This started out as my response to an editorial I received via e-mail.
Maligning of the word liberal has been all too successful. I believe that's called semantics, a new meaning for that term. It amounts to using propaganda to subvert the meaning of a word.
Liberals favor governance by democracy. That's my understanding of the traditional definition as it relates to governing.
With regard to fundamentalist Christians, the Republican Party has become
intertwined with them. There is much to say for them in terms of
membership, financial resources, and power. Are they pulling us into
a totalitarian theocracy?
Following are my comments on other political issues.
We have a politicized Armed Forces. A majority of members of the Armed Forces vote Republican. "More like 70%," stated a Republican Party official in an e-mail I got in 2000. What is life like in the Armed Forces for the other 30%? Among officers, what percentage are Republicans if the overall figure is 70%?
Seven out of nine Supreme Court justices have gotten their jobs from Republican Presidents. Yet Court decisions aren't always exactly what Republicans want. Will that 'problem' be corrected through new appointments?
Public education gets a lot of talk about support but not substantially more funding. Throwing more funds at public education is a waste of taxpayer money, I'm told. I don't buy that. Our politicians don't hesitate to throw money at a Maginot line missile shield, a 1.35 trillion dollar tax cut, or anything else they choose.
A billion dollars a day is what we're paying in interest on the national debt. That's what I call a waste. If prices start to rise after the tax cut, that's the most insidious form of taxation there is.
Some voting methods reportedly favor Republicans by a small margin. We're told that the systems will be studied, but will they be upgraded? Are our voting systems trustworthy?
J.F.K., the 'darling' of political liberals was endorsed by only 30% of newspapers in 1960. My perception is that most news stories and letters-to-the-editor published by the so called 'liberal press' have a politically conservative slant.
Along those lines, isn't there currently an orchestration of news that rivals what J.F.K. did?
In two instances I experienced division-level bosses who politicized the workplace. In one case there was also frequent Republican-speak among supervisors and staff in offices and hallways. How prevalent is politicizing of the workplace and to what extent are persons in the 'right' political party favored in getting jobs, raises, and promotions?
And then there's John Ashcroft. As Senator Edward Kennedy is reported to have said, "He's wrong on civil rights, wrong on a woman's right to choose, wrong on needed steps to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and children. And he's the wrong choice to be Attorney General of the United States." In May 2001, wasn't John Ashcroft's postponement of an execution exactly the sort of thing for which he crucified Ronnie White? Ashcroft may even have borrowed White's words when he reportedly said that "if any questions or doubts remain ... it would cast a permanent cloud over justice, diminishing its value and questioning its integrity." Of course there's another problem with White. He isn't white.
Last Revised: 6/19/01