I'd like a word with the conservatives, please.

It's come to my attention that the self described "conservatives" out there have done a fairly effective job of hijacking the word "liberal". On the surface this seems like a good thing for them because, after all, if you take away the label that your opponents uses to describe themselves, it makes it hard for them to symbolically rally support to their cause. However, I think that this is already having a side-effect that will backlash against the tighty-righties the way the popular support for the Christian Coalition evaporated in the early nineties.

The side-effect is something common to all forms of low-rent hatred. The word-object of ridicule ceases to refer to the person or group it was originally attributed to in any meaningful way and becomes an all-purpose stand-in for everything that's wrong with the world. Righties are starting to describe the "liberal" media the way certain 1930s germans talked about the "jewish" conspiracy to control the price of gold. Neo-Cons see "liberals" everywhere the same way Joe McCarthy saw "commies" under every rock and in anyone who criticized him.

Merriam Webster shows the following definition for the term "Liberal":

Main Entry: 1lib·er·al
Pronunciation: 'li-b(&-)r&l
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin liberalis suitable for a freeman, generous, from liber free; perhaps akin to Old English lEodan to grow, Greek eleutheros free
1 a : of, relating to, or based on the liberal arts (liberal education) b archaic : of or befitting a man of free birth
2 a : marked by generosity : OPENHANDED (a liberal giver) b : given or provided in a generous and openhanded way (a liberal meal) c : AMPLE, FULL
3 obsolete : lacking moral restraint : LICENTIOUS
4 : not literal or strict : LOOSE (a liberal translation)
5 : BROAD-MINDED; especially : not bound by authoritarianism, orthodoxy, or traditional forms
6 a : of, favoring, or based upon the principles of liberalism b capitalized : of or constituting a political party advocating or associated with the principles of political liberalism; especially : of or constituting a political party in the United Kingdom associated with ideals of individual especially economic freedom, greater individual participation in government, and constitutional, political, and administrative reforms designed to secure these objectives

What self described christian (as many conservatives fancy themselves) wouldn't want to be known as generous? What patriotic American wouldn't subscribe to the ideas of economic freedom and paricipation in government? However, we've just been through two decades of twisting Reagan's ideas about smaller government beauracracy into "anything that costs me a nickel in taxes is evil". The far right has now taken the name of the political spectrum that gave us every bit of social progress in the sixties and early seventies and completely redefined it. "Liberal" now means unpatriotic. "Liberal" now means un-American. "Liberal" now means godless. I could go on... It is defined purely in its opposition to something, with context supplying the specific meaning. Basically, the way it is now defined by the right, it means "person who doesn't agree with me and is therefore not simply incorrect but bad".

As I wrote in my piece on swearing, words that are repeated ad nauseum simply become repetitive sounds. I think that both "liberal", as a whipping boy, and, therefore by extension, "conservative" are in danger of becoming meaningless terms. This could happen any number of ways:

1) Implying that anyone who doesn't agree with a certain political platform is a godless, unpatriotic sympathizer of our enemies is going to get real old, real fast. Ain't but so much gas in that car, period. Sure it makes the faithful feel superior (as it's meant to), but it's a lousy way to win converts.

2) As I'm fond of reminding myself to stay sane, no one group of people has a monopoly on success or failure. No group has a monopoly on good or evil, either. Democrats, Reformers, Greens, etc. are also perfectly capable of successfully reinventing themselves and their opponents. (Let us not forget that their success in the nineties was part of what paved the way for the right-wing backlash we're living through at the moment.) If the term "liberal" becomes untenable, then there's no reason that the term "progressive" can't catch on with the right cultural hook. (For starters, who'd want to be known as a "regressive"? Maybe a new "progressive" movement will take a page from the neo-con playbook and just start branding its opponents with such a negative self-defined term.)

3) The two party system is not going to last forever. As convenient as it is to think of yourself and your opponent in terms of black and white or good and evil, Republican and Democrat ultimately fall as far from each other on the moral compass as do Coke and Pepsi. They are merely two multi-million dollar brands that are treated with the same marketing and image management that any large corporate brand is. We've seen decades of advertising and billions of marketing dollars thrown at us to get us to pick one brand of soda or the other. Now both Coke and Pepsi sell bottled water. While it's true that many alienated citizens don't vote anymore, many of us have left the party squabbles behind but not the political system.

4) Just like any other trend, our current climate and issues will blow over. Blustering about "liberal" this and "conservative" that will get you only so far with the Americans who don't need "liberals", "niggers", "honkies", "faggots", "breeders", "fundies", "catholics" or any other group of "them" in order to motivate their political action. Defining yourself only in opposition to something means that 1) you essentially stand for nothing and 2) you are dependant on the very thing you oppose. If this is how conservatives define themselves then they will (if they haven't already) become joined at the hip with the need to have liberals around to complain about.

So, in conclusion, I think that abusing the term "liberal" might have short term benefits, but in the long run, it will only create a cartoon that no one will either fear or loathe. After all who complains about "damn hippies" anymore?