Honest answer to a reader's question
No snark, no smartassery. This is one of the finest responses I've ever seen to this kind of question.
Setup: The Charlotte Observer's Taylor Batten wrote a piece about "Honesty Day," which "requires" you to honestly answer a question if it is posed to you. (Sidebar: The Observer is a McClatchy newspaper.) He was asked: "Question? Why do you support such a liberal agenda? Remember you’re supposed to answer honestly."
It would have been easy to respond defensively ("We're not liberal!") or with much snark and smartass ("Here's why we're not conservative...") or, easiest of all, to just ignore it -- with or without the high drama and pearl-clutching. Instead, Batten and the Observer chose to respond with a simple, elegant, and perfectly thought-out response. I'm not easily impressed by this kind of thing. Batten's words did so. This will resonate with me for, quite probably, the rest of my days.
Let's go see what he wrote.
I don't want to violate Fair Use guidelines, so I've only included a small part of Batten's response.
We believe that everyone is created equal.
We believe that children should not bear responsibility for the sins of their parents.
[...]
We believe people should not be treated as lesser citizens, with fewer rights, because of whom they love.
[...]
We believe discrimination is wrong in every instance.
[...]
We believe that police officers should act professionally, under incredibly difficult circumstances, regardless of a suspect’s race.
[...]
We believe taxes should be kept as low as possible while still providing a sound safety net for the neediest, a robust education for all, decent health care for the elderly and the destitute, and other basics.
[...]
We believe there are people of worth beyond our tight circle and there are neighborhoods beyond our own, with different histories, perspectives and needs.
[...]
We believe there are peace-loving Muslims.
We do not believe President Obama was born in Kenya.
We believe in the separation of church and state.
[...]
We believe if you’re a fan of a politician solely because he has a ‘D’ or an ‘R’ after his name, then you’re not paying attention.
We believe we have only one planet, and we should protect it for our grandchildren.
Batten included so much more that I left out, including some Charlotte- and area-specific bits.
Read the whole thing. Quote it. Share it. Turn it into a poster and tack it up on your wall. I couldn't ask for a more inclusive answer as to why we're liberals.
What do you think?
Mon May 18, 2015 at 9:46 PM PT: Thanks for the recommend, all. Go one further and drop some love on Batten and the Observer, via the story link.