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Something has been bothering me for a long time. I have quite a few conservative friends, especially on the B-17 crew. Many were military. All are white, and Christian, and personally generous. Need help? They’ll give you a hand and the shirt off their back. 1/12
But they oppose any programs that would help people in general, especially anything government-run. (Church charities are different; they’re okay with those.) They oppose universal healthcare and free education, and denigrate folk on welfare or getting food stamps. 2/
They speak out against housing assistance, automatically respond to #BlackLivesMatter 
by saying all lives matter, and dismiss any call for what used to be considered common courtesy and polite consideration for others’ feelings as objectionable “political correctness.” 3/
by saying all lives matter, and dismiss any call for what used to be considered common courtesy and polite consideration for others’ feelings as objectionable “political correctness.” 3/
They all proclaim they’re pro-life, but that just means they oppose abortion, since they mostly also champion the death penalty and are proud gun owners who declare their manifest intent to defend themselves against all comers, especially tyrannical libs. (Me?) 4/
They advocate small government and non-interference in personal lives — except they mostly support regulations that would ban abortion (it’s murder!) and even birth control (promoting immoral sex!), and many (not all) want to discriminate against or criminalize LGBTQ folk. 5/
So my thing is, how did they get from being so personally generous and helpful, to promoting such ugliness, without ever perceiving a disconnect? And I regrettably realized that their personal interactions landed within a judgment call that the recipient was *worthy.* 6/
Without that sense that you *deserved* their help, that you were in some way *worthy* of their attention and investment — something that took either their personal judgment or the vetting of a group they trusted, such as a church — their generosity didn’t activate. 7/
And these days, that seems to me to be the actual big divide between political conservatives and liberals/progressives. Conservatives impose a *worthiness* test on helping other people, while liberals think all humans innately deserve help and respect. 8/
An interesting wrinkle is the LGBTQ part of my conservative friends’ viewpoints. I’ve noticed that those with either family members or close friends who identify as LGBTQ are more willing than most (but not all) others to identify their LGBTQ affiliations as *worthy.* 9/
Alas, I fear that means conservatives will continue to oppose programs that would benefit *everyone* — like universal healthcare, pandemic economic relief, and more — because they want to limit their help only to people they consider *worthy.* And they know few such people. 10/
That depresses me. But I remain determined and activated to advocate for the worthiness of ALL people to be treated as human, meriting respect and helping hands. And maybe me introducing more people to my conservative friends will help them see more people as *worthy.* 11/
I can hope. Hey; some have realized their LGBTQ family/friends are as human and worthy as they themselves are; if they can take that step, they might be able to be persuaded to more. They might even cross racial lines — especially if they realize their Jesus was brown. /end
