Liberal Education

Political discourse being what it is in this country (two armed camps volleying shots at each other) it sometimes pays to back up a bit and see how we got into this mess.

One of the things I note most often is the way that the conservatives and Republicans say the word "Liberal". I'm sure if you're alive and aware in America today, you've heard the word slither out of people's mouths, heavy with scorn.

I had a friend about 10 years ago that I've since gotten out of touch with. This guy was a free spirit, a bit of a hippie, funny, fun-loving, and rarely serious. Not a corporate hack type, not a cubicle dweller, a guy that really wanted a job that allowed him freedom and access to the great outdoors. This guy was not at all what you would consider Conservative. The last time I talked to him was when I phoned him at random about 3 years ago. In the course of the conversation, he mentioned that he had been listening to a lot of talk radio and that he "hates Liberals". I remember the feeling I had when I heard this. If you've ever seen Invasion of the Body Snatchers, or The Stepford Wives, you know about those parts in the stories where the character realizes that their friend is no longer there in the person they used to know. They are now mindlessly serving a new heartless master. This guy didn't have a conservative bone in his body. How did he fall prey to the propaganda?

And it is propaganda. When the dripping with scorn word Liberal comes out of a Conservative's mouth it means a person that is completely deluded, out of touch with reality, and determined to destroy the country. You have to pay attention to this, because there are people making a great deal of money while shovelling this bile out to the public. There are people getting rich and benefitting immensely from working their hardest to divide the people in this country.

What does the word liberal mean? In the Oxford English Dictionary, liberal is an adjective meaning: 1) willing to respect and accept behaviour or opinions different from one’s own. 2) (of a society, law, etc.) favourable to individual rights and freedoms. 3) (in a political context) favouring individual liberty, free trade, and moderate reform. 5) (especially of an interpretation of a law) not strictly literal. 6) given, used, or giving in generous amounts. 7) (of education) concerned with broadening general knowledge and experience.

If you look it up on Etymology online at http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=liberal&searchmode=none, it shows where the word came from: from French circa 1375, "befitting free men, noble, generous," from the Latin word liberalis "noble, generous, pertaining to a free man". The root for liberal and liberty are basically the same, it means "free". Other earlier meanings are "belonging to the people", "people", and "nation, people". Other references speak about liberal arts where man's efforts are directed to intellectual enlargement that was deemed worthy of a free man (as opposed to being servile or mechanical). Other meanings are "free in bestowing", and "free from restraint in speech or action" or "free from prejudice, tolerant". These were not always seen as good things. At the time of the founding of our county, the accepted meaning was "tending in favor of freedom and democracy" and also "favorable to government action to effect social change".

So liberal is a word that has long since evoked a feeling of expanding one's mind, freeing yourself from the constraints of the past, and enjoying liberty in life.

It is also used to mean generous or ample. Who wouldn't want a generous helping of your favorite dessert?

So the next time someone expresses scorn for liberalism, they should be asked, "Are you against a generous helping of freedom?"