The Daily Cardinal recently published a letter to the editor which labeled me \a hypocritical and ignorant liberal,"" as well as ""a typical liberal."" In addition, the Cardinal's headline for the letter was ""Barbash Just Another Liberal.""
Though I'd like to believe that the writer was using the L-word as a euphemism for ""patriot"" or perhaps ""informed citizen,"" I must conclude, based on the context of the letter, that he or she is actually disparaging me, not complimenting me. Therefore, I wonder, what does liberal, or conservative for that matter, really mean?
Dictionary.com defines liberal as 1) ""Not limited to or by established, traditional, orthodox, or authoritarian attitudes, views, or dogmas; free from bigotry,"" and 2) ""Favoring proposals for reform, open to new ideas for progress, and tolerant of the ideas and behavior of others; broad-minded."" In contrast, ""conservative"" is defined as 1) ""Favoring traditional views and values; tending to oppose change,"" and 2) ""Traditional or restrained in style.""
So, on which ideals would you base a political philosophy? If you do not consider yourself a liberal, are you really against proposals for reform, closed to new ideas for progress, intolerant of the ideas and behavior of others, and narrow-minded?
If we review the key milestones of American history, we find that almost all significant progress in this country has been brought about by liberals. It was a group of elitist East Coast liberals, motivated by a radical new idea called democracy, who spearheaded the American Revolution over the objections of traditionalist religious conservatives who wanted to stay with Mother England. It was liberals who pushed hard for the abolition of slavery. It was liberals who stood up to the robber barons. Environmental protection, the end of child labor and the formation of unions? Liberals. Pulling the country out of the Great Depression and winning World War II? Liberals. Averting World War III through careful diplomacy instead of causing it with cowboy gunslinging? Liberals. The civil rights movement? Definitely liberals. Creating a Department of Homeland Security? Fooled you! Liberals again. George W. Bush opposed it until he put his finger to the political wind and decided to flip-flop.
Considering all the good that liberals have done for America, what do our conservative friends have on us that allows them to use the L-word like it's an epithet?
Well, they say we're in favor of big government. OK, fair enough. Downsize the government, move most of its services to the private sector and we all pay lower taxes. Of course, that means we'd have to bid goodbye to overtime pay, worker's compensation and probably our jobs altogether, unless we want to move to China and work for 10 cents an hour. Without our jobs, we wouldn't be able to afford even more outrageous costs of housing, education, and health insurance. Thus the end result of this unregulated free market, if it weren't for liberals, would be millions of people sliding into poverty and the private sector continuing to tell them they need to pull themselves up by the bootstraps.
Another rap on liberals is that we're supposedly weak on defense. This is a particularly silly argument given that the three events that most threatened our national security (the Civil War, World War II, and the Cuban Missile Crisis) were all solved by liberals. The fourth and current security threat is, of course, the war on terror, and liberals propose to win it by properly funding the Homeland Security Department and the Coast Guard so they can improve cargo inspection, build defenses from biological attacks and surface-to-air missiles and protect ports, bridges, harbors, tunnels and other inviting terrorist targets. By contrast, the best ideas the conservatives can come up with are a color-coded terror alert system and invading a country that had absolutely nothing to do with al-Qaeda.
The next time you hear the word liberal being hurled around like an insult, go beyond the knee-jerk reaction and actually analyze the issues. Real protection from terrorism, fair taxation of the rich, the end of tax breaks for corporations that outsource jobs, protection of constitutional liberties, establishment of universal healthcare, proper funding for education, a woman's right to choose and equal justice for all regardless of race, religion or sexual orientation. Those are the ideas that make me a liberal. And if you agree with some or all of them, you might be a liberal too.
Nick Barbash is a sophomore majoring in political science and international studies. He can be reached at opinion@dailycardinal.com. His column runs every Thursday in The Daily Cardinal.
