A Path Forward for Conservatives and Liberals in the US

I grew up in a conservative, fundamentalist Christian church.

I’ve voted for our current Republican congressman (with many regrets, I might add).

I live in an area that is dominated by conservative voices. My church circle is conservative. Though my immediate family is liberal, much of my extended family is conservative. Our closest family friends are conservative.

Though I’m sure not all conservatives share the same views, I really think I’ve taken the time to listen and try to understand the way that many conservative people are viewing things right now.

My understanding is that many conservatives believe:

1. Personal liberty is important to defend from governmental overreach
2. That Christianity is the one true religion, and that our laws and policies should reflect Christian values.
3. Protecting the environment should never be placed above protecting the livelihoods of our fellow humans.
4. Abortion is murder, and should be illegal. Every life deserves to live, including the lives of the severely disabled. If you don’t want to get pregnant, don’t have sex.
5. That laws exist to protect people and to elucidate what’s right and wrong. Illegal immigration should be strictly dealt with, because if people don’t want to get deported, then they shouldn’t come to the US illegally.
6. That marriage is between a man and woman, exclusively.
7. That you’re born with your gender, and it can never change.
8. That taxes on the rich are unfair and have their roots in socialism, which is evil. It takes away money from people who deserve it, to give it to people who haven’t done the work necessary to earn it.
9. It’s the role of churches to care for the poor, not the role of the government. People shouldn’t be forced to have their tax dollars used simply to give to people who haven’t worked as hard as they have.
10. White privilege and male privilege are myths used to keep people from taking responsibility for their actions.

I currently vote blue ever single chance I get. My views on issues are overall liberal, though not in every topic area. I’ve written a post targeted to Christians, in which I explain the progressive views that I hold.

Among other things, my personal beliefs are that:

1. We urgently need to implement policies that will minimize the negative impact humans are having on our planet, especially as it relates to global warming. We need to respect the plants, animals, and ecosystems that support life, and care more about the future of our children than we do about our own comfort.
2. That the playing field of life is not equal, and that people benefit from a myriad of different types of privilege, including white privilege, male privilege, Christian privilege, able-bodied privilege, college-educated privilege, English-speaking privilege, mentally-healthy privilege, unincarcerated-privilege, the privilege of being young, and the privilege of not being sick. Policies such as affirmative action and other supports, as well as public education campaigns, can all help give everyone a more equitable chance of having their needs in life met. Given our history of slavery and racism that persists, the need for policies that support racial equity has never been greater.
3. The US has some roots in Christian traditions, but it is not a Christian country, and needs to reflect the diversity of people who live here. Laws and policies should not be unduly swayed by religious influence.
4. There needs to be a strict separation between church and state. I think it’s inappropriate to have “In God We Trust” on our money, to have our Pledge of Allegiance mention God, to have a National Day of Prayer, and for our President to pray publicly or say things like “God bless our troops, and God bless the United States of America.”
5. That people need to be respectful of others, no matter what pronouns someone wishes to use, or what they choose to do with their own clothes, and their own body.
6. That governmental recognition of marriage is an overlap between church and state, and should be removed. Household units should be defined by the individual, and as long as there is open, revokable consent and no power dynamic that could lead to coercion, the government needs to stay out of people’s sex lives.
7. That our current system provides unfair advantage to the rich and powerful in society, and graduated taxation is one way to make that playing field more equal.
8. That we all benefit, and suffer, from both the results of our actions and from the quality of our circumstances. It is possible to be proud of achievement, and acknowledge benefiting from privilege. It is also possible to see suffering as a product not only of factors we as humans can control, but also of factors that are beyond an individual’s control.

A Path Forward

Though I cannot claim to have a magic wand that will resolve all of the conflicts between the left and the right in the United States, I do see a path forward.

Our goals must be the preservation of our Union, and the preservation of our democracy. We need to move forward in a way that results in peace and optimum cooperation.

Everyone on all parts of the political spectrum must have their needs for respect and autonomy met.

