Abandoning the label Liberal

I think I am going to abandon the label "liberal". There are too many things going on under that name that are totally against my values, just as much of what I find on the conservative side is against my values. We are seeing the rise of an "alt-left" movement, militant, violent, and authoritarian, trying to dictate how everyone else should be.

I believe in treating all people with kindness, and that is how I want to be treated. I am anti-one-side-ist. I want all people to respect each other's needs, and be able to listen to each other and walk a mile in their shoes before we judge.

This is not naive idealism. "Oneness" is hard work, very hard work. It is difficult to put your own cherished beliefs aside long enough to understand why someone believes things that you find abhorrent. And once you find common ground in your beliefs, it is still very difficult to find a solution that we can all live with. But what alternative is there, other than suppressing the freedom of all you disagree with, so that you can have power to make the world the way you want? How many good meaning folk have started out to better the world, and wound up being the problem instead of the solution?

I passionately believe this can be done. Any successful relationship has gone through the phases of disagreeing, trying to change the other side, seeing them as wrong and you as right, having to look inside and recognize your own shadow, and learning how to reconcile and compromise so you can build a life of love together. The same must be done politically between warring factions. Society is made up of individuals, and ultimately we have to deal with our shadow side if we want healing in our nation and in the world.