Liberals and Conservatives

Just like biological organisms, words evolve.  That is, they change their meanings over time.  Part of this evolution is natural, reacting to a new environment; and part is artificial, where some alter the use of words for partisan purposes.  So it is with these most important and most maligned political words, liberal and conservative.  In this essay, I will attempt to demonstrate the evolution of these words’ meanings.

The goto place for a discussion of word origins is the Oxford English Dictionary (the OED to scholars) (work began on the OED in 1857 and is ongoing).  Unhappily, access to the online OED is by subscription only, at $100 / year.  So, I chose the second-best online option: the Online Etymology Dictionary.

So, let’s get to work and examine these two most consequential words in all of politics, liberal and conservative.  Indented paragraphs are lifted without editing from the Online Etymology Dictionary.

A Plea to Republican Voters

You hate us more than we hate you!

Paul Pelosi was attacked early Friday morning and is lucky to be alive, hospitalized, and on the mend.  But what was the grievance of this (un-named) perpetrator against Paul Pelosi?  That he was the husband of Nancy Pelosi?  What had Mrs. Pelosi ever done to him?  What had we Americans done to those who ransacked the Capitol building on January 6th?  Why, nothing really, except to have won an election, one that Republicans wanted to win, badly.

Dems ... Losing ... Messaging ... Socialism

I spoke this unforgettable quip years ago, maybe more than ten years.  “What do Democrats do best?  They lose elections.”

"But they own the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives.  So how can you say that?”

Indeed, they “stole” the White House from the most reviled presidential candidate in U.S. history, they took the Senate by a few Georgian hairs' breadth, and they lost thirteen seats in the House while maintaining a slim majority of seats.

Bernie Sanders on Socialism

A close friend of mine is a supporter of Bernie Sanders for president.  He thinks that Sanders could message better.  So, he wrote Sanders a speech that explains Sanders' notion of socialism.  Here it is.

Hello, everyone, and thank you for coming.

I am running to be the Democratic candidate for President of the United States in 2020. Yes, your Democratic candidate, even though the party I have been aligned with for all these years in the breathtakingly wonderful state of Vermont is called the Democratic Socialist party.

The Ghost of Reagan Past

That icon of mid-20th century American Conservatism, the 40th president of the United States, Ronald Reagan, is famous for saying, “Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem” and “The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.”   These are very clever words and they have resonated with millions of Americans, from then until now.

But they do not resonate with me, they are far too cynical for my taste.

Aristocracy

“All men are created equal.” These are our founding words, our founding credo. All they really ever meant were: we are all equal souls in the eyes of God, he loves us all equally; and we are all equal under the law (OK, we know this is not true, but it remains our founding ideal nonetheless). But in all other ways, we are surely not equal. Not equal in health and strength and good looks, not equal in wealth, not equal in power and influence, not equal in education and intelligence and wit and cleverness and sense of humor, not equal in character and virtue, not equal in any of the ways that make us all unique (and therefore special and irreplaceable) human beings.

On Capital Punishment

As a truly independent thinker, I tend to come down on the side of liberalism more often than on the side of conservatism because the conservative side often seems rigid and uncompromising whereas the liberal side seems more flexible and tolerant, and even open to compromise.  For example, abortion: conservatives say no abortion from the moment of conception, not three months into a pregnancy, not a week, not a day, not ten minutes, but from the exact moment of conception.  I recognize that if a soul is born in that instant then it must be protected from that instant.  Nevertheless, without proof…   Another example is capital punishment.  Conservatives approve of it while liberals do not (for the most part).  There is something pretty absolute and final about a death sentence.  I recognize that conservatives (and others, too) believe in an-eye-for-an-eye justice but once again, capital punishment -- a death sentence --  is pretty final.

The Alt-Left

There was no Alt-Left until Trump invented it.  Actually, all our wordsmith president said was “There is blame on both sides” and some journalist made up “Alt-Left” as a counter to Alt-Right (an umbrella label for right-wing extremist groups).

So, who makes up the Alt-Left?  As the Alt-Right actually exists, it’s easier to define its membership.  So, the Alt-Right consists of the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis, White Nationalists, white supremacists, some extreme NRA members, Hell’s Angels, Vigilante groups, Survivalist groups.  More than anyone else, they tend to be white and Christian and male and straight, even if most white Christian straight males are not Alt-Right themselves.  They believe that they alone are true Americans.  They are not just conservative, they are fringe conservative.

Stupid Libertarians

I entitled this essay “Stupid Libertarians” to get your attention, or maybe the attention of self-identifying Libertarians.

Some of the smartest friends I have ever had were Libertarians.  I never understood why they were Libertarians, and I think that we argued at cross-purposes, each of us not really understanding the other.

And I know that there are different flavors of Libertarianism.  But they have a common core.

Echo Chamber

Living in an Echo Chamber is living among folks who have the same thoughts, opinions and beliefs as you do.  Neighborhoods tend to homogenize over time; most neighborhoods become of one mind over important things as most neighborhoods belong to a single demographic, be it economic class, social class, religion, ethnicity, education, etc.  Similarly, most neighborhoods tend to become overwhelmingly Democratic or Republican, overwhelmingly conservative or liberal.  So, with regard to where we live, most of us live in an Echo Chamber.  Naturally so, but without malicious intent!  For much the same reasons, it is often true of where we work that we live in an Echo Chamber.

Pro-Life

As abortion is one of America’s premier divisive issues, Americans should be pretty clear what “pro-life” means.  But I am not so sure; I think that there is a lot of confusion about who really is “pro-life.”

Democratic Socialism

As independent senator from Vermont Bernie Sanders has a real chance to become the Democratic candidate for President in 2016, it is time for the American people to understand what he stands for.  Sanders’ party is the Democratic Socialist party.  So, what is a Democratic Socialist?

