Ryan Chartrand“It’s a life!” “It’s a woman’s choice!”
This was the scene unfolding in my AP government class four years ago. One staunch conservative and one screaming liberal. Except I was the screaming liberal and I was screaming at one of my (now fellow) Republicans.
I was a liberal before I fully understood politics and what being a liberal meant. I was a liberal back when the only two issues being discussed were (and sometimes still are) abortion and gay marriage, two issues that have repeatedly crossed party lines.
Back then I would have said how liberal I was because I believed in a woman’s right to choose and, if given the chance, I would have said how tired I was of the seemingly homophobic views of our previous generation and that our country needed to provide the right of civil unions to gay and straight couples alike.
These are two things that I still believe in, but since that scene four years ago I’ve figured out that none of any of my other views are aligned with the Democratic party (not to mention the Democratic party doesn’t stand strong enough for gay rights anyway).
It all started with increased knowledge and exposure to those whose views I really agreed with. I moved in with the president of the Cal Poly College Republicans last year and I must admit I totally passed judgment. “Oh, no,” I thought, “I’m going to be living with a Republican?! Not one of those!” But I had conversations with her about politics and I talked to the other people in the club and I repeatedly had bright moments of “Wait, that’s what I believe in, too.” And it felt good.
It felt good to no longer associate myself with people who made me feel guilty for being who I was and to not be the only person in the room who really didn’t think that invading Iraq was such a bad idea and who didn’t understand why the upper class was supposedly so evil.
I realized how conservative I am when it comes to most political issues. I think all taxes and government spending should be cut, that the government should have a smaller role in our lives in general. I support school vouchers because our government has failed to provide us with quality schools (especially in this state, but that’s another article altogether). I wish our troops could be brought home, but I believe the threat is too great in the Middle East for that to be done right now. I think that our borders should be more secure and that health care should be left up to the free market. I’m definitely a Republican.
The hardest part of the whole thing was “coming out” to my mom, a loyal Democrat, and joining my dad, who, at the time, was the only Republican in our entire family. Then there’s the judgment that people pass on you once you tell them you’re a Republican. I’ve had to defend my views more often than I ever did when I was a liberal, which is probably why I was able to so easily slip under the radar as a Democrat for so long without even realizing I was a fraud. People assume that you automatically love Bush and you’re pro-life and you somehow love to oppress the lower class.
The truth is that Bush has made mistakes that we, as members of his party, do acknowledge, and we definitely don’t always agree with everything that he’s done. But when was the last time you met a Democrat that loved every one of the members from their party? As for the “A” word, it’s become clear to me that the issue will continually cross party lines because it’s such a personal issue. Also, for the record, I can only think of one person I know who’s pro-life. When it comes to the oppressing-the-lower-class accusation, I don’t think believing that my dad shouldn’t pay more of his paycheck he’s worked so hard for to support those who don’t work really counts as oppression. It’s more like letting people keep what they earn.
This is the first election in which I’ve voted Republican and the entire process was really exciting. Instead of supporting someone that I assumed represented what I wanted, I was able to fully get behind a candidate and wholeheartedly support him.
Even though my candidate didn’t win (sorry, Mitt), I know that this November I’ll enthusiastically support the party that really has my interests in mind, even if it took me a while to realize it.
Jennifer Gilmore is a microbiology senior and a Mustang Daily conservative columnist.