Shver Tzu Zein A Liberal

These days, admitting to being a Liberal is becoming more and more socially unacceptable. The voices of opposition to Liberalism speak in quick and easy to grasp idioms, perfectly suited for the fast-paced society we live in. Their argument hasn’t changed a bit in 30 years, but the style of media presentation that exists in the present is great for reaching people with very short attention spans and limited time to explore anything in any greater detail. Faux News rolls out their cadre of paid political operatives, repeats the same 20 to 30 second blurbs in a loop, and then abruptly switches to a commercial for Dean-Whitter, Valtrex, or some other self-promotional nonsense. The radio is no better. We Liberals have to overcome appeals to the Scripture, to the military cult, to flag-waving, and to perceived threats to national security, along with the usual vitriol that accompanies non-conformity. Try not having a yellow ribbon on your bumper, or worse yet, drive around with a peace sign. The dark stares abound.

Do you have any idea what it is like to have to deal with this every day? I find that many neo-cons, and others who don’t even know what a neo-con is, suffer from severe and chronic Attention Deficit Disorder, which is why ‘deficits’ overall don’t seem to bother them much. They simply cannot or will not take the time to listen, and once the sand has run out of that very tiny hour-glass in their heads, they resort to name calling, filibustering, changing the subject, or accusations of treason and worse. If you oppose what they believe, you must support terror, finance Bin Laden, be a homosexual, hate God, and take welfare. A petty mind can only draw petty conclusions based upon petty ideas and desires, and will project its own base sense of motivation onto the actions or beliefs of others. This is why all of the neo-con rhetoric borders on the extreme. For a person acting out of a base motive, there is no middle of the road rationale to mitigate it. The culture of fear promoted by the Neo-Cons feeds that hysteria and no amount of reeducation or explanation seems to help. Now we know how humanity managed to create crusades, inquisitions, witch-hunts, and holocausts.

It is not hard to be a Liberal because I find problems with our policies. I do, in fact, question Liberalism, and find room for disagreement and improvement. There is no perfect solution to society’s ills, and every system, no matter how well thought-out or justified, can use some tweaking now and then. The real difficulty comes in having to spend a lifetime explaining Liberal policies to people who don’t have the patience to listen and, like small children, refuse to see the other side of the issue, the larger implications, or the unintended consequences. They want what they want right now and that’s it. Neo-cons are the ‘terrible’ two-year-olds of the American political spectrum, and I am not happy about having to baby-sit or educate them while they are throwing their temper-tantrums.

(Somebody should provide these neo-cons with an ADD version of “Liberalism for Neo-Con Dummies.” The audio version is available for those in Texas, Arkansas, and Mississippi. To draw them in we can offer a free tin of Skoal, a NasCar cup autographed by Dick Cheney, a topless photo of Condaleeza Rice, and a can of beer with each purchase.)

As liberals, we have to know that we are dealing with a bumper-sticker mentality in our political opponents. These are the people who believe in "spare the rod and spoil the child", without ever considering that corporal punishment is violence against children. The alternative of "spoil the rod and spare the child" never enters their minds. These are the same people that clamor to get the government out of their own lives yet, are willing to drag this nation all the way into the Supreme Court in order to stop someone else from living (or dying) theirs in peace. They insist that war is peace, unemployment is good, debt generates wealth, the rich pay too much in taxes, and taking food and shelter away from a poor man is compassion. Dealing with such a duplicitous and unrefined mentality is weighing me down. I’m sick of them.

Nu? So what’s a Liberal to do?

ARGH!

(There are real Conservatives with good ideas and very valid arguments. These are not the Neo-Cons, and I have the utmost respect for their ideas, even though I may continue to disagree with them. At least, the real Conservatives are available for a rational discussion and, in many cases, possess a social consciousness that many Liberals would find admirable. Some of them read and comment on this blog.)