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Liberal - abusing the word
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The greater Seattle-King County area held an election last March to fill a vacated seat on the County Conservation Board. Almost all King County residents missed this election with only a tiny fraction bothering to vote. One of the candidates seeking the position sent out mailers warning that his opponent is “active with liberal environmental groups”.
When did liberal become a dirty word and when did conservatives stop carrying about the environment?
My property has protected wetlands and I’m the fortunate beneficiary of deer, rabbits, coyotes, owls, and a family of hawks that were here long before I moved in. I’m thrilled that construction would never be allowed anywhere near my property. I care more about wildlife than my right as a landowner to “improve” my property; I’m a Liberal.
What has become of the Conservative Republican Party? The words of Republican President Theodore Roosevelt - "A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself," "Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people." Roosevelt, the conservationist, proteced 230 million acres of land.
If we look to history we find that most great thinkers had very liberal ideas; great thinkers like Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin. And although Ann Coulter claims that Liberals are “Godless”, one could say that God was in fact the most tolerant, giving, and definitive Liberal of all. Lev. 25:23-24. The land shall not be sold forever: for the land is mine, for ye are strangers and sojourners with me. And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant redemption for the land.
The dictionary, in part, defines liberal as –
Broad-minded and tolerant. Favoring reform, especially political reforms that extend democracy. Freely giving money, time, or some other asset.
John F. Kennedy defended his liberalism this way:
"If by a Liberal they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people — their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties — someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a Liberal, then I'm proud to say I'm a Liberal.”
Did you happen to catch Hillary Clinton’s response during the 2008 primary debates when she was asked if she considered herself a Liberal? She defined liberal quite nicely but then went on to say that she preferred the term progressive. Today politicians feel that they can’t afford to be labeled a Liberal. Progressive doesn’t have the negative connotation. But you don’t change something by renaming it. Instead, how about reminding people of the words meaning?
The title of Liberal should be a goal and the ideals it represents should be defended. The Late Senator Ted Kennedy worked a lifetime to earn his title “Liberal Lion of the Senate”. He suffered great regret and pain throughout much of his life but he earned respect by continuing to champion critical causes and honor the liberal ideals that others abandoned.
It was the Bush-43 Era that brought much of the anti-religion; unpatriotic meaning to the term liberal, meaning that doesn’t exist. That era is over and it’s time to take back the word; too bad the new Liberal in charge can’t start the process.
West Wing Season 7, episode 7. "The Debate"
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