How? Clearer boundaries around who is responsible for what, decision-making tables that include a range of voices representative of those who will be impacted, and a leading by example of those who have power to be willing to make some compromises.

1. Clearer boundaries

Right now, the boundaries between religious freedom and governmental power are intertwined. We need to un-twine them.

Marriage:

Christians need to hold jurisdiction over their personal actions, and what is taught within their congregations and families (with the exclusion of things that are abusive). If conservative Christians (or other conservative religions) want to only recognize heterosexual marriage within their home and their church, it should be their right to do so, but should not extend beyond those spheres into public places, schools, businesses, or laws.

Similarly, the government should not recognize marriage at all, but rather allow people to self-declare households based on their individual situations. This would make room for single people, cohabiting lovers, family members who live together long term, and friends who live together long term to receive equal treatment under the law as those who identify as being married.

Additionally, once marriage is no longer civilly recognized, it will free people to participate in ceremonies that reflect a wide variety of diversity of commitments, including polyamorous relationships. Homosexual relationships are the tip of the iceberg in terms of types of relationships and commitments between people that could be afforded recognition and dignity with ceremony and title.

Businesses such as wedding cake shops can either operate publicly, in which case they cannot discriminate, or privately, as an extension of a religious group.

Taxes:

In an effort to prevent governmental overlap with religion, churches should lose their default tax-exempt status. Many churches operate as if they are for-profit organizations, and their status does not reflect this reality. Churches will need to operate like any other nonprofit organization, with all the same oversight, accountability, organization, and lack of political activity needed, if they wish to maintain that tax-exempt status.

Education:

The ability to homeschool one’s children should be protected, as well as the ability to send students to private religious schools.

By the same token, religious influence should be removed from public schools. Though students should have their rights to (non-hateful) freedom of speech and private prayer protected, school leadership should provide a non-religious environment and use non-religious language.

Other public spheres:

The vestiges of religion in other public spheres should be eliminated. Our money, government, and governmental buildings, should not make references to God or any religion in their operation.

2. Decision-making tables must include a range of voices

At every level of society, efforts need to be made to include the widest possible variety of voices at decision-making tables.

Consortiums on homelessness should include listening to the voices of currently unhoused people. Conversations about water conservation should include impacted farmers.

City counsels and school boards, company boards and governmental groups need actively seek to avoid becoming echo-chambers by actively seeking to include people with diverse genders, races, religions, and socio-economic statuses in their conversations.

Given human nature, it’s likely that accountability of some kind will be necessary to make sure this actually happens.

Church leaders, too, would be wise to proactively seek to avoid homogenous echo-chambers within their leadership circles, and develop systems of accountability for evaluating progress and effectiveness in this area.

3. Cooperation and compromise exemplified (and incentivized) among leaders

Long-term, our government needs to be structurally set up in a way that rewards cooperation and compromise, not polarized, partisan side-taking.

Right now, our election rules produce a two-party system, and people root for one side or the other not all that much unlike rooting for a football team. Somebody “wins,” somebody “loses.” Rather than that competition stopping after elections, our government officials are largely still governing from a competitive place of “us vs them.” Though it’s immature and irresponsible, it’s also incentivized by retaining votes.

I don’t know what specific reforms would be best, but I do know that changes can be made that will incentivize cooperation, rather than partisanship. Many other countries’ governments have parliamentary aspects that reward cooperation, and incorporating aspects of this into our own government might be helpful. Changing voting procedures and rules in ways that will make third party candidates politically viable might also help with this dynamic.

We need a culture of cooperation in our country, and that needs to come from the top down. It is at odds with rugged individualism, but we are reaping the negative rewards of that now, and all systems thrive best in a balance, not at extremes.

---

There is a path forward for politics in the United States that can result in cooperation and respected boundaries. It’s likely a path that no one will be perfectly happy with, by definition, due to the nature of compromise and the discomfort we experience when others don’t share our values.

I haven’t given up hope. Don’t give up hope, either.