One of the virtues of being in a new era of time is the fact that a “re-definition” takes place amongst all the tried and true paradigms in society. This is especially the case when it comes to political movements and platforms. Within such ideologies, the current times truly lay bare how a shift in societal thinking affects one’s positions about the issues of the day. This is very much the case when it comes to taking back the definition of “liberal” from its perversion by the Right Wing media and politicians.
It won’t be easy because there is nearly a three decade history in which this word has taken a negative view in American society. Take a gander at the origins of the backlash against the word “liberal” by International Herald Tribune columnist, Roger Cohen:
In continental Europe, social democracy tended to take on this mantle. But in the United States, socialism and social democracy were anathema. The label “liberal” gradually came to connote left-of-center thought. Anti-state liberals started calling themselves libertarians.
Enter Ronald Reagan, who seized on “liberal” as a galvanizing insult. “Reagan was able to associate the term liberal with his opponents and defeat them quite decisively,” said James Gimpel, a professor of government at the University of Maryland. “In his time, it connoted softness on defense, above all, and tax-and-spend policies.”
Since Reagan, the focus of attacks on liberals has shifted somewhat to the moral sphere, a terrain less susceptible to compromise. Liberals are lambasted for supporting the right to abortion, favoring same-sex marriages, rejecting the death penalty and generally being too wimp-like for wartime.
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Fox Television, conservative publishing houses like Regnery, talk-show hosts like Rush Limbaugh, and spreading fundamentalist Christian movements have given vigor to the right and made “liberal” the insult it often is, at least outside Manhattan, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis and the San Francisco Bay Area.
The silent acquiescence of the left to such slanted opinion-making has led to damage of public perception after letting an entire generation sink it all in. Such demonizing leads the American populace to vote against their best interests. Via the “culture wars”, a backlash against liberalism easily polarizes United States society to the point of creating strife and ostracizing different cultures who don’t fit into the mainstream fabric of the country. What is even more, a hatred of “liberalism” has given the conservatives an out whenever they make mistakes that affect the larger American public.
Consequently, a cottage industry has been made out of an empire of fear and intolerance. In that manner, anyone who is different and does not fit which the narrow guise of the conservative view of Americanism is put up as fodder to fingerwag the public of what’s wrong with the United States. Because it is packaged into neat, little “catch-phrases” (“feminazi”, “the one”, “liberal bias”, “limousine liberal”, “latte-drinking liberal”, “liberal elite”, “bleeding-heart”, “cut and run”, etc.), the negativity against liberalism was taken in small, bite-sized doses without much elaboration. When such phrases mocking liberalism are wrapped around falsehoods regarding politicians and societal positions, the results are indelibly shown. This is especially the case where Karl Rove and his mentor, Lee Atwater, got their best results. By push-polling and whisper campaigns, both conservative operatives were able to shape voting patterns as well as tilt elections toward the Republican party.
In light of the tremendous attacks on “liberalism” and “liberals” the last twenty-eight years, it is time to take such terminology back. Instead of trying to flee every time conservatives drag such names in the mud, left-leaning supporters, pundits and politicians should hold their ground and vigorously rebut every attempt. Quick action should also spill into grass-roots movements and community organizing. Both entities combine action with a change in thinking.
In the end, this is a new society that we have inherited. Let the dismantling begin. The old patterns must fall away.
Tags: American society, barack obama, Current Events, democrats, Politics
