I remember the first time I heard the word "liberal" used as a weapon. It was against Michael Dukakis (remember him?). And all I could think about was "Jesus, why are the Democrats so afraid of that word?" To borrow Microsoft's philosophy, why not Embrace and Extend? Accept the word Liberal, and define it properly. Make the word an asset.
That didn't happen. In fact, Tom Delay used the word to explain why he's resigning. He doesn't want his seat taken by Democratic Liberals. He forgot to mention the whole "Oh, and I'm a criminal" thing. Whoops.
But no worries. I don't WANT to be a liberal anymore. Shit, if you take "liberal" at it's true meaning, President Bush is the consummate liberal...
- Tolerant of the massive loss and wounding of American solders.
- Generous with big government contracts for friends' businesses.
- Open-minded about WMDs.
- Non-interventionist when it comes to having criminals in his inner circle.
- Exceedingly liberal with the Executive Powers.
- etc., etc.
- Fiscally responsible: if you don't have it, don't spend it.
- Environmentally Conservative: Ethanol first (good for farmers!), Hydrogen later. And remember, I support giving American Oil Companies a 10-20 year lock on ethanol processing and stateside distribution.
- Militarily Conservative: no pre-emptive War. (Oh, and with the New York Times article about how Bush was going to war regardless, and had even picked a DATE, we can clearly add "liberal with reasons for going to war."
- Addendum to #3: maintain the strongest and most nimble military planet-wide.
- Loyal to the second amendment: Only infringe on the right to bear arms if the gun owner isn't part of a well-governed militia. Infringe does not mean "ban."
- Equal application of the Bill of Rights to every citizen.
- Etc., etc.,
Love to all. Even you, the bespectacled guy with the 14-inch iBook. Lucky bastard.
4 comments:
LOL! VERY interesting analysis!
I've long had trouble reconciling my label "liberal" with my beliefs, which I actually consider "conservative." I find conservative to be an uglier and dirtier word than people act like liberal is.
When I put it into perspective, I use Jethro's declaration that he is a compassionate conservative, when he, clearly, is not either of those things, I get that I actually am conservative, and the reason I consider myself a liberal is because of my compassion.
Believe it or not, I am increasing dissatisfied with the current President. I agree, let's find a real conservative and get him in office!
Just came across your blog, and you've got lots of interesting things to say!
I agree with much of what you're saying here - I could also be called a conservative (although I'm really pretty far left) due to the way the terms "liberal" and "conservative" have been re-defined and mis-interpreted over the last many years. I've been bothered by how liberals have tried to use other words like "progressive" to define themselves, although I have been guilty of that myself.
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