{"id":50907,"date":"2022-03-14T18:25:31","date_gmt":"2022-03-14T18:25:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=50907"},"modified":"2022-03-14T18:25:31","modified_gmt":"2022-03-14T18:25:31","slug":"liberal-is-no-epithet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=50907","title":{"rendered":"‘Liberal’ is no epithet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Did you know the term \u201cliberal\u201d has become a four-letter word? At least among right-wingers it has become a sort of scarlet letter to hang around the necks of politicians and those who support those politicians.<\/p>\n

I am a liberal, or a \u201cgood government\u201d liberal. The term has been replaced in the lexicon, though, by \u201cprogressive,\u201d which I guess among liberals is more suitable to their political agenda.<\/p>\n

For the record, I don\u2019t mind for an instant being labeled a liberal.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what my handy-dandy American Heritage Dictionary says about the term; mind you, it contains several definitions under the term, so the first definition is generally regarded as the most acceptable or prevalent.<\/p>\n

It states:\u00a0open-minded, tolerant<\/em>. The book refers to a synonym, which is broad-minded.<\/p>\n

Wow! Is that the stuff that should bring shame to an individual? I think not. It is the kind of description one should wear proudly. So, I do. I wear that label with pride.<\/p>\n

My pride will enable me to dismiss the snark that accompanies descriptions that come from right-wingers who seek to denigrate liberal or progressive political thought.<\/p>\n

As a side note: I continue to hold traditional \u201cconservatives\u201d in high esteem. I prefer to absolve them from the antics committed by the bomb-throwers on the far-right end of the political spectrum.<\/p>\n

I turned to my American Heritage word book. Here is what it says about \u201cconservative.\u201d\u00a0Favoring traditional views and values; tending to oppose change.<\/em>\u00a0Hey, nothing wrong with that, either.<\/p>\n

The right-wingers, though, take \u201ctraditional conservatism\u201d to a level I do not recognize.<\/p>\n

I remember when Newt Gingrich, the godfather of the Contract With America movement in the 1990s, said his aim was to make \u201cliberals the enemy of normal Americans.\u201d Isn\u2019t that sweet? Do you get what that implies? It is to say liberals are, um, \u201cabnormal.\u201d That we are weirdos. That we live outside those so-called \u201ctraditional values.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, none of that worked out well for Newtie. He got caught cheating on wife No. 2. He married the woman with whom he was having a fling. He also resigned from Congress and became a right-wing messenger.<\/p>\n

That was then. These days I will continue to wear my political leaning proudly. I make no apologies for anything I believe. I am\u00a0open-minded and tolerant<\/em>, just as the dictionary describes me.<\/p>\n

What in this world is wrong with that? Not a damn thing!<\/p>\n

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n

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Did you know the term \u201cliberal\u201d has become a four-letter word? At least among right-wingers it has become a sort of scarlet letter to hang around the necks of politicians and those who support those politicians. I am a liberal, or a \u201cgood government\u201d liberal. The term has been replaced in the lexicon, though, by … Continue reading ‘Liberal’ is no epithet<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[9906,1145,9905,3299],"class_list":["post-50907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-political-news","tag-conservative","tag-contract-with-america","tag-liberal","tag-newt-gingrich"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=50907"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50907\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50908,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50907\/revisions\/50908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=50907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=50907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=50907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}