So, yeah, I'm a liberal. BUT WHAT KIND? We libs have all kinds of hot-button issues, ranging from protecting the environment to occupying Wall Street. Where do I fall in the left-wing spectrum?
Well there's a quiz out there on the internets that informed me, and I have to agree. (There's a quiz out there on the internets for just about anything, right?)
My Liberal Identity
You are a Social Justice Crusader, also known as a rights activist. You believe in equality, fairness, and preventing neo-Confederate conservative troglodytes from rolling back fifty years of civil rights gains.
Take the quiz at
About.com Political Humor
About.com Political Humor
It's just a silly little quiz, but I feel good about the results. I'd love to know our civil rights are protected and inviolable, but you know what? They're not. Ask voters in North Carolina, Virginia and Florida. Ask African-Americans who are harassed by law enforcement while walking down a city street. Ask the lesbian who is refused employment because of her sexual orientation and refused a marriage license to boot.
Ask working women, who still make 77¢ for every dollar earned by a male counterpart. Why in the HELL haven't we passed the Equal Rights Amendment yet in the United States?
We've got work to do, people! Those neo-Confederates aren't going away any time soon. But we can fire their leaders next time we vote. The right to vote isn't guaranteed to everyone who walks into a polling place. We've been fighting for and about the right to cast a ballot since the country was born.
Here's what I know: The right to vote is worth the fight. It's the most powerful voice we have in this pseudo-Democracy. Sometimes the votes don't count (cough, Bush v. Gore, cough). Sometimes they count A LOT (Obama 2008, Obama 2012).
If your state is throwing up roadblocks to prevent you from voting, pay attention! Learn what you need to do in order to exercise your right. Do you have to show an ID, even though you've never had to before? Show it and then vote against the party that changed the rule.
Virginia recently purged 40,000 voters' names. Do you know if you're one of them? You elect a governor in less than two weeks. Find out what you need to do and do it. North Carolina's Buncombe County GOP chairman resigned after admitting on national television that the new voter restrictions in his state were designed to make it more difficult for Democrats to vote. (His remarks were astonishingly racist and candid, as if he just really didn't care about exposing himself as a bigot.)
The bottom line? Vote. (Or, as we jokingly say around here, vote early and often!)
And my preference, of course, is that you vote for Democrats.