Democracy

John Trumbull's Declaration of Independence

The two most ringing phrases in all of American history are indisputably “We the People of the United States …” from the Preamble to the U S Constitution and “… all men are created equal …” from the Declaration of Independence.  And they both seem to argue for democracy – rule of, by, and for the people.  But every once in a while, a stray Republican, one not running for President, reminds us that democracy is not called for or even mentioned by the U S Constitution, or any other founding document for that matter.  He is right.  By all rights, we are a republic, a nation ruled by laws; but not by Constitutional mandate a democracy.  In addition, none of our Founding Fathers (excepting Thomas Paine himself) desired universal suffrage (suffrage is the form of a democracy, it is the right or privilege of a citizen to vote or otherwise participate in the processes of governing).  Indeed, to a man, they all feared democracy.  They feared the voice of the demos, the herd, the common people.  Consider that all of our Founding Fathers were highly educated and highly successful men.  Their version of “We the People” meant “we and our social peers,” a natural aristocracy even if not an inherited one (as in the old country).  A “real democracy” (in today’s usage) implies universal suffrage, suffrage of the common man.  But no democracy for these demigods.

The War of Northern Aggression

That is what a speaker in the South Carolina House of Representatives called the Civil War: “the War of Northern Aggression.”  I don’t know how ironic he was being, but there it was, one more name for the Civil War, a name that still resonates for some.

Some names for the great conflict include The War Between the States and The Brothers’ War.  There are a dozen or more names that combatants and others have used, some in an attempt to remain “objective,” others in an attempt to assign blame.  And to re-ignite still burning embers.

http://www.examiner.com/article/rick-perry-s-gop-and-the-new-war-of-northern-aggression

The optimal causes, the immediate causes of the war, were two-fold: firing on Fort Sumter was a clear act of war and the Union did not blink.  Secession was the other immediate cause.  Was secession a possible act under the doctrine of states’ rights?  As long as this was being debated, it was an exercise in free speech.  But the Confederate states’ official acts of secession were immediate causes of the war.

Slavery and states’ rights were enduring arguments from the first moments the terms of the Constitution were being argued, nearly 75 years before the outbreak of the Civil War.  So in themselves neither slavery nor states’ rights were operative causes of the War.  But firing on a government fort and the political acts of secession were optimal causes of the war.  Still, slavery was the underlying reason for the argument in the first place, the underlying cause of the war.  The South fired the first shot, the South split apart the Union, the South precipitated the Brothers' War.

But what does “The War of Northern Aggression” tell us?  It tells us what we have long suspected, that the Civil War, and its underlying arguments (slavery, and even states’ rights), are not settled issues among all Americans.  Gridlock in Washington, DC and the partisan passions across America are proof that as a nation we are not one people, one more argument that democracy cannot work in today’s fractured political environment.  <sigh>

Freedom

What is freedom?  Who is free and who not?

I think that when we think of freedom we must first think of what it means to be without it.  We must think first of freedom from foreign domination: Nazi domination, Soviet domination, pre-Revolutionary British domination.  After that, we must think of forms of physical incarceration: prison, official governmental coercion (house arrest, parole), or even non-governmental confinement (kidnapping).

Equality: What Does It Mean?

If the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution are America’s Holy Bible, then surely “all men are created equal” is its 23rd Psalm, as no phrase rings so true for Americans as these immortal words.

But what do they mean, exactly?  And what do they not mean?  

On Misunderstanding Ayn Rand

Many of those who have read my words may suspect that I am a closet liberal.  That may have elements of truth in it.  Some (fewer) may suspect that I am a closet conservative.  That too has elements of truth in it.  Those who have read me carefully know that I am virulently anti-Republican and not much more in love with Democrats either.

Ayn Rand, author of (among other works) Atlas Shrugged, can be said to be an inspiration to most Libertarians and many conservatives.  Indeed, she is an indisputable founder of modern American conservatism.  I read Ayn Rand’s books (all her fiction – 4 books – and some of her non-fiction) decades ago.  It would be true to say that I was under her spell while I read her books.  It would also be true to say that I escaped her spell within months of reading her.  Let me say, unequivocally, that I consider her a good novelist (by which I mean she grabbed my attention and kept me interested all the way to the end, and what more can a fiction writer want?  Rand wanted more).  And that I admired, respected and loved her heroes and heroines.  But the reasons that I did not become a "follower" of hers are these: 1) the world of her books is NOT the world we live in, and 2) she conflates indispensable titans of industry with all successful businessmen.

Social Darwinism

“So, Social Darwinism, whazzat?”

If “Darwinism” can be thought of as “survival of the fittest” (not Darwin’s idea at all; he preferred survival of the best adapted or the most adaptable), or prominence of the strongest, the most competitive, the wealthiest or the best connected, and then you apply it to humans, rather than the “inferior animal species,” that would be Social Darwinism.  The Law of the Jungle, applied to humans.  A corollary to survival of the strongest or fittest is the non-survival of the weakest or least fit.  Only the “best” would survive and reproduce, and this would naturally result in a superior human species, superior to what it would be without this kind of a Natural Selection.  Social Darwinism has no need for any “social safety net” to rescue the least fit, as it does not approve of allowing the least fit to survive.  Social Darwinism is cruel but efficient; think the ancient Spartans and the not so ancient Nazis.  A good case could be made that a more compassionate society would be a stronger, more fit society in many ways, but I am not approving or condemning Social Darwinism, just defining it.

My Political ID

I vote in every election, Presidential and mid-term.  EVERY election.  Since I could.

I have moved often within the states over the years.  And one of the very first things that I always do is register with their Board of Elections.  My right to vote is precious to me.

I have been a registered Republican and I have been a registered Democrat.  I have even been registered with a third party.