Christian and Liberal? A (very) brief response

Recently I had a good friend question why I felt the way I do concerning society and politics. My friend asked the reasons for having a 'liberal' ideology in view of a few of the hot-button issues that dot the political landscape for Christians. The question was posed in good faith, honesty, and genuine questioning with no insinuation or implication. This is a great friend and a great Christian who just wanted to know. Though my response was brief and I plan on expanding it into a sort of manifesto in the future, I thought it would be fair to share at least a portion of why I feel the way I do. I hope everyone had a great year and is having a happy holiday season. I'll break into my response after the more personal portion of the email.
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What’s ironic is that while you see a divide in me being a Christian and a liberal, I see myself as a liberal because I am a Christian. (Note: I am a Christian first, no politician or political belief can change that) I guess I’ll run through the issues as to why I support the party I do, but let me preface it by saying that all boiled down it doesn't really matter to me who is in charge of our country. Romans 13 tells me that every governing authority is established by God. Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and whoever else are going to have to bow just as low as I am one day, so while I’m interested in politics, it doesn’t consume me. I’m a Christian who happens to support Barack Obama, not a Barack Obama supporter who happens to be a Christian. If Paul could write Romans 13 and in view of a government that was literally torturing Christians, I feel ashamed that at the level of anger expressed by Christians in view of politics in America because of earthly things like taxes.

So why am I a liberal? This won’t be an exhaustive list by any means; that would be a book. To get the typical Christian “hot-button issues” out of the way I’ll let you read my blog posts on positions on gay marriage and abortion at my blog. They’re both defended and my reasoning is given there. First- the liberal emphasis on caring for and improving the lives of the least among us. I firmly believe that Jesus did not ONLY come to this Earth to tell how great heaven is going to be and leave this world a mess of sin (Matt 25 is a firm example of this). We can also see that one of the first reactions the church had upon formation was to give to anyone who had need (Acts 2:45) Because I see combating poverty as the mission of Jesus, I feel compelled to make it my mission as well, and will accordingly support politicians who also make that their mission. Conservative philosophy, particularly in the past 40 years, has been tax breaks for the wealthiest among us and increases on taxes for the low and middle class. This has been proven to not have the “trickle-down” effect former Pres. Reagan so eagerly claimed. I don’t find this to be a “radical philosophy.” Consider the government that God himself established: the kingdom of Israel. Leviticus 19:9-10 tells the wealthy not to harvest all of their grapes, but to leave to leave those on the corners for the poor. Also, consider the grain that Ruth was picking from the edge of the field left by wealthy landowners. Did these poor people deserve this? Of course not, God compelled the blessed among Israel to give to the poor, and he made it a part of governmental law. As a Christian, I support government officials who do the same.
My view on poverty leads to #2: Healthcare. The fact that every American doesn’t have access to healthcare to me just isn't right. People are suffering, and I just don't understand why we're letting it happen. As of 2005 the US spent more than any country in the world on healthcare as a portion of our GDP (15.4%) but according the World Health Organization we rank 37th in the quality of healthcare provided (behind countries like Morocco, United Arab Emirates, and Costa Rica to name a few). So not only are we paying more than anyone, not only are we not getting the best quality of care, we're leaving the least among us behind. I just can't picture Jesus thinking this is ok. Both bills proposed by liberals in the House of Reps and the Senate provide greater coverage to Americans AND lower the national debt, something I know many on the Right are rightfully concerned with. I could go on more here but I think you see how I see this as pretty much the same as issue my view on poverty.
#3- Justice for all of people made in the image of God. I know I've written a lot already so I'll try to bullet point this one. Over the past 50 years the conservative movement has fought equal civil rights for blacks by fighting integration of schools, equal rights for women by opposing things like equal pay for equal work in the work place, supported TORTURING people to try to glean information (imagine if the early church had tortured the Roman soldiers or the Jewish leaders who crucified Jesus), inhumane treatment of illegal immigrants(Exodus 22:21-23) , etc. I just can't see things like this in the Bible. Look at the Sermon on the Mount, what a set of scriptures devoted to social justice! Blessed are the merciful, let your light shine before men (not talking about preaching the gospel here, he's passionately talking about how we treat others as he talked about in verses 1-11), turn the other cheek, go two miles even when you shouldn't have had to go one, and love your enemies. I feel like these scriptures compel me to vote for leaders who best support these views. (Keeping in mind of course that no politician or any human for that matter is perfect)
There are many more issues I could go on and on about but I think you probably see where I'm coming from. I understand how passionately conservatives view things like abortion, and hopefully after reading my blog post on the subject you can see that I want the same inherent thing as you do, I just have a different means to go about achieving that goal. I understand that my views are pretty different than a lot of folks in our area, but in all sincerity I'm doing the best I can to do what I read the message of the gospel to be. I realize these views are pretty radical, I mean at first thought I have many of the viewpoints of the conservative movement (believe it or not I actually volunteered on Bush's reelection campaign and worked for Republican State Sen. Jeff Mullis and Republican Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle's campaigns. It's true, I'm a recovering conservative!). I just finally had to realized that these views espoused by these men and others in the party weren't what I was reading. All that being said its a very fair assesment that I don't agree with everything put forward by the liberal movement. I also don't like everything that the elders decide at my church, but I support our elders completely and don't have a problem identifying myself with this church. Like I said though, my allegiance to any political party or even our country for that matter pales in comparison to my faith in Jesus Christ.