Labeled

Today I was reading a friend's blog and she was noting that the guest speakers at the University of Iowa always seemed to be either far left or far right. Her husband wished they'd have a moderate speaker once in a while. Which lead my friend to wonder:

"but are so many people really so very much to the Left or the Right, or is it just that we have a tendency - almost even a need - to categorize and pigeonhole people?"

Strangely enough shortly after reading this I was at the Iowa Geek blog and noticed that they link to me. Which is nice, however, I noted that I am labeled as "liberal". And I'm sorry, but that little label seems to me to almost be a warning to his readers. Go there if you want, but watch out, he's a liberal....insert eyeroll here.

Now, I am not going to claim to be a conservative. I don't want to be considered such. But I am also not a liberal. I have opinions that lean left, absolutely. I believe gays should have full rights, for instance. I believe that the government should support the arts. But I also happen to be a very fervent believer in the rights of unborn children. And in a dispute between management and unions, I'm more likely to come down on management's side. But more than anything else, I take each issue, each circumstance individually. I try to see both sides of the issue and make a reasonable decision. Being labled liberal irks me because there's an implication that there's no sense reading what I write if you aren't also "liberal".

I wonder if the Halsteds labeled me as such because of my posts against Bush and his terrible administration. If so, I would like to point out that the only reason I am even a registered Democrat is because I so despised Bush's administration that I wanted some say in who his opponent would be. You gotta be a Democrat to vote in the primaries here in Iowa. Until then I registered Independent because I have been so unimpressed with both parties. I couldn't stand Clinton's administration. It's only good when compared to the mess Bush has made. Just because a person thinks Bush is a terrible president doesn't make him a liberal.

And all of that doesn't even take into account the number of posts here that have absolutely nothing to do with politics. Did you see my liberal slant on the Amazing Race? How horrible!

I guess the bottom line is that I am not Michael Moore. I am reasonable person who examines both sides of the issues and comes to a reasonable conclusion. Don't label me. And if that's the only way you'll link to my site, then just remove the link.