The power and misuse of labels
liberal adj
1: showing or characterized by broad-mindedness
2: having political or social views favoring reform and progress
3: tolerant of change; not bound by authoritarianism,orthodoxy, or tradition [ant:conservative]
conservative adj
1: resistant to change [ant: liberal]
2: opposed to liberal reforms
3: avoiding excess; "a conservative estimate" [syn: cautious]
Haven’t we let these two words loose their meaning? It seems to me that we have somewhere along the line allowed liberal to mean whatever the DNC says, and conservative equal the RNC viewpoint. Social engineering, banishing the Christian religion from public view or discourse, and politically correct speech seem to have little to do with showing broad-mindedness. Growing the government to an ever greater size is not avoiding excess, and wars of liberation and nation building sure sound like change to me.
Symbols and labels are powerful tools. It is much easier to say “I’m a conservative” than to explain what your political stand is on a half a dozen issues. But we are becoming lazy in using them. Let’s try to get back to saying what we mean.