Celebrating "Liberty" with a "Dirty Word" (to some)

And that dirty word is?

Believe it or not, "liberty" is of the same root word.

Still want to know?

Right-wing nut jobs, hold your collective breaths:












LIBERAL!!

That's right, liberal. Liberal, liberty, library--all come from the same root word.

Now, I'm not going to go down the polarizing route by saying that, "everything that is liberal is right, and everything that is conservative is wrong." That serves no purpose. So, those of you who can't get beyond your narrow viewpoint, stop reading right now and move on--and that goes for the far left and far right.

Truth be told, I'm more conservative than I am liberal. I'm generally conservative when it comes to fiscal matters because free market capitalism thrives without the government taxation and intervention(s) that liberals tend to favor. However, I'm more liberal when it comes to human rights issues. I've gone on record opposing mandated prayer in schools because I believe that forcing prayer violates "The Golden Rule" of "do unto others as you would have them do unto you"--for example, if this were a predominantly Islamic nation, I sure bet Christians wouldn't want to be forces to bow to Allah 6-times a day--ergo, we as Christians shouldn't force our prayers upon them. And you Bible Beaters of any faith--don't let the facts get in the way, okay?

But back to "liberty" and "liberal". It's another little fact that we don't like to talk about that needs to be brought to light, and it's this: our now 233-year old American democratic republic is a liberal form of government. Yes, it is. By it's definition, we hold elections that can enable change every 4-years for our president and some congressional seats. In other words, if we don't like what our leaders are doing, we can vote the bums out--CHANGE, if you will. And that's a decidedly liberal characteristic. You don't have that with a traditonal monarchy and/or dictatorship--and those are very conservative forms of government (very little if any change, and keeping of the status quo). In our own revered constitution, there's the right of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness", and we have the "liberty" to (relatively) free speech, and to protest what we don't like without fear of retribution of the government. You want an example of the other side of that? Just look at what's going on in Iran. Would you call the Mullahs cracking down on all those protests over the recent so-called election with arrests and bullets liberal? Hell no. But we sure celebrate our "liberties" on this 4th of July weekend, and like it or not, you're celebrating a lot that's liberal, and it's more than okay--it's just plain right.

Now, to be fair, that's not to say that the far-left bleeding heart liberals are any more enlightened than the "Three P Right Wing Nutjobs"--those that believe only what they hear from the "Three Ps": their PA, their PREACHER and their PUNDIT. While I think the far right doesn't think enough, I believe the far left thinks way too much--and their heads are on the verge of perpetual explosion. Far left liberals seem to like boundaries about as much as I like stewed tomatoes, and far right convervatives are pretty much the same way about change. Neither extreme is ultimately feasible. But we can, and do, coexist because of the LIBERTY afforded to both--and the mass of folks in between, and that's what America is all about, jack. And that's what we're celebrating on this 4th of July weekend.

So, for this weekend, let's take some time off from bashing both liberals and conservatives, and celebrating being AMERICANS--citizens of the greatest country in the history of the world.

But just remember that dirty little word that spawned LIBERTY!