Sticks and Stones

With the Maryland primary election coming up on Tuesday (and here's a big shout-out to everyone who tried to vote this past Tuesday, only to find out that our Tuesday was just a Tuesday, nothing Super about it) the campaign ads are proliferating in just a couple of races. Maryland's 1st Congressional District - the entire Eastern Shore, and parts of Anne Arundel, Baltimore and Harford Counties - has a real barnburner going on in their Republican primary, as two candidates seek to oust the incumbent. They would want me to mention their names. The amusing thing about all this is the ads they are running on TV and radio. The entire focus of the ads of both would-be congressmen is "The incumbent is LIBERAL!" And as if to prove the point, they show pictures of the man that were snapped right after he sneezed or something, and juxtapose the photos next to images of Nancy Pelosi looking like something smells bad and she's wrinkling her nose. Very subtle stuff.

But when did it become such a sin to be a liberal? What is the definition of a liberal? Why don't we do what millions of truth-seekers have done over the years, and check it out in the good old Roget's Thesaurus:


liberal

NOUN: A person with liberal political opinions: liberalist, progressive. See POLITICS.
ADJECTIVE: 1. Not narrow or conservative in thought, expression, or conduct: broad, broad-minded, open-minded, progressive, tolerant. See ATTITUDE, WIDE. 2. Characterized by bounteous giving: free, freehanded, generous, handsome, lavish, munificent, openhanded, unsparing, unstinting. See GIVE. 3. Favoring civil liberties and social progress: liberalistic, progressive. See POLITICS.

conservative

NOUN: One who strongly favors retention of the existing order: orthodox, rightist, right-winger, Tory, traditionalist. See KEEP.
ADJECTIVE: 1. Kept within sensible limits: discreet, moderate, reasonable, restrained, temperate. See PLAIN, RESTRAINT. 2. Strongly favoring retention of the existing order: orthodox, right, rightist, right-wing, Tory, traditionalist, traditionalistic. See KEEP. 3. Able to preserve: preservative, protective. See HELP. 4. Clinging to obsolete ideas: backward, reactionary, unprogressive. See POLITICS.

Here's my point: I would much rather be thought of as not narrow in thought, bounteous in giving, and in favor of civil liberties and social progress than have people describe me as clinging to obsolete ideas or favoring retention of the existing order. I know that will likely cost me a treasured invitation to the Bushdaughter wedding in May, but I don't like obsolete ideas.

And, "kept within sensible limits"? Like, Dick Cheney only shot one guy in the face so far...is that a sensible limit on how many people can be shot by the vice-president? Bush only got us into one war so far. So what if it costs a little money or a few thousand lives...

Consider the costs...

• $275 million per day
• $4,100 per household
• Almost 4,000 U.S. soldiers killed and more than 60,000 wounded
• 700,000 Iraqis killed and 4 million refugees

Yeah man. Very sensible.