Disclaimer: there is not a cohesive argument here.
I’m not sure if anyone else is curious, but I am interested in the level to which the people of my generation and demographic are politically conscious.
Many of my peers are really feeling the whole posting-about-politics-now-that-it-is-election-season efficacy rants thing, acting as if the government only exists as the nation gears up for an administrative change. Did that sound like a rant just now? Maybe.
Anyway, there are a lot of people who choose to withhold their political tenets from the social-media spectrum; rather than take a stance, many of these people brush off the subject and label themselves as “fiscally conservative and socially liberal” citizens. There was a time when I, too, would do the same.
But, now, I wonder if that stance has become a #trend, and if so -- do the people who label themselves as such understand what they are saying? So I asked a bunch of people who have either labeled themselves as #FCSL (new abbreviated hashtag) or are surrounded by #FCSL people.
What does being fiscally conservative and socially liberal mean to you? Here’s what they said.
I support economically a larger private sector and more state rights with less federal government. In terms of socially being liberal human rights is everything to me.
It means that I support liberal social policy. I believe that everyone has the right to choose what he or she does to their bodies (abortion), who they marry, etc. But I believe in conservative fiscal policy of a hands-off government with low taxes, low regulation, laissez-faire, etc.
It means that you respect the fact that extremely hard working people should be able to keep their hard earned money, and that certain social aspects (such as gay rights and pro-choice) are extremely important. People's rights are very important, whether it is fiscally or socially related.
Taxes are bad, but banning abortion is whack!
It means identifying with commonly held Republican views when it comes to economic policies such as reduced government spending and tax cuts, but strongly aligning with liberal sentiment with respect to social issues like abortion, marriage equality and racial equality.
Republicans (small government and low taxes) who believe in abortion and gay rights.
It means being a white wealthy Jew who believes that her dad should be able to keep his hard earned money, but she should be able to get an abortion if bae gets her pregnant.
I think it’s a convenient way to say, “I support the plight of the marginalized, so long as I don’t have to do anything about it.”
“I have no idea.”
Make what you want of these responses. Either way, I think that we could all use a little newspaper-opening action and the acknowledgement that the government exists not just right now, but also most of the time, unless there is a shutdown.
