Last Wednesday, one of my colleagues wrote a column (“Privilege not cause for punishment”) in response to one I had written on elitism. I am used to speaking the truth, so I was a little surprised the response was decidedly anti-Schuster, and I summarily went into a deep malaise for the remainder of the day. So why was I so blue? Was it because an opinion was completely made up and then attributed to me? Was it because I was accused of sending America on a path to hell? Oddly enough, no and no.
No, what really upset me was that of all the ways possible to describe my political beliefs, my colleague chose “left-leaner.” Left-leaner? I mean…really? Really? First, I have never heard the term “left-leaner” before. And second, man up and at least call me a socialist, Communist or tree-hugging-tax-and-spend-bleeding-heart liberal. Left-leaner? Dude, I think I have made it pretty clear over the past two years that I am a liberal, a Democrat and, frankly, I am damn proud of it.
Over the past several decades, conservatives have done everything possible to turn the word liberal into a four-letter word. Many on the shrill left have responded by running away from the term and labeling themselves as progressives. Other more annoying liberals call themselves “independents,” as if they can escape the horrible taint of their beliefs. Instead of letting conservatives turn liberal into an epitaph, why not step up, own that shit, and make it something to be proud of?
To start, there certainly is a rich history of liberalism in America to take pride in. From labor unions fighting for humane work conditions to FDR creating social security to the Civil Rights movement to LBJ’s Great Society to the environmentalists and the Clean Water Act and now to health care reform, liberals have brought us some of the nation’s greatest accomplishments over the past century. Cubs fans should be ashamed of their team’s 101 years of futility, but I think liberalism is much more like the Yankees, and who has ever met a Yankees fan who is ashamed of his team?
Liberalism has clearly been part of America’s history, but it is also alive and well in today’s society. My homies in the Senate, Dick Durbin,D-IL, and Russ Feingold, D-WI, are pretty unabashed about their liberal beliefs, and other badass senators such as Al Franken, D-MN, and Sherrod Brown, D-OH, are proud to be called liberals as well. The current session of the House of Representatives has also shown that liberal beliefs are nothing to be ashamed of by passing a cap-and-trade climate bill and a health insurance reform bill with a public option.
And speaking of the House of Representatives, the universe of liberal role models is certainly not confined only to men. Despite being derided as a “California Liberal” by the conservative press, Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, has chosen to, I guess you could say, own her shit and do one fine job in pursuing a liberal agenda as speaker of the house. Her yeoman’s effort to get the votes for health care reform was nothing short of amazing and worthy of admiration.
A mention of liberal women also has to include Hillary Clinton, who has done a stellar job as secretary of state during a time when, let’s be honest, the United States has some foreign relations that need to be mended. And finally, Michelle Obama…damn.
So what are the liberal beliefs that these role models exemplify? You can rest assured they believe that health care is a right and not a privilege. I also bet they believe the wealthy have an obligation to help the less fortunate. Perhaps they also believe we have a responsibility to protect the environment for future generations. And finally, I would venture that they think unfettered greed and crony capitalism lead to the rich getting richer on the backs of masses.
Basically, the list you are looking at is a set of moral values that are something to be proud of. Republicans love to talk about their “moral values” of banning gay marriage and denying women the right to choose, but forget that, I will take liberals’ moral values any day of the week.
In the end, I think it all comes down to this. Liberals are not perfect, and their policies are not always the best. No one is going to argue that. But I think that my buddy’s stepfather has the perfect summation of what it means to be a liberal. To paraphrase, no matter how much people want to hate on you, in the end, at least you gave a darn and dared to think that things could be better for everyone. If that is what it means to be a liberal, than that sounds pretty good to me.
Zachary Schuster ([email protected]) is a graduate student studying Water Resources Engineering and Water Resource Management. He would like to say “thank you” to his regular readers. this school year.
