Liberal-Democrat Doesn’t Work Anymore
I received an upbraiding from an old friend who was disturbed that I might be a political consultant to a Republican. I suppose that I shouldn’t have been surprised, except that I thought thinking people didn’t cotton much to the way the political parties have made partisanship a litmus test.
Reared in Massachusetts, by intelligent people, I have been a life-long liberal Democrat. Until a couple of years ago when I changed my party registration so that my vote might make a difference in the primary. Now with an open primary in California, I’m registered independent.
And just as I don’t think of myself as a Democrat any more I also have to qualify the label liberal. Though it used to have positive connotations like generous, compassionate, and progressive, today, it means whiney and ineffectual.
That certainly doesn’t describe my politics. Nor does the label conservative. I’m something of a...a...an independent.
For instance, I am opposed to capital punishment. I think it’s immoral for the state to kill people in my name. Let them just sit in a cell with no television until they decide they want to be useful cleaning up toxic wastes sites or volunteering for medical experiments.
Is that liberal? I think biligualism is an unmitigated disaster. We need to better communicate as a society. That means one language. Let’s use the one we used to write the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
Is that conservative? All firearms should be registered and insured. We do it with cars, for crying out loud. And you gun nuts who say you need assault weapons to protect yourself from Big Bad Gummint, why don’t you stop carping and instead get involved in the democratic process?
I also think that affirmative action has played a significant role in forcing a mingling of everyone, but now we need to hire and promote on merit. The proverbial playing field needs to be leveled for children, starting in pre-school.
And I strongly oppose student bussing. The only people who should be bussed are teachers and administrators. Another point, social promotion is a disaster. No child should get past the third grade until he can read, write, and ’rithmetic.
I think the environment needs to be not only protected but restored. We are here as stewards of the Earth, not rapacious tenants.
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