Word Games

Ooo and it's alright and it's comin' 'long
We got to get right back to where we started from
Love is good, love can be strong
We got to get right back to where we started from
--Right Back Where We Started From,
Maxine Nightingale

I can read in red.
I can read in blue.
I can read in pickle color too
--Dr. Seuss
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Words must matter or else we would still be grunting and pointing at things with dirty, jammy fingers and meat tofu would be a distant dream, since mastodon would be the kill du jour.

Words. They sometimes come hard for Ranger, but when they do, they mean something. Let's look at two which are saddled with all manner of baggage: Liberal and Conservative.

Proud and haughty are the conservatives, in a regressive sort of way. If they were dancing Disco, it would be to a spirited version of Ms. Nightingale's "Get Right Back" tune. No wobbly tofu -- not even Seitan -- for them; no mincing words. They stand behind the concept, right or wrong. Right is always right.

Lacking such surety, liberals are afraid of their title, kind of like a dachshund who might find his designation onerous should he see his full name written out. Liberals hide behind names like "Progressive", as if this will change their spots. A liberal is a liberal whatever you do, and calling oneself anything else is just deceptive and self-loathing. (In Florida last year we had a Democratic contender who called himself a "moderate progressive" -- what sort of griffin is that?) Liberals would probably dance to a dour "Private Dancer".

Liberal is a once-proud word that has been side-lined and shouted down in the din of political life. Yet, all that is fine and everything exceptional in American life is based in liberal thought; this seems lost on all involved. In comparison, one would have to search to discover any great conservative legislation that has added anything of substance to our democracy.

Why do liberals hide behind weasel words like progressive? Why do liberal cloak their true colors, which are red, white and blue?

Somewhere inside of every conservative there is a liberal that is a sellout and and traitor to the truth. The truth is that all conservatives serve a master that is not of, by or for the people.

That is a self-evident truth.