Why I Am Proud To Be A Massachusetts Liberal, (published 10/24/05)

When I last went to print, I expected my comments and views to bring about the usual right-wing reaction, but the controversy generated had little to do with my text. Surprisingly, the greatest response was not for my political views, but for my desire to be known as a liberal. Friends, on both the right and left wanted to know why I would choose such a toxic nomenclature.

I am reminded of an old tenet from Philosophy 101: Self-definition is easiest when we choose to define what we are not. With this in mind I decided to check out the standard bearers of the conservative right.

William Bennett, education secretary for Ronald Reagan and staunch conservative recently opined on his syndicated radio show that, “…if you wanted to reduce crime, you could, if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down.” I knew ethnic cleansing existed. I just didn’t know it was a plank in the Republican Party.

Pat Robertson, former candidate for the Republican presidential nomination and TV host of the “700 Club” doesn’t want to wipe out an entire race. He wants the government to murder selectively. He has suggested the United States should “take out” Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

It seems Mr. Chavez controls a great deal of oil and has not fallen in line with U.S. policy. It matters not to the reverend that Chavez was legally elected by the country that he leads or that Congress has designated assassination to be a crime of terrorism. Mr. Roberts speaks with God and evidently the religious right’s direct line to God supersedes the law.

Rush Limbaugh didn’t hear about any of this because he is legally deaf. Many doctors believe this to be a self-imposed malady directly associated with his heroin addiction. To be fair Rush’s illegal drug of choice is OxyContin, but that’s considered a rich man’s heroin.

Successfully out of rehab Rush is back on the air. I wonder if he has any remorse for the dittoheads that were robbed, beaten or murdered in order to provide him his drug supply.

Ann Coulter may not be a heroin addict, but she must be dropping acid before penning her best sellers. In her book “Treason”, she actually tries to make the case that freedom of speech is anti-American, going so far as to label Democrats traitors.

I wonder how many Democrats have been killed or horrifically wounded in Iraq. Do you think Ann would have the courage to look at any of these soldiers, or their parents face to face and call them traitors because of their political beliefs? Ms. Coulter has always reminded me of a lava lamp I had in my dorm room at BU…pretty to look at but not very bright.

It might not be fair to totally judge conservatives by their mouthpieces. Let’s take a quick look at their political leaders.

Tom DeLay, the third most powerful Republican in Washington, has just been indicted for felonious misuse of campaign funds. Of course he claims innocence, blaming a political witch hunt by the district attorney, a Democrat. The only problem is he wasn’t indicted by the D.A., he was indicted by a grand jury.

Normally the second most powerful Republican, Karl Rove, would be mounting a spirited defense for the house majority leader, but he has his own troubles and is also awaiting an indictment.

This leads us to the president himself. If you have been paying attention, you know what a disappointment he has been. I suggest in the future, before we elect a president to act as commander-in-chief and control our nuclear arsenal, we ascertain that he can in fact pronounce the word “nuclear”.

The conclusion is obvious. These demagogues who drive the conservative agenda are consumed by hypocrisy and hubris. Why would I embrace the “liberal” moniker? Simple, I’ve seen the alternative.