[Speed Gibson,
Wednesday October 24, 2007 at 11:03pm]
Left and Right
I haven't paid much attention to all these Presidential candidate forums / debates, Democrat or Republican. I do notice that the Republicans openly attack each other for either not being Conservative enough or being too far to the Right. No such discussion takes place in the Democratic Party events. The corresponding terms of "Liberal" and "Left" are all but unmentioned.
No Democrat says, "You're not Liberal enough!" They might hint it, should someone dare to think the Mexican border fence is a good idea, for example. But it's usually phrased as a character flaw, not an intellectual disagreement, historical perspective, or point of law.
Where's the pride? Why hide? Where's the reverence on the Left for George McGovern that we have for Ronald Reagan on the Right? I think they're too ashamed to admit that they're Liberals, meaning they view government as first responder for all of life's problems. They might have to explain why. So instead, they call themselves "progressives" as if to suggest we on the Right would be more comfortable in the Middle Ages. (Actually, the reverse is true.)
No, as someone said at NRO, there's nothing progressive about being liberal.
No Democrat says, "You're not Liberal enough!" They might hint it, should someone dare to think the Mexican border fence is a good idea, for example. But it's usually phrased as a character flaw, not an intellectual disagreement, historical perspective, or point of law.
Where's the pride? Why hide? Where's the reverence on the Left for George McGovern that we have for Ronald Reagan on the Right? I think they're too ashamed to admit that they're Liberals, meaning they view government as first responder for all of life's problems. They might have to explain why. So instead, they call themselves "progressives" as if to suggest we on the Right would be more comfortable in the Middle Ages. (Actually, the reverse is true.)
No, as someone said at NRO, there's nothing progressive about being liberal.