How to be a Liberal in the Midwest

admit I am not likely to accept my landlord’s invitation to bible study in hopes of finding someone to have coffee with. Still it is hard because a large percentage of socializing in my community take place within the local church groups. A number of youth activities also only take place within the local churche

Living in the Midwest when you’re a committed liberal has it down side. The down side is making friends when the majority of your co workers and neighbors believe the opposite of what you believe. Even finding a church can be a major obstacle. I live in a rural area when the closet Unitarian congregation is more than an hour drive. I live in an area where the ration of Democrats to Republican is four to one. Still there are advantages; I hope I can give the locals the opportunity to understand that I do not secretly have horns under my short little do. Still I find myself explaining; to public school teacher why my children do not reject evolution or want to debate a women’s right to choose. These are situations that I never intended to face when I chose to live in the Midwest.

My survival guide is pretty simple. Someone the other day mentioned Meet Up. This is a great site to discover your local closeted liberals. You may find an enclave of like minded liberals is gathering monthly at the local library to discuss the dreaded taboos such as gay marriage. Another get source of potential friends and political colleagues is email lists. Yahoo groups come in every flavor of lifestyle and belief system. Who knows your neighbor may be a card carrying member of the ACLU. Don’t be hesitant to use the privacy of your home computer to find like minded folk.

The other way I have found to survive life in the cornfields is to look to the local community college. Youth have a way of being more open minded than most other groups. In one conservative community I was able to involve my boys in envelop stuffing for a local NAREL group at the local liberal arts school. It was an opportunity for my high school age boy to understand there were people close to his age that shared his values.

Taking classes in low cost continuing education programs at these schools may offer or attending guest lectures are another way for you to connect with those who share your intellect interests. Your experience in the conservative communities does not need to be that of an intellectual waste land. Supporting your local adult theatre groups or art associations, even if you yourself are not an artisan, are a good way to connect and support a better overall cultural environment.

I admit I am not likely to accept my landlord’s invitation to bible study in hopes of finding someone to have coffee with. Still it is hard because a large percentage of socializing in my community take place within the local church groups. A number of youth activities also only take place within the local churches. There is simply not a large amount of inexpensive activities for teenagers in our town. I am going to try a little experiment. I hope that our local mainstream protestant and sign my youngest up for the local youth group. I feel the worse that could happen is that he learn a tolerance for those who think differently than his family. In the end as a true liberal I want my children to come to their own moral conclusions and political beliefs. The funny thing is that old cliché about the off spring of liberals becoming Young Republicans is not true. Our children really do end up reflecting and hopefully personally refining the values we teach them.