I cannot stand Conservatism. Mind you, I’m talking about the word itself. The movement, if it can be called that has its merits and its flaws, to be sure. But it’s the word that I’m hung up on. Talking heads and blogs on either side of the aisle have begun using this terminology and it makes very little sense to me at all.

I mean, nobody calls the other side of the aisle “liberism”, right? Liberal people believe in Liberalism, and as far as I know, Conservatives prefer Conservativism. To call it something else sounds like you’re either incompetent or just plain lazy, and neither one is a good look. But I have a solution, and I think it’s one that people no matter their political swing should consider.

Let’s drop the labels.

In this current day and age, where everyone is excitedly post-modern this and post-post that, haven’t we evolved beyond the point in which I have to take a look at someone and describe them based on the things that make them different from me? As if I can sum up every person I interact with based on their skin color, job title, and overarching political leanings. You look at me as a privileged white conservative male and draw your own particular assumptions immediately about me.

Meanwhile, I want to see you as a person. A human being, with struggles, joys, dreams, and yes, heartache and loss.

Morgan Freeman in a 60-Minutes interview was asked how to stop racism in America. His answer? “Stop talking about it. I’m going to stop calling you a white man, and I’m going to ask you to stop calling me a black man.”

Perhaps if we stopped trying to define our stereotypes and started seeing people, the world might just become a brighter place. There is a much brighter palette of colors to paint with than simply black or white, rich or poor, conservative or liberal.

Defy the either/or. It’s not us or them. It’s us for them.