It seems like a lifetime since July 1991 when Sen. Kerry declared: "I'm a liberal, and proud of it." Thirteen years later, the L-word is forbidden language for Kerry. He is attempting what only Bill Clinton among recent Democratic candidates has accomplished: covering left-of-center policies with a facade of moderation.It's kind of funny how after decades of conservatives trying every way they know how to demonize liberals ("Even fanatical Muslim terrorists don't hate America like liberals do." - Ann Coulter), some liberals are now uncomfortable being described as liberal.
For that reason I wish John Kerry would accept and dignify the label liberal. Several years ago the Republican Party put up Barry Goldwater, a presidential candidate who was unabashedly conservative. This came after a period of Liberalism triumphant. Liberalism had desegregated the South and was beginning to grapple with all sorts of problems facing America. Conservatives hadn't been demonized per se, but they'd done a bit of demonizing of themselves (particularly Southern Democratic Conservatives like Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus). Still Goldwater ran on a staunch Conservative platform and lost. But he reinvigorated the Conservative movement, leading to the Presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.
We are going to need that kind of a turnaround on the liberal side sometime. Still, this year, I'd rather have Senator Kerry defeat President Bush. You can see that as a abdication of principles if you like. Principles won't bring back people that President Bush sends off on his military adventures and they won't feed people hurt by his economic policies. Perhaps if there is going to be a change in how people look at the word liberal, it has to come from the ground floor.
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