My father always said he was a catholic because homilies were shorter than sermons. I have a suspicion he stayed catholic because if he became a protestant he would have no one to drink with. I think my opinions on politics are formed in much the same way as my father’s religious persuasion. In other words, my politics have a lot to do with my life, and little to do with the clear light of pure reason.
I am in many ways conservative in a literal sense, because I believe that there are certain institutions, like the nuclear family, that a society must preserve with little change. I have a family, and I am convinced that it is an extremely valuable thing which should not be tampered with. I also think the United States constitution gives Americans the remarkable opportunity to compare all new laws with a more or less fixed standard. I cannot stress how important I think this truly is. No matter how flawed, the constitution anchors the tradition of American law, providing us with a dynamic discourse that nonetheless cannot stray too far with every wind of public opinion.
I am also a liberal, however, in the way the term was meant when it seemed to be synonymous with “progressive.” I think that the government can be a tool for social change that would be beyond individuals. This could be as simple as new roads, or as unbelievably complex and fraught with difficulty as poverty alleviation. Either of those things seem to me to be legitimate goals for the public sector. I came to this opinion because government grants paid my way through college, and because food stamps feed my sister-in-law’s daughter; not because I ever set aside time to sit in an ivory tower and contemplate the eternal truths of American politics.
