Liberal or conservative? Be honest and consider the facts.
Though never a conservative, that liberal label was not something I was interested in wearing either. It had something of a milquetoast-y taste, and I was looking for more of a French toast kind of breakfast on my plate.
I took inspiration from community organizer Saul Alinsky’s observation that, “A liberal is someone who will put their foot down firmly on thin air.” From that perspective, “liberal” was, without question, something I avoided. When my foot came down it had to mean something, and it had to make a sound.
Yet I find myself annoyed, maybe even a bit angered, when I hear people spit out the word as if it were a mouthful of poisoned saliva. “Liberal! Yuck, excuse me while I vomit.”
Where does this kind of animosity come from? I just don’t know. It goes beyond disrespect into a zone of hatred that is out of place in a free society. Especially the American society we all share and live in today. Truth be told, it saddens me deeply.
Granted there has always been tension between liberal and conservative, left and right, Republican and Democrat. But there remained an element of respect. Just because I don’t agree with you doesn’t make you lowlife scum.
I think of former New Hampshire Republican U.S. Sen. Styles Bridges, the personification of conservative right to his very core. He even voted against the censure of Joe McCarthy back in 1954. But I will suggest that one of Bridges’s proudest accomplishments was working behind the scenes with President Franklin Roosevelt to fund the development of the atomic bomb. And in his later years he worked with the Democratic Sen. Lyndon Johnson to help fund and create the space program.
Liberal-conservative, Democrat-Republican, yeah, but let’s park that and just sit down at the table and make things work – that was the mantra for Bridges and Johnson.
When Bridges died in 1961, Johnson, who was then vice president, traveled to Concord to attend the funeral. That was not only respect, it was friendship.
But I digress.
It is with hesitation that I would call myself a liberal. But I accept that in fact, that is where my political roots are. And I know they will always be there. Do I have my opinions about my conservative friends and family members? You better believe I do. Still, that doesn’t give permission to turn those friends into every evil that threatens society. Rather, it should give pause to find the commonality.
More important, all I need to do is look to history to see where my conscience resides. Consider some liberal ideas from the past and see how they played out over time, just for the sake of discussion.
Red states, blue states – that’s a common way to measure the divide. But remember the original red and blue was Great Britain and the Colonies. Those Redcoats weren’t interested in a free America. The very idea of independence was beyond liberal, it was a radical idea to those who saw themselves as conservative and loyal to the crown. I could go on about this, but consider the point made. Thank God the blues prevailed.
Jump ahead into the mid-1800s. Yes, Lincoln was a Republican, kept the Union together at all costs. But when it came to social, progressive, liberal ideas of the moment, like abolition, it was, again, the conservatives who wanted to protect the status quo. And to be clear, Lincoln didn’t fall in with that bunch. Emancipation, the elimination of slavery, was in fact another liberal idea that has endured.
Moving on to the Progressive Era of the late-19th and early-20th centuries: What were the ideas being pushed by liberal thinkers just over a hundred years ago? Ending child labor. Creating a primary system to elect our leaders. Breaking up large monopolies and trusts like Standard Oil or the Boston & Maine Railroad. Or how about regulation in the food industries? Yes, all ideas propelled by those people of liberal persuasion and fought against by conservatives.
Then there are those pesky liberal ideas still hanging around from the New Deal and FDR. You know, Social Security, unemployment insurance, FDIC, Federal Housing Administration, the Tennessee Valley Authority, those kinds of things – not to mention the many programs that no longer exist, like the WPA or CCC. All were opposed by conservative leaders of the time, and some are still opposed by them to this day.
Is there any wonder why I would lean toward that liberal side of politics? Simply put, it is guilt by association. Don’t expect to see me on the front lines of thin air shouting “Say it loud, I’m a liberal and I am proud!” But do take note of where my heart is, has been, and always will be.
You can have your conservative theology. Throw it at me anytime and I will give a listen. But the next time you hear someone spit out the word “liberal,” or perhaps when you spit it out yourself, reflect a moment before the saliva blows back in your face. Not all of us are perfect.
What were those wise words by Abraham Lincoln? Oh, yeah: “Some of the people can be perfect some of the time, and some of the people can be perfect all of the time. But never can all of the people be perfect all of the time.”
Well, maybe that wasn’t exactly the way Lincoln said it, but you get the point. Liberals aren’t right all the time, just a lot of the time.
What is most important is to not lose your humanity in the discussion. And please, please, don’t lose mine either.
(John Gfroerer of Concord owns a video production company based at the Capitol Center for the Arts.)