It is worth a moment's reflection on what people on the Left side of the political spectrum call themselves.
At about the time that George McGovern and Ronald Reagan gave "liberals" a bad name in politics, George Lakoff of the University of California at Berkeley published "Metaphors We Live By", in which he argued that Republican ideas are centered on a "strong father" model (inherently attractive to Hispanics) while Democratic ideas are centered on a "nurturing mother" model. The recently retired Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics argues that Democrats need to look beyond facts and issues to the voters' values; that Trump is very smart with language, using tweets to frame issues, divert attention, and float trial balloons; and that Republican politicians are better than Democratic politicians at speaking in metaphors ("right to work" for example). Back in the Reagan era he advocated using "progressive" rather than "liberal" after McGovern lost 49 states. That change (and the current shift to "socialist") is about more than lingusitics, however. It reflects a departure from the original positive attributes of liberalism.
Dictionaries have slightly different definitions of "liberal" when used in a political context. The most common first definition is what the Cambridge Dictionary calls "allowing many diferent types of beliefs or behavior", or what the Oxford Dictionary calls "favourable to or respectful of individual rights and freedoms", or what Mirriam-Webster calls support for "ideals of individual especially economic freedom, greater individual participation in government, and constitutional, political, and administrative reforms designed to secure these objectives." Most go on to offer definition options which advocate social change, but the central element of classical liberalism is liber - Latin for free.
How does that stack up against today's Democratic Party?
- Allowing many different types of beliefs: Antifa, the shock troops of the Left, are the most aggressive tool for shutting down conservative discussion, but the restrictive tactic is in much broader use - physical attacks on Trump supporters; labelling of conservative discussion as racist, homophobic, or mysogenist; bias in the management of social media to diminish conservative thought; intimidation of conservatives on many campuses.
- Respectful of individual rights and freedoms: The Brett Kavanaugh hearings provide a great example, open to full public view. The principle driving the protesters (paid or not) and the Democratic senators is #Resist. Donald Trump has been elected president within the rules of how the United States selects its leader, and he has nominated an eminently qualified Supreme Court Justice, but the conservatice voters who elected Trump would be denied due process. Democracy - at least as it relates to the 2016 presidential election - is to be delegitimized and nullified.
- Support for economic freedom: Democratic orthodoxy is passing from "tax the rich" to calls for "socialism" (government ownership of companies). The advocates may not really know what they are talking about when they use the words, but even if it is the Scandinavian model of a high tax, egalitarian welfare state, it is hardly economic freedom to take money away from the successful (whether by talent, hard work, inheritance, or luck) to give it to the more deserving in the opinion of the government and the party in power.
For many who grew up in the 60's "liberal" has a positive ring, attached to the Civil Rights Movement, with a connotation of being open minded and inclusive. There is room to debate which segments of the Republican Party deserve to be identified with the better aspects of the traditional "Liberal" definition, but there should be little disagreement that, in the anti-Trump crescendo, much of the Democratic Party has moved on to less tolerance of differing beliefs, less respect for democracy, and less support for economic freedom.
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This week's bonus is a comparison of two next generation Democratic presidential aspirants - Kamala Harris and Corey Booker - using the Kavanaugh hearings to demonstrate that they are more strident than anyone else in objecting to President Trump's Supreme Court nominee. Lots of material for 2020 advertisements is being created.
bill bowen - 9/7/18
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