Growing up in Massachusetts has made me somewhat of a liberal by default, but I’ve recently started putting pressure on a number of my views. I have realized I am actually rather conservative on two issues: abstinence and abortion. That is, I support abstinence as a personal choice, and I believe that abortion is not the right solution in most cases, though I believe it should be legal.
Rather than get into the details of my stances, I am more curious why these two issues in particular stand out. Sexual promiscuity and pro-choice stances are usually associated with a set of “liberal” values. Maybe the link, for me, is family. My particular brand of social conservatism idealizes mature, long-term, monogamous relationships. In my head, the logical link is made to the value of waiting for physical intimacy and embracing unplanned pregnancies. Perhaps these two issues are especially personal. After all, they involve one of the most taboo subjects in American society: sex.
The only reason I remain on the left side of things is my belief that it is not my place to enforce a certain lifestyle. If someone sleeps around in self-destructive ways, or casually uses abortion like birth control, it is not my place to legally stop them, even as I find such behavior morally wrong. We are more comfortable regulating other morals: do not kill, do not drive recklessly, do not commit suicide, etc…So being pro-choice does not mean I support abortion, or that I trust women’s ability to decide what is best. It is only a stance on governmental intervention.
While this is not out of line with the true meaning of liberalism, self-proclaimed liberals today often force their views onto others, as they criticize right-wingers for their moralizing. What side does that put me on? Guess that just makes me a socially conservative Foucaultian feminist.
You figure it out.
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