
I’m not sure I can adequately express how badly I hate the word “liberal.” I do not hate those who are sullied with such a title by those who find name-calling to be the best means by which to debate politics, but I can’t stand the word.
For starters, I proved in my last blog post that we are really not all that different even though we are as divided as we’ve possibly ever been in our history (since slavery anyway,) so I’m not quite sure what actually makes someone a “liberal.”
Here are a few examples of what I assume to be the correct usage. The given is abortion, of course. If you so much as understand why someone had an abortion and refused to condemn them, you are most likely a liberal. You are also a liberal if you know a gay person and don’t care if they get married, you’re a liberal if you support public education, you’re a liberal if watch anything other than Fox News, you’re a liberal if you are skeptical of conspiracy theories, you’re a liberal if you trust journalists even a little bit, you’re a liberal if you don’t go to church, you’re a liberal if you don’t really see the need for assault rifles, you’re a liberal if you think everybody should be able to go to the doctor without it bankrupting them, and nowadays you’re a liberal if you wear a mask.
And by definition, what exactly IS a liberal? Merriam Webster says that a liberal is “one who is open-minded and not strict in the observance of orthodox, traditional, or established forms or ways.”
Well, holy hell. Somebody get the cattle prod. Those people sound like they should find an elevator to hell and get on it RIGHT NOW!! That’s the only place they deserve to be!! And we will cattle prod their asses and brand them as un-American should they refuse!!
Now I know as well as anybody that there are extremes on the “liberal” side, just as there are on the conservative side. There are probably people so liberal that even somebody that despises the word liberal would say, “Now THAT is a liberal.”
But the reason I hate the word “liberal” is the same reason I hate the toxic partisanship and the constant blame and the bickering and the often encouraged division that is slowly turning to (or simply exposing) hate. I despise it because it is as lazy, hypocritical, and blameful as an eight year old boy saying, “I know you are but what am I?”
I mean, really. The only comeback some people have to political debate is often, “That’s a liberal for you” or some variation that often includes a four letter word. That’s all they have? That is absolutely no better than that same eight year old boy calling their friend a poopypants.
I don’t hate the words that the left has for the right as much as I hate the word “liberal” for a number of reasons. In no particular order, they’re difficult to hate on the same level because there are numerically more nicknames which means they are each used less often, nobody seems to be able to agree on one that adequately stereotypes the entire right side, and none of them sound all that derogatory, I guess.
The name “Trumpers” or “Trumpublicans” or whatever variation people use isn’t all that bad because what they’re calling them and what they are seem to be exactly the same and there isn’t really a definition to discredit the usage. “Trumpers” defend and enable DJT no matter what, even if he were to actually make good on his assumption and shoot innocent people in the middle of NYC. They would have a good reason for why it happened and then they would blame the media for not telling the whole story.
It’s a derogatory nickname, sure, because the ones who use it are using it in that vein, but it just doesn’t sound as nasty as “liberal.” It’s almost like people use “Trumpers” in such a way that there is still hope for them. People that use the word “liberal” to describe people seem to believe there is no hope for their salvation because they are destroying America and will surely go to hell.
“Trumpers” is still lazy, though. Anytime you lump an entire population of people into one characterizing nickname, you’re lazily stereotyping every single one of them.
The other ones you hear for the “right” either aren’t that bad, they are given by other people on the right side of the aisle, or they’re so haphazardly used that they’ve never gotten any mainstream traction. You’ve got “RINO’s” and “fascists” and “deplorables” and the “Christian Right” and I’ve even heard the term “Wingnuts,” but there is no word you can use in the same type of sentence we used above for the liberals.
“That’s a RINO for you” just doesn’t have the same distinct sound of condemnation that “That’s a liberal for you” has. And what’s crazy is, I believe we have five distinct political parties in this country right now, so I honestly have no idea who is “liberal” and who isn’t.
The five parties are as follows: “Trumpublicans,” “Never Trump” conservatives (many of whom no longer associate with the GOP,) Unaffiliated voters (also known as Independents,) moderate Democrats, and Democratic Socialists. That’s five very distinct parties, and at some point over the past four years, I’ve seen four out of the five “parties” called liberal. That seems unlikely, but I’ve personally seen it. It’s really hard to successfully stereotype people right now, especially since both parties are in the midst on an identity crisis.
