Chicken and the egg

Dr. Helen does an Ask Dr. Helen column on Pajamas Media.

I'm not going to comment on the content of the column, but on the turn of a phrase that she uses. It's one I often see and it really irritates me.

As a right-leaning
libertarian, I believe that people should be able to enter into whatever
relationship they wish with other competent adults without state
intervention.

So she has a simple label she uses as a self-identification and that somehow determines what she thinks.

I just think it should be the other way around -- what you think should determine the label.

I don't know why this particular usage bothers me. It's pretty common. But it just seems wrong and it does bother me.