Why I'm a Liberal

I'm a devout Mormon. Bush won Utah 76/26 in 2004 (http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/pages/results/states/UT/P/00/index.html) and 67/26 in 2000 (http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/pages/results/states/UT/P/00/index.html). Utah is hugely Republican and hugely Mormon. In Sunday school one week, the teacher talked about my favorite talk radio station and people who listen to it as "enemies". I'm rather out of the mold here. Why?

Firstly, I'm not perfect. I fully expect that some of my opinions are either empirically wrong or are not a panacea to a specific problem. I also expect that other people are in the same boat.

Secondly, my personal religious beliefs are more in line with the New Testament than the Old Testament. Jesus taught about forgiveness, famously discouraged stoning, and wanted people to give to the poor. Conservative politics these days are more about guilt, punishment, and self-reliance. While each of these Conservative political positions are useful and beneficial in certain cases, they are too often distorted into cruel policies that do not align with the principles of mercy and love that I try to live by.

Thirdly, when I look at governmental fiscal behavior and think of my children, it is obvious to me that liberals are better with the pursestrings, and have been since before I started reading Newsweek at age 12. That was 1986.

That sums it up. Whether the issue is war, immigration, social security, healthcare, religiously themed public displays, taxes, or anything else, these core principles inform my position.