Progressives: Rebranding Liberal

Although extremists seem more plentiful these days in what seems to be a charged political atmosphere, it is easy to forget that people have always polarized and extreme views have always been present and politics have always been highly contentious since before recorded history. There has never been a time, from the founding of the United States of America to today, in which we all held hands in harmony. All the same, few people I meet are black and white. Few people I meet are so easily defined as simply liberal or conservative. While people are not black and white, most do lean enough one way or the other to comfortably be labeled as either liberal (liberal leaning) or conservative (conservative leaning).

Unlike many other democratic nations where the people often have a wide array of political parties to choose from, Americans live under a rigid two party system. Its not that other political parties are not allowed, its just that Americans tend to gravitate to one of the two main parties, each one representing the full spectrum of what they see as the two major socio-political ideologies. We are so hard coded into a two party monopoly that, when you tell someone in America that you have, or were thinking of, voting for a third party candidate they will say 'Go ahead, throw your vote away!!'. The American political system does not recognize subtle differences in political and social ideology and because of this, few people who live within this system recognize these subtleties either. You are 'Liberal' or 'Conservative', 'Left' or 'Right'. In America today you are either a Republican, the party for those who gravitate to current conservatives ideals, or a Democrat, those who are Liberal leaning, or you vote third party and 'throw your vote away'.

In general Conservatives are people looking to preserve the status quo. Based on the word 'conserve', those who follow this ideology are often those who stand in opposition to change in the norm, in what is traditional or customary. Conservatism can take many forms and manifest in many ways and in many areas of our lives. People can be social conservatives, fiscal conservatives, political conservatives, religious conservatives, conservative values reach across the spectrum. While many are not conservative across the board, they all mean to maintain, conserve, and preserve be it money, religion, morals or traditional ways. Conservative in the US often means a person who is more traditionally minded. They are likely to be religious, social conservatives, who believe in less government and more guns, less entitlement programs and more God. They present themselves as anti-tax and spend but just like liberals, they are not opposed to tax and spend as long as the right people are taxed and its spent for the right things. The conservative can either be seen as an obstacle to change and advancement or a guardian of traditional ways, morals, and values. Conservatives are further labeled as the 'Right'.

People who would traditionally be deemed Liberal are people whose ideology often goes contrary to the established norm. Liberal is based on the Latin Liber, and further Liberalis. Its where we get the word Liberty and it literally means Free or Freedom. Historically Liberalism, as a political philosophy, advocates the freedoms and inherent rights of the individual. Historically liberal movements have often brought about desperately needed socio-political changes by challenging the status quo when the status quo meant unfair political, social, and economic institutions, the lack of personal freedom, human rights, human dignity, civil liberties and democracy. Like conservatism, liberalism spans across the spectrum of the human condition be it social, political, fiscal, or religious. Liberal in the US today often means a person who looks to use government to cure social injustice and improve the human condition. They present themselves as defenders of personal freedoms but in reality they are often reactionary idealists who tend, when in power, to enforce their ideology just as zealously as any conservative. Liberals can either be seen as as subversives looking to destroy the very foundations a country was founded upon or advocates for positive change. Liberals are further labeled as the 'Left'.

Today conservatives, more often than not, seem as ready as ever to proclaim they are conservative. They are proud to be conservative and think you should be conservative as well. They are staunch supporters of the conservative philosophy as a sports fan supports his team. An us vs them, win at all cost mentality. A conservative stands ever ready to defend against liberal ideals, what ever that ideal means at any given time. I have never met a conservative that balked at being labeled a conservative.

Liberals, on the other hand, are more and more reluctant to own the designation of liberal. The most liberal man I know, a man who by any standard would be labeled a lock step liberal democrat, is a good example. When we are together we often discuss the politics of the day and about a month ago I began to notice a change. During these conversations he has always referred to Republicans, or the 'right', as conservatives almost exclusively. While he used to refer to Democrats and the so called 'left' as liberals, I noticed that lately he had purged the word liberal from is vocabulary. The label he used for himself, and liberals in general, was Progressive. He is a supporter of gay marriage, a supporter of legalized drugs, a supporter of the right to chose, entitlement programs, anti-gun, anti-war and an atheist, but not, it seems, a liberal...he is now 'Progressive'.

This was not the first time I have heard a liberal refer to liberals and the liberal ideology as progressive. It's as if there was a mass e-mail sent out to all liberals to let them know of the rebranding effort. Liberal seems to have become a bad word, even for Liberals. As if they have bought in to the silly dishonest two dimensional stereotype of liberalism so often depicted in AM radio style hyperbolic rhetoric. Liberals have allowed the word to be redefined to represent a stereotype of liberal ideology. They fear if they are tagged as liberal they will be seen in a negative light, and maybe they will. So often the stereotype takes the form of the extremes. Liberals are not all godless, socialist, communist, utopians who believe in unchecked government spending, anti-business, anti-god, pot smoking, multi-cultural vegetarians who want to take all of your money and redistribute it to lazy welfare cheats. Conservatives are not all gun toting, fundamentalist Christian, gay bashing, greedy, selfish, racists who still live in the 1930's (or worse, the 1100's) when women and blacks knew their place. Most fall somewhere in between these two extremes.

I, like many, am not completely liberal and not completely conservative. I see the need for both ideologies to be in play for a good balanced society. Like so many I possess a mixture of both, I simply lean one way or the other. I lean left. The lean is not extreme but few would consider me a conservative. I am a social and political liberal. What is so bad about being a Utopian anyway? By very definition the word means 'the ideal society' possessing the 'perfect socio-politico-legal system'. Its a goal that may be unobtainable but shouldn't we always being trying? Should we be striving for an imperfect society?

Conservatives are unabashedly conservative, they are fighting for what they believe and their beliefs are often those of their fathers and grandfathers so they seldom ruffle the feathers of tradition. To be Liberal is often to be in opposition to the traditional norm and that can be a bumpy road to travel, but it is no less an important road. America needs both conservative and liberal. I would not want to live in a society where one was not present, where one was not tempered by the other. I would not want to live in a world without Liberals.

There are always extremes. While extremist liberal movements have been the cause of bombings, kidnappings, war and killing, most liberals do not stand up and applaud these violent acts. So to do most conservatives disown the extreme, radical, oppressive, far right, conservative movements that have been the cause of so much suffering and death. It is admirable to be a person with strong convictions but it is dangerous to us all when someone invests too much of themselves in their ideology and loses sight of their humanity. We should never forget that whether Liberal or Conservative, we are all human.

What an aging hippy liberal thing to say.