4 Myths about Liberals

Author: Aaron Mosley

Imagine walking down the street seeing a young girl wearing a gay pride beanie and a shirt the reads “girl power”. To most people this screams liberal although these characteristics have nothing to do with political views. Political stance is one of the most stereotypical ideas in America. Conservatives especially have these generalizations and stereotypes about liberals. There are many myths and stereotypes about liberals when the reality is that many liberals are not the same and have different views and opinions about certain things that don’t follow those stereotypes and typical liberal opinions.  

Myth #1: All liberals are for gun control and want to abolish the 2nd amendment

Many people in America, especially conservatives, believe that all liberals are for gun control, and as one of the few liberal gun lovers I can say that’s entirely wrong. I’ve spent countless hours doing personally research on gun control, gun homicides, and other statistics that lead me to disagree with gun control.  Although many liberals are for gun control, they are still in favor for keeping the second amendment. Conservatives stereotype liberals as people that want to get rid of the second amendment completely. “Many liberals believe in the Second Amendment, but supporting gun reform to reduce death caused by guns doesn't mean supporting gun confiscation.” (Carrington)

Myth #2: All liberals are not religious

Many people believe that liberals are not people of different religious background, and this gets me upset. There are numerous different reasons people believe this. One reason I can think of is the liberal beliefs on abortion. “A woman has the right to decide what happens with her body.  A fetus is not a human life, so it does not have separate individual rights.” (“Conservative vs. Liberal”) There are people of all religious backgrounds on both sides of the political spectrum, and to me it seems obvious that there would specifically be liberal Christians just based off the views.  that liberals share with Christianity.  Liberals believe that we should help the community and others around us.  “The Christian left believes strongly in following in Christ's footsteps by helping people and not turning away from anyone.” (Carrington)

Myth #3: All liberals are uneducated

Personally, I don’t understand the reasoning behind this considering the people that fight within the government are scholars and other very highly educated professionals. Most people think that liberals are just high school graduates that work in lower to middle class jobs, but there are many very intelligent and well-off liberals. Statistics show that liberals have been getting more educated over the years. “In 1994, 7 percent of post-grads were "consistently liberal," and 1 percent of people with high school educations or less were — not much of a difference. Today, the gap is 25 points wide — 31 percent of people with post-grad educations are consistently liberal, compared to 5 percent of those with high school educations or less.” (Kurtzleben)

Myth #4: All liberals are lazy

The all liberals are lazy idea comes from the liberal support of the welfare and government assistance programs. There are a countless number of liberal politicians, celebrities, and businessman who worked hard to be as successful as they are today. For example, Michelle Obama who grew up in the poverty ridden streets of Chicago. Michelle attended Princeton University where she graduated top of her class. She also attended Harvard law. Although most liberals believe in welfare this does not mean we believe in being lazy and rewarding the lazy. I believe, like most liberals, that people who are able to support and care for themselves making a decent income should not qualify for welfare. This does not mean the working poor should not be able to receive the help they need because others abuse government assistance. (Carrington)

The stereotyped liberal is just that, a stereotype.  The generalization, and the even more problematic exaggeration, of the liberal party start these myths in an attempt to skew others understanding of the party.   Everyone will have different political stances about each individual issue, and just because one person identifies as one party doesn’t necessarily mean they agree one hundred percent with everything that party stands for.

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Works Cited

“Conservative vs. Liberal.” Student News Daily, 2005, www.studentnewsdaily.com/.

Carrington, Vernay. “Dispelling Common Myths about Liberals.” Dallas News, July 2017, 

www.dallasnews.com/.

Kurtzleben, Danielle. “Why Are Highly Educated Americans Getting More Liberal.” NPR, NPR, 

30 Apr. 2016, www.npr.org/.