“That’s just the way it is…”
Those words have always haunted me. I think it is because they promote an anti-progressive stance in society. To me, just hearing those words or any similar refrain sets off alarms of a traditionalist, non-altering mentality that erodes away any notion of change -- and change is NOT something I am afraid of. Changing or evolving, I would argue, is the fundamental principle in our world.
From a rational standpoint, nothing has ever been a constant. There was a time before humans and there will be a time after. Once an organism has been exposed to an element in the environment it has to adapt to survive and that skill to adapt is ultimately increasing knowledge. It is this understanding that has led me to believe nothing is ever “just the way it is.”
That concept is rationally flawed.
In Evansville, Indiana, where I grew up, that phrase long echoed the community’s perception of our city. Generally speaking, change was a foreign concept for many. Only a minority valued a progressive stance -- even though the city has incredibly progressed since my time here starting in 1991. There is an influx of a younger millennial generation that places value on an urban-social lifestyle and that values an artistic culture, diverse community, and a whooollleeee lot of change.
I personally identify with this generation and the ongoing change. I was raised in a white working-class Protestant Christian family, typical of my city. My family is very conservative in nature; however, politics were never a topic for conversation.
Looking back, I think this was the best experience in order to find my political identity. Why? I was able to be exposed to a particular political ideology and lifestyle that wasn’t forced on to me. Hearing phrases like “Raised Right” or being told to only vote based on party allegiance didn’t happen in my upbringing and I am very happy about that. It allowed me to have free thought for my political identity and not a group-think, cult-like traditional viewpoint handed down from my parents. So with complete understanding of my community, my upbringing, and free thought, I’ve realized I don’t fit in quite well within the city I was born in.
Now in the contemporary American political system of a very polarized bipartisan atmosphere, I tend to lean on the progressive side of politics -- not out of rebellion, but due to education and understanding. I received a liberal arts education (liberal, as in liberty, as in freedom; arts, as in a focus on the humanities; collectively meaning, “free thought promoting human achievement”) at a D2 public university in a typically conservative area.
No, it wasn't the cliché myth of a “liberal education and media being shoved down my throat,” for NOT all professor are liberals and, well, Rubert Murdoch owns much of American media. Universities and academics typical are leftward, but it was through fully understanding the American political spectrum, studying other nations' governmental systems, agreeing with the promotion of progress, and forming my own educated identity that led me to lean on the democratic, liberal, and socialist political scale.
Philosophically speaking, I find that the liberal stance promotes a diversified, tolerant society better than an inclusive, narrow-mind conservative stance. I’m not insulting when I say that -- it’s just bluntly true in a modern sense that a liberal society promotes openness and transparency when contrasted with a conservative one, whose ultimate goal is to conserve and isolate. I find it hard to identify with a political party/individual that hinders progress, denies equalities to immigrants and refugees, benefits off the middle class and corporate tax breaks, supports outdated trickle-down capitalism, denies rights to citizen of a particular sexual orientation, race, and gender, inserts personal biases and religion into policy, prefers military imperialism over diplomacy, and denies evidence-based understanding of issues such as climate change and the concept of evolution.
Overall I find these notions to feed into an ever-growing American anti-intellectual movement driven by opinion and not rationality, logic, or fact. I, very simply, cannot support an outdated system that only benefits only a few, denies rights and equalities to certain citizens, and supports warped opinions over evidence-based conclusions.
Growing up in a nearly all white Christian-traditional conservative city, I have since evolved my stance to desire a society that promotes higher education, urban living, the arts and humanities, offers diversity and tolerance, progresses social welfare, provides equal opportunities, a transparent government, and places value on helping others. It is the classic debate of individualism and communalism, and while I do care about my personal welfare, I care about others' and society’s too. If you want to talk about empathy -- empathy is wanting all citizens to have access to higher education for a well-educated democratic society; it is having unbiased equal rights granted to all people, not raising arms or promote violence toward individuals; understanding and celebrating cultural differences; and providing universal social-welfare services that allow everyone to have an opportunity for equality, liberty, and freedom.
Social Liberal thought promotes bottom-up mixed economics, universal education/healthcare, individual creative entrepreneurship, and social welfare to ensure a system of checks and balances that helps society's weakest, builds a strong middle-class core, and allows for social mobility as opposed to exceptional wealth inequality.
Fundamentally, the United States was founded on a group of immigrants escaping religious persecution and oppression in order to build a Republic based on the Enlightenment ideology of democracy: for the people, by the people.
Liberal thought has helped create essential aspect in our world too; to name a few, minimum/living income levels, public schools and transportation, national and public space, child labor laws, ability to unionize, civil protection, women’s suffrage, civil rights, desegregation, environmental protection, rehabilitation centers, freedom of culture and religion, separation of church and state, peace corps, the European Union, United Nations, and -- yessss -- THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. You know, where states are interconnected governmental bodies conjoined economically, politically, and culturally, yet are allowed the freedom of governance while abiding by federal regulation (not restriction, know the difference).
As the modern world continues to grow more globalized and interconnected, it’s increasingly becoming close to impossible to be inclusive and wan out strangers. Change and evolution will always be the forefront in the world’s economies, politics, and culture. Social-universal thought that promotes connectivity between individuals of our species will most likely be the prevailing concept. Whether it’s Democratic, Republican, Libertarian, Socialist, Nationalist, Communist, Progressive, any combination thereof, or some futuristic political ideology waiting to be invented -- ultimately, whoever can unite all global citizens and convince all of mankind that we are one is the (theoretically politically speaking) winner.
Until then, give me that free education and food stamps.
Dude gotta get smart and eat, ya dig?
