This opinion may in itself be the product of liberal prejudice of conservative stereotypes but one thing is for sure, we are going to have to work together to move that festering, oozing behemoth we affectionately refer to as Congress.
Main says he has a list of about ten questions he uses to determine whether someone leans to the left or right. Maybe we should develop some sort of strategy for categorizing each other or maybe we can just step back a bit and settle for a more general term. Perhaps just Americans will suffice. On second thought, that will never work.
On a side note, owing to an errant plugin some of you experienced difficulty posting comments. Sometimes my real job gets in the way of blog maintenance and but all should be well now. Sorry for any inconvenience.
Liberals see a common sense to spend a dime now to save a dollar later, conservatives don’t want to spend the dime. In other words, people are commodity not worthy of investment to a conservative.
It also seems to me that conservatives, despite all the evidence to the contrary, somehow still believe in trickle down… They still believe if you just subsidize the corporations enough the economy will improve
…ok, let’s try this: All Persons, by right of birth, are social stakeholders in THE PUBLIC COMMONS Of PLANET EARTH.
The rub comes when corporations/shareholders, TAKE and/or DISTROY THE PUBLIC COMMONS “at the expense of” the social stakeholders.
(or something like that)
Mary, maybe for the purpose of these kinds of discussions, we could replace “shareholder,” with stakeholder: “These are not partisan or left right issues in my opinion, they are more shareholder vs taxpayer issues.” …or did I miss your meaning?
In this particular instance I am weighing socializing the risk to benefit a few corporate shareholders vs the payout to the taxpayers. One sees great profits at the expense of the public. Hard to view shareholders as stakeholders in this context
This conservative does not have any liberal friends. I have friends who are liberals. My best Coos County friend is an active Democrat. Conservative voice of the community Jim Bice is a life long registered Democrat. Perhaps my friend Mr. Main should avoid labels and tests.
According to MarkM Jon Barton is a Democrat also which just goes to show the two parties are essentially indistinguishable from one another. From what I hear, all it takes to be called a progressive democrat in Coos County is to be “pro-choice” or to support gay marriage.