Liberal and Proud of It (11/22/04)
by Dean Hartwell
During the presidential campaign, John Kerry shied away from the term “liberal.” He instead called himself the candidate with the most “conservative values.”
What do these terms really mean?
According to Dictionary.com, conservative means “favoring traditional views and values; tending to oppose change” and “traditional or restrained in style” and “moderate, cautious.”
From the same source, liberal means “not limited to or by established, traditional, orthodox, or authoritarian attitudes, views, or dogmas; free from bigotry” and “favoring proposals for reform, open to new ideas for progress, and tolerant of the ideas and behavior of others; broad-minded.”
With these definitions, we can distinguish political liberals from political conservatives. Conservatives look for traditions upon which to base their point of view. Liberals seek change on many issues and do not settle for the explanation that “this is the way we’ve always done things.”
Some policies serve to divide the two ideological camps. Take taxes, which affect just about every other political issue.
Conservatives want to keep wealth in the hands of those who currently have it. They favor tax cuts for the rich. President Bush’s tax plan serves their agenda.
Liberals want to tax everyone except the poor and use the money for community purposes. These purposes include clean air, clean water, good public education, improved roads and highways and defense.
Conservatives prefer to let people keep more of their money than liberals. This idea works out well for people with money to begin with. It doesn’t suit those who have little or none.
Liberals use some of the tax money from taxes to help the poor. They do so by funding housing programs in which the poor pay a fraction of rental charges while the government pays for the rest. Liberals have also traditionally supported welfare to give the poor a chance to pay their bills. And, the liberals take taxpayer money and spend it on homeless shelters.
Conservatives believe that the tax cuts given to the rich will “trickle down” to the lower classes. They believe the best social program for the poor is a job.
Liberals also value the importance of a job. They question how a poor, uneducated and inexperienced person can get a job without education and job skills. Hence, they fund grants for college and job training programs.
Conservatives argue that liberals want to spend too much money for these government programs. They resort to such terms as “tax and spend” liberals.
Liberals reply that conservatives spend too much money on defense. Given the record deficits piled up by Presidents Reagan and George W. Bush, they say that conservatives frequently “borrow and spend.”
This debate bears reminiscence of the mathematical “Type 1” and “Type 2” errors. Those who make policy about the poor are bound to fall into one type of error or the other. They could spend too little on government programs and deprive truly needy persons of help (Type 1). Or, they could spend too much on these programs and provide help to those who do not really need it (Type 2).
Conservatives are willing to take the chance that a “Type 1” error will occur. They justify this point of view by saying that there will always be poor among us.
Liberals will allow the possibility that a “Type 2” error will take place. They justify this attitude by opining that no one in need should be left behind, even if the price is allowing unworthy individuals to get free help from the government.
Conservatives since Reagan have succeeded in making liberalism a dirty word in politics. But the public’s disenchantment with the ideology has to do with ignorance than a defeat of ideas.
Liberalism gives people the freedom to live their lives the way they want to. Consider the people and ideas associated with it.
Franklin Roosevelt was a liberal who saved capitalism from its excesses and gave people back their dignity. His New Deal was a liberal program, with ideas like Social Security designed to protect the elderly from poverty. Medicare is a liberal innovation. At the time it was proposed it was a new way of dealing with the issue of health care among seniors. The Bill of Rights is a liberal document because it guarantees freedoms to the people of the United States.
Democrats should not abandon liberalism. Instead, they should embrace it. They should proudly say, “I am a liberal” to the voters and propose new solutions for old problems.