“Living your values” sounds easy, like it’s already something most people do. All you have to do is practice what you preach, right? In the shallow sense, yes. But like everything concerned with ideology, it goes deeper. Part of the reason why modern American culture is in the condition it is today is because people have forgotten how to live their values. The lack of teaching children the family’s values has led to the creation of hollow people, who don't know what to make themselves centered around, leading to self centered people. It goes without saying that the decrease in religious inclination and family church attendance, is a major reason for this lack of values-teaching, but that's an entirely different column to be written. Anyway, what does it look like to not live your values? Why should one aim for this way of living? And what does the finished product of this effort look like? Based on what I’ve observed, here’s my two-sense. 

“Slaves to the culture”, as I like to call them, are a prime example of people who do the exact opposite of expressing and applying their beliefs to everyday life. These are the people who agree with what everyone else says, too afraid of conflict. They don’t know what to think about certain phenomena, or recent news stories, so they resort to throwing their hands up in the air digressing “I don't know what to think!”. This isn't a knock on moderates, or people who stand in the middle on any issue. Actually it’s quite the opposite, as the Moderates are prime examples of people who live their values. Recognizing their personal beliefs often conflict with both sides, they choose to agree with different perspectives across different issues. On the contrary, when one agrees with everything he hears, he simply lacks knowledge of himself, which is not only harmful to others, due to the fact that it creates a false image of the person, but it's harmful to the one doing the lying. They are confusing themselves as to what to believe. In other words, living your values is not blindly going along with one side. 

While the difference can seem foggy, people who make their politics their identity don’t live their values. The people who scribble talking points all over their Chuck Taylors (something I’ve seen many times over), or stick countless political pins on their backpacks aren’t living their values. Of course many things are good in moderation, but it’s not healthy to consistently think about politics. “Conservative” and “Republican” are not interchangeable terms. Just like “Liberal” and “Democrat” aren't either. “Conservative” and “Liberal” have always been thought more of as ideological rather than political descriptions, whereas the latter terms have served to associate with one side or another when deciding what a country should do on the governmental level, evident in both the parties' changing inclinations and messages over time. In order to further analyze political matters going forward, this difference needs to be understood. Living your values (in my case) is using Conservative principles to inform political decisions like what candidate to back, or whether to be for a certain bill being proposed in D.C. or not. 

Becoming more informed as to what you believe not only leads to more educated political decisions, but brings along a slew of other benefits. As I started to live out my values with more amplitude, I noticed I was better able to make quick decisions, which in turn helps me in debates when a “curveball” argument is thrown at me. An increase in the ability to find continuities between history and the political sphere that exists today is another positive I've experienced. If more people are in touch with what they believe, it opens up so much more, and strengthens the pillars of our culture. In a place where people live their values, it’s harder to get lost and tangled in the knots of elitist political jargon.

  So how does one go about living their values? Speaking from experience, it’s not too hard, that is, once you get past the stage of actually discovering your values. Don’t be afraid of questions. After I confirmed her suspicion of my being Conservative, I found myself in a conversation with a new friend a few months ago where she was questioning my political values. What you believe matters. And when sharing those beliefs with others, show them the best version of yourself you possibly can. I could tell based on the questions she asked that my dear friend had been exposed to very few Conservatives in her life, but through my approach to the polite interrogation, she was realizing that we aren't the anti-semitic racists the media makes us out to be. She came to respect my beliefs, as I respect hers. By living our values as we interact with different parts of society, we create a less polarized country. Living our values is the medium between imposing them, and hiding them, which is what we should all aim for.