I was having a discussion with a friend on Facebook, although it’s actually someone I know personally and see in the community, and we were talking about local politics. She was sharing with me her concerns that “each and every one of these candidates is the conservative choice in the race”, clearly intimating that there is a concern with them being conservative.
Now an interesting thing has happened for me since the last presidential elections. I have always thought of myself as a die-hard liberal and have identified and voted as a registered Democrat for pretty much as long as I’ve been voting. And while I’m not proud of it, some years I even voted “blindly” simply supporting the Democratic candidates on the ticket.
I don’t think this is really feasible any longer as the lines have gotten blurred between who’s a liberal and who’s a conservative – especially along party lines. Sadly, I’m finding myself drifting farther and farther away from the group of people with whom I had thought I shared values, especially when it comes to voting, and am having a harder and harder time identifying with them.
In this particular election, we are discussing the subject of siting a homeless shelter in the City of Bellevue. The process chosen by the council for determining the site for the shelter has been abysmal, underhanded and downright disingenuous on the part of most of the City Council members and interestingly, during this upcoming election, 4 of the 7 Council seats are up for grabs.
As it turns out – the candidates who I’m supporting are evidently identified as “conservative” although I would never have known that on my own. This is what inspired my friend to share this with me. In my next installment, I’ll finish my thoughts on this as I’ve promised myself I will keep all posts to a reasonable reading time…
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