Adding my 2 cents (CDN), the issue most at hand is the hour of your life you will never get back responding to Mr Stephens. I learned a while ago that Mr Stephen's arguments are quite selective when facts are involved. you think he was a right leaning or something.
Regarding the reclaiming of words, Canadian political flavours (spelt the correct way) are Liberal, Conservative and New Democratic. (Here's one for you, the conservatives used to be called the progressive conservative party, talk about political schizophrenia, like ordering diet french fries!))
Thanks reading my penny and a half (US) worth of commentary.
Somewhere along the way I learned that the Anglo-Irish political philosopher Edmund Burke, whom I'd thought of as a conservative, was also a liberal. Both things are true. Labels are tricky that way!
Totally agree about Assange and I'm coming around about Bowman, but I've got a somewhat different take on "liberal." I came of political age during the Great Society and the Vietnam War, both of which were supported by liberals, so "liberal" was a split screen: the Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, and Medicare/Medicaid on one side and the Vietnam War on the other. Disillusion with liberals came years before McGovern's loss (it was my first presidential election vote and I was devastated). I still get all the references and know most of the words to Phil Ochs's "Love Me, I'm a Liberal," first released in 1966. It exaggerates (somewhat), as satire does, but it bites true. (My liberal father not surprisingly *hated* it.)
In the years following I came to believe that the failings (cowardice?) of U.S. liberalism had plenty to do with McCarthyism and its very deep roots in U.S. history. The surefire way to discredit liberals -- and labor organizers -- was to call them red or pinko or socialist or communist, so they all bent over backwards to prove that they and the policies they advocated were no such thing. Even though they were. (Living in Britain for a while in the mid-1970s gave me a taste of what it was like to discuss socialism, labor, etc., etc., without the ghost of Joe McCarthy listening in. But then along came Thatcher . . .)
"Progressive" is a mishmash. I hear people calling themselves progressive because they think it's more hip than "liberal," but I believe that the good ol' fear of being called red pinko socialist is often a factor. "Far left" is usually code for "red pinko socialist" and it often carries a racist tinge along with it. The bottom line is that we're absolutely not supposed to say nasty things about capitalism. Too many intelligent people still aren't grappling with the consequences of this silence. They're all in with "Save Our Democracy" but they think we're trying to save it from *Trump*.
One more thing about our right-left political spectrum: It's very male and very white. It's very hard to locate issues that primarily women or people of color on it. Which is why so many observers have a hard time reckoning with the pro-choice referendum votes in red (which in this context doesn't mean pinko) states. Something I've noticed about the moderate/centrist Democrats is that they tend to be uneasy with the notion of "economic justice," which tends to involve racial justice -- and of course it's got red pinko socialist overtones.
Frank Luntz did more than anyone to damage our language. He was the chief architect of weaponizing words, including infamous terms like “death tax” aka inheritance taxes so non-wealthy people would support tax cuts—thereby ensuring the wealthy can become America’s own aristocrats. And that is just one example.
Thanks David. Another enlightening and thoughtful article. Let us all proclaim loudly and proudly that we are progressive and liberal and centrist and conservative, and we have empathy for all people who are oppressed, no matter their religion or melanin production ability.
And christian
And patriotic
I agree about Julian Assange. I don’t forgive someone who befriends and benefits from Putin.
Adding my 2 cents (CDN), the issue most at hand is the hour of your life you will never get back responding to Mr Stephens. I learned a while ago that Mr Stephen's arguments are quite selective when facts are involved. you think he was a right leaning or something.
Regarding the reclaiming of words, Canadian political flavours (spelt the correct way) are Liberal, Conservative and New Democratic. (Here's one for you, the conservatives used to be called the progressive conservative party, talk about political schizophrenia, like ordering diet french fries!))
Thanks reading my penny and a half (US) worth of commentary.
Somewhere along the way I learned that the Anglo-Irish political philosopher Edmund Burke, whom I'd thought of as a conservative, was also a liberal. Both things are true. Labels are tricky that way!
Totally agree about Assange and I'm coming around about Bowman, but I've got a somewhat different take on "liberal." I came of political age during the Great Society and the Vietnam War, both of which were supported by liberals, so "liberal" was a split screen: the Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, and Medicare/Medicaid on one side and the Vietnam War on the other. Disillusion with liberals came years before McGovern's loss (it was my first presidential election vote and I was devastated). I still get all the references and know most of the words to Phil Ochs's "Love Me, I'm a Liberal," first released in 1966. It exaggerates (somewhat), as satire does, but it bites true. (My liberal father not surprisingly *hated* it.)
In the years following I came to believe that the failings (cowardice?) of U.S. liberalism had plenty to do with McCarthyism and its very deep roots in U.S. history. The surefire way to discredit liberals -- and labor organizers -- was to call them red or pinko or socialist or communist, so they all bent over backwards to prove that they and the policies they advocated were no such thing. Even though they were. (Living in Britain for a while in the mid-1970s gave me a taste of what it was like to discuss socialism, labor, etc., etc., without the ghost of Joe McCarthy listening in. But then along came Thatcher . . .)
"Progressive" is a mishmash. I hear people calling themselves progressive because they think it's more hip than "liberal," but I believe that the good ol' fear of being called red pinko socialist is often a factor. "Far left" is usually code for "red pinko socialist" and it often carries a racist tinge along with it. The bottom line is that we're absolutely not supposed to say nasty things about capitalism. Too many intelligent people still aren't grappling with the consequences of this silence. They're all in with "Save Our Democracy" but they think we're trying to save it from *Trump*.
One more thing about our right-left political spectrum: It's very male and very white. It's very hard to locate issues that primarily women or people of color on it. Which is why so many observers have a hard time reckoning with the pro-choice referendum votes in red (which in this context doesn't mean pinko) states. Something I've noticed about the moderate/centrist Democrats is that they tend to be uneasy with the notion of "economic justice," which tends to involve racial justice -- and of course it's got red pinko socialist overtones.
Frank Luntz did more than anyone to damage our language. He was the chief architect of weaponizing words, including infamous terms like “death tax” aka inheritance taxes so non-wealthy people would support tax cuts—thereby ensuring the wealthy can become America’s own aristocrats. And that is just one example.
Thanks David. Another enlightening and thoughtful article. Let us all proclaim loudly and proudly that we are progressive and liberal and centrist and conservative, and we have empathy for all people who are oppressed, no matter their religion or melanin production ability.
Yes. Let’s. Thank you.