I am the dirtiest word one can utter in the Bible-Belt South: I am the L-word. That's right, I'm a liberal. Amidst all of the "Make America Great Again" signs that proliferate yards and small business windows in Southeast Arkansas, here am I, a lonely liberal.

I remember the day I told my mother I'm a liberal. I never intended to tell her, and I had spent weeks tip-toeing around political conversations with my parents, which was very hard to do in my household. Every night my family watched "The O'Reilly Factor" religiously, as if our salvation depended upon it, and Glenn Beck was a political guru to my mother. With Super Tuesday approaching quickly and it being my first election eligible to vote in, avoiding politics at my household became a full-time job.

One day, my mother and I were in the kitchen when suddenly she turned to me inquisitively and asked, "Who are you voting for?" I took a deep breath, I knew it was not about to go well. "Well, mom, I'm voting the Democratic ticket on Tuesday." I waited. She said nothing, just stood agape at me. Finally, she accusingly cried, "Why? When did you become like this?" Her words gave me pause. How did I become like this? The thought was worth backtracking mentally to figure out how did I come to this dirty conclusion about myself.

I never had a day when I magically woke up and decided I was now a liberal. My whole life I have been raised strictly conservative; democrats are devils who want to see a communist America and President Obama has a secret agenda to destroy America, type conservatism is what I grew up hearing. I think my parents assumed I would grow up to be a republican, I mean, how could I not? The word liberal was so dirty in my household my mother made faces when she would say it. So no, I never had one huge moment when I decided to stray. I didn't come up with some clever idea one day to oust my parents and cause my mother to cry by telling her I'm a liberal. After four years in high school of studying current events and the way politicians handle them, I did one day have a sudden realization that all of the things I hold to be fair and American line up more with a liberal mindset than a conservative one -- I was always more liberal than conservative, I just didn't realize it.

My mother glared at me for uttering the dirty words, "I'm a liberal." Finally, after what felt like hours of silence and angry eyes, she said, "Just don't advertise it at church." And just like that, my parents have a family secret: their daughter is an L-word. Or, as my history teacher from high school so politely called me, a "dirty dirty democrat." To this day, I cringe when people ask me who I'm voting for. I've always been under the impression that who one votes for is strictly don't-ask-don't-tell, but most people don't actually follow that unspoken rule of polite politics. I get the same sigh of disappointment from most people every time I reveal the truth about myself and the same feeling of shame washes over me; my political views are my scarlet letter. I'm not anti-guns, I'm not a baby killer and I'm not anti-Christian, although I have been treated that way 90 percent of the time I breathe the dreaded L-word.

So, my words for the conservative people of the South, liberals are people too, liberals don't hate babies, guns, Christians, religious freedom and democracy, and "liberal" is not a synonym for "communist." I'm learning how to live in a small, southern town with my scarlet letter, but there aren't many days that go by I don't have to bite my tongue, smile and change the subject as quickly as possible. But most importantly, I'm learning to not be ashamed of my views. I shouldn't have to be, political diversity is precious and should be encouraged to flourish. If everyone were conservative, then America would be no better off than a communist country, just like if everyone were liberal America might as well become a dictatorship. Opposing views are beautiful because everyone has a different worldview they pull from. My worldview is I care deeply about social issues and feel like the Democratic party puts the emphasis I desire on social problems, however, many conservatives worldview comes from caring deeply about personal rights, but if one worldview outweighed the other, wouldn't we all be in a much bigger mess? The conflict is healthy, the shame opposing views bestow upon each other is not. I know I'm playing a broken record; doesn't everyone want everyone to get along in the political realm? Most people can agree opposing views must work together rather than always be angry with the other, but rarely do those same people follow their own words. Perhaps if more people did, then my mother wouldn't be ashamed for me to "advertise" it at church.

So, with all that being said, my name is Lindsey, and I am a liberal.