The word "liberal" has been made a pejorative by and for conservatives. They have made it into a lightening rod for their constituencies as if it represents all that is evil in the world. It is a short cut to non-thinking. All that is necessary is to label an idea or position as "liberal" and it is immediately rejected as wrong. Hence, this form of labeling becomes a short cut to thinking. It makes thinking unnecessary. To better understand what is happening today one should find an old copy of George Orwell's 1984, dust it off and read it (or read the on-line version here.) The book explains much that is happening in our society today.

The root meaning of the word "liberal" originates in the word "liberty."  Originally, a liberal — as the word was used in the nineteenth century - was one who was for liberty, republicanism and democracy. And, conversely, to be a conservative was to be in opposition to the advancement of liberty, republicanism and democracy. Twentieth century liberalism came to embrace the advancement of social and racial justice - liberals were the champions of civil rights for minorities and the rights of workers to organize and bargain collectively. And, again conversely, it was the conservatives who opposed civil rights legislation and the ending of racial segregation in the South, who opposed rights for workers, who opposed minimum wage laws, who opposed social security and many other advancements of social justice.

That conservatism has become so popular today is indeed a phenomenon. Conservatives today have masked and twisted word meanings and skillfully turned the focus of the electorate to lightening-rod emotional issues based on "values" and "faith," with the result that many of those who support the conservative cause are actually voting against their interest by electing conservative politicians who send their good jobs overseas, politicians who promote policies and laws that result in lower incomes, fewer good jobs, more expensive health care, a diminishing quality in the education of their children and less health care services for poor people. And the diminishing middle class also bellows to this list.

There is one place where conservatives still line up clearly in their traditional posture and that is on health care.  Not long ago, when I made a statement that the United States is one of the few industrial nations in the world that does not have universal health, the young man to whom I made the comment, an avowed conservative, immediately called me a communist and cited Karl Marx as being the one who advocated universal health care. Somehow, today we cannot even discuss issues without emotional vituperation. What has happened in our society today when it becomes increasingly difficult to discuss issues with civility when we disagree and express opposing views? Unfortunately, we know some of the reasons, and these reasons lie in the demonization of the word "liberal" by the multitude of conservative talk show hosts on radio and TV.