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President's Use Of L-Word Signals DesperationThere he goes again.
President George W. Bush, having run out of attack slogans, has
gone back to the old Republican standby of accusing his opponent, Sen.
John Kerry, D-Mass., of being a liberal.
What's wrong with that? It's
ironic that the Bush 43 is accusing Kerry of being a
"tax-and-spend liberal." This is the same president whose
legacy will include a huge budget deficit that will be with us long
after he has left office. The
attempted demonization of the word "liberal" began with
Ronald Reagan's presidential campaign in 1980 and was picked up by
George H.W. Bush in the 1988 presidential campaign against
then-Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis.
Various dictionaries describe liberals as open minded,
generous, progressive, leaning toward individual freedom, broadminded
and ahead of the times. Those
interpretations of the word "liberal" seem to add up to a
compassionate person. This president who calls himself a
"compassionate conservative" surely cannot object to the
label. Unfortunately, the American people have yet to see the
"compassionate" part of Bush equation. When a president
wipes out overtime for millions of workers, restricts enforcement of
health and safety regulations for workers, limits the union bargaining
rights of government workers in Homeland Security and freezes their
salaries, blocks the government from negotiating less expensive drugs
from drug companies under Medicare, and gives huge tax cuts to the
wealthiest 1 percent of U.S. taxpayers, can you really call him
"compassionate"? Maybe
for the rich. Born
into wealth and privilege, living the good life until he settled down
at the age of 40, there was no time for Bush to develop a social
conscience. So it's understandable how he would not show much
compassion for the poor, the jobless and minorities.
He has chipped away at government social programs, putting them
in competition with private religious charities for funding. Through
vouchers, he is promoting private schools over public schools. And he is seeking to weaken Social Security by privatizing a
portion of the program. Bush
also has attacked Kerry for choosing a trial lawyer, Sen. John
Edwards, as his running mate. Edwards has amassed a fortune through
his success in winning malpractice verdicts for clients injured
through the negligence of others.
Liberal
presidents such as Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry
Truman, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson in the 20th century
played a transforming role to give disadvantaged citizens a break.
They also moved against the plutocrats and the opponents of civil
rights to work toward a more equal society.
None of their reforms came without a struggle or political
costs. Their
contributions enhanced America's greatness as a caring democratic
nation, concerned with the health and welfare of every citizen.
Bush's
shrill derision of liberalism seems to be a sign of political
desperation these days. What would the nation have done without the
New Deal during the Great Depression? FDR also understood what Abraham
Lincoln meant when he said: "Government should do for people what
they cannot do for themselves."
Roosevelt's rallying cry at his 1933 inauguration was, "We
have nothing to fear but fear itself."
It
was a time when Americans were losing faith in the capitalistic
system. Roosevelt saved
the system with strong regulation and government support of financial
institutions, as well as innovative programs to restore prosperity and
health and welfare for hard-hit families.
Among Truman's "Fair Deal" contributions was wiping
out the color line in the armed forces. The Kennedy administration
lent its activist support and intervention to the civil rights
movement in the South and signaled a war on poverty.
Johnson's
"Great Society" legislation was the embodiment of
liberalism. In his first two years in office, Johnson signed the first
Medicare bill, the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, federal
funding to education at all levels from Head Start through college,
child and maternal health measures, and public housing.
Liberals know all about compassion. What's more, they practice what they preach, which is more than the president can say. (To
the author of this essay: I am sorry that I can't give you
credit. It was forwarded to me as an e-mail, and your name was
not included. If by chance you have stumbled upon my website,
please e-mail me your name
and the original publication location so I can give you due credit for
this piece).
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