All of this leads to an argument that helps build my definition of “anti-partisan.” There are five “parties,” many of whom share stereotypes, yet we only really have two of those five parties to choose from for president. We’re quite literally a right versus left country, with no room for people who won’t let either one define them.
It’s hard to get too riled up about this seemingly unfair oversight because we’ve basically had two choices for 244 years and that’s not going to end overnight. The best way to begin the process of finding something beyond “right” versus “left” – and beyond the stereotypes -and move towards more options and healthier division (because total unity is impossible) is to start a movement whereby you refuse to either support OR condemn any person, any group, or any political party. And WHY do we do that? Because in this wonderful country of ours, we are free to believe whatever the hell we want to believe, even if somebody wants to believe that we need to impose a legal drinking age for our pets.
Can you imagine throwing your unwavering support behind a single person and condemning all others who disagree with that person? You’re essentially saying that you do not differ from that person and won’t in the future and that people who disagree with that person are wrong. You’re doing essentially the same thing when you put your unwavering support behind a political party. They become what defines you.
Some people are completely content with this. They prefer it. They like being both the villain and the hero. I simply don’t think most people are like that.
There is perhaps a better question than WHY we should refuse to either support or condemn any person, group, or political party. And I can’t answer it for you. I can help you with the “why,” but I can’t help you with the “how.” That’s on you.
So HOW do we do that? How to YOU do that? I can’t speak for anybody else, but I’m going to do it by fighting partisanship in everything I do or say during this campaign and in that crazy chance that I actually win. Partisanship is only happy when it blames the other party while never holding itself accountable. Partisanship is name-calling and declarations of their mortal enemy as being “un-American.” Partisanship means the party is more important than the people it is supposed to represent. Partisanship means you immediately believe every good thing that supports your party and refuse to believe every bad thing that sheds a bad light on it.
In a sense, partisanship blatantly and combatively ignores the fact that we are all uniquely different and mostly wonderful human beings. It means we are one of only two things – we’re politically left or politically right – and that’s all we’ll ever be.
We have 170 elected representatives in Raleigh, 535 in Washington DC, tens of thousands of journalists, and millions of social media cowboys that are not only enjoying the partisan bonfire that has erupted in this country, most of them are throwing gas on it. We don’t need more of that if we want to be the best country on the planet again, because right now there is no way in HELL we are the best.
One of the first things I put on my website when I decided to run for office was that I was “Politically Independent, Proudly Unaffiliated, and Almost Entirely Anti-Partisan.” So what exactly does “anti-partisan” mean, since it’s not actually a word?
It means I want every human being on this planet to flourish in whatever legal way they want to flourish, with limited government interference, and it means there are no parties worthy of my allegiance, only issues that carry with them the weight of ALL those human beings I want to see flourish.
Our political environment SUCKS. And that’s the fault of our representatives, our leaders, our media, and the most divisive among us who refuse to accept that we are a country of 330 MILLION people who each have the right to believe whatever the hell we want to believe. And we are ALL – rich, middle class, poor, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, mean, nice, happy, sad, or even chronically horny – so important that our individual voices should never be silenced by the immaturity and selfishness of the stereotypes we’ve all been given because of the perceived importance of political parties.
Be anti-partisan. Be somebody that keeps the toxic partisanship off of social media because name-calling and stereotypes are just lazy (and rather shitty to be honest.) Be somebody that USED to hate the other side. There’s a better political environment out there to be had.
Go look up the famous quotes of the guys below. You won’t see them castigating and condemning the other side AT ALL because they knew they represented even those citizens that didn’t vote for them and/or didn’t agree with them. It’s a novel concept that’s only been in existence for hundreds of years. It’s amazing what can happen if you care more about people than party.
Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?“
Abraham Lincoln
Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy, and I wish we may be permitted to pursue it.“
Thomas Jefferson
I completely agree with your blog. I am an anti-partisan. Instead of solving problems politicians, which I will call scum, lay out the foundation to make the public divide on irrelevant issues that serve no purpose. People or political tools allow these politicians to use them because they cant see the bigger picture. The question is “What are we fighting for?”. Liberals or conservatives will tell you two things totally different. What I find important is my neighborhood, poverty, etc… The world would be better if we got rid of political parties of every kind. I hate them. Feel free to email me. We can discuss more about how we can grow an anti-partisan community, if your interested.