The word “conservative millennial” today is so rare in blue states. In fact, it almost seems like an oxymoron. Liberal ideologies are everywhere, from learning curriculums, pop culture, to the news. When you grow up in a blue state where your family members as well as the majority of people you grow up with vote Democrat, it can be difficult to see any other perspective that challenges the liberal way of thinking.

From the second I had a concept of what politics was, the only perspective that I could understand was that voting as a Democrat was equivalent to voting for the “betterment of everyone else in society.” To me growing up, voting Republican was selfish, sexist, and racist. At age nineteen, I was a pro-choice and pro gun control feminist who could not comprehend why anyone would vote Republican. To me, taxation was not “theft.” It was a debt that each American had to pay for the betterment of society. In my mind, if anyone advocated for lower taxes, they were cheating their way out of a system meant to better those in poverty.

Unfortunately, sometimes, people blindly vote for a political party because they lack a full understanding into the mindset of the opposing side, because they’ve already embraced that the side they believe in has the best agenda. I was one of them. There was so much anger I felt as to why anyone would vote Republican. I stereotyped conservatives into a category of “old, white, rich men.” I was so wrapped up in being a feminist Democrat, that I didn’t realize by knocking down conservatives, I was also knocking down other women instead of lifting them up. It’s easy as a liberal to discount and dismiss why other women vote conservative. In fact, many liberals discount the reasons women are conservative as they’re poorly educated, can’t think for themselves, are racist, are selfish, got their views from their Dad, don’t want to help the poor, and so on. If you’re a conservative woman, you’ve probably heard one of those reasons from a liberal.

Despite this, there was one crucial feeling I held towards conservative women as a nineteen year old liberal feminist. Curiosity. The only thing I had ever seen and heard were liberal perspectives and the demonizing of conservative ideas. Why did women vote conservative? I truly wanted to know. The theories I had only took so much weight. What made women decide in their minds that conservative policies would help better our country? Soon, an organization for conservative women gave me the answers.

I came across Future Female Leaders for the first time in the summer of 2016. That spring, I had voted for Bernie Sanders in the primaries. It was becoming increasingly clear that he would probably not win the Democratic nomination for the 2016 presidential election. I was intrigued by the organization, Future Female Leaders, and what they stood for, but was nervous to click on any of their articles and read something so dramatically different from what I believed. I clicked anyway. What I found was an organization committed to empowering conservative women to live their best life and informing them on the political issues driving our country while providing a community of support for like-minded women and an adorable right wing themed store to boot. I soon realized liberal women and conservative women have so much more in common than they realize.

As I read through more intriguing articles on the website, I found that conservatives care about the poor, young mothers, violence in America, human trafficking, sexual assault, and empowering women too. They just had different methods and ideas to accomplish those issues. Conservative women believed in solving those issues without big government programs, higher taxes, gun restrictions, or funding abortion. To be a conservative is to believe in freedom: the freedom to create your own destiny, the freedom to protect yourself, the freedom to become the best parent and give your child an opportunity to create an amazing life for themselves, even if your circumstances seem bleak. To be a conservative women meant to empower women to not need big government to be successful or chase their dreams. After hours of research and thought, all of those ideas made more sense than anything I had believed previously regarding feminism or women’s empowerment.

Today, I proudly fight for those conservative ideals and principles. Women and girls today are told too frequently to believe in a party that uses big government to create their success, and that if you vote any other way, you’re voting against your own benefits. The reality is, you don’t need big government to be a successful woman, to fight poverty, or to even fight violence. The only person you need to believe in is yourself. That is why I am now an empowered and proud conservative woman.

Future Female Leaders is self-funded through the sale of our unique conservative apparel and accessories in our online store. Our proceeds are reinvested into the spreading the conservative message to women nationwide. Please consider supporting Future Female Leaders and it’s mission, by visiting our store

Rachel P