Beware of Labels

One of the resources I post discussion on is Whitehouse2. I do it mainly because arguments don't normally degenerate into tirades of "you liberal pig" or "you conservative swine". One of the posters over there is Recluse. He or She is bright and can carry on a discussion by actually making his points as well as his point of view.

WH2 is based on the premise of Priorities for the nation. Each "thread" is written in a manner that makes it an action item. The members support it or oppose it. They post talking points, documents, statistics, and discussions. It is linked to HelloCongress.org. By entering your zip code information you are linked to the pages of your federally elected officials. That means that Senator Umptyfratz of the great state of confusion can go to his page on HC and see which WH2 members are actually his constituents in the real world and what thier priorities for the nation are.

Anyway, Recluse posted "Thank a Liberal" as a document under the priority Restore, Uphold, and Defend the Constitution.

It falls in line with other famous posts on the net such as "thank a
soldier, thank a teacher, thank a dog-catcher. It is designed to make
you think. And it succeeds in several areas. For me, it makes me think
about how politics is consumed with labels. You are pigeon holed and
stereotyped and may God in his heaven pity you if you don't follow the
party line.

Joe’s bacon is safe to eat because some girly-man liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry

If you have not died in a heat wave, drought, hurricane, flood, wildfire, or other climate change disaster, and like the idea of your children and grandchildren not living in desert wastelands, thank a liberal.

Personally, I choose the label of Realist. I have plenty of opinion and philosophical differences with our system, but I consciously try to add a reality check to keep me honest. I don't see most of those improvements or changes in Recluses' post as what we label "liberal" in nature. In my opinion they more accurately fit the definition of the word "Radical". And, like most causes there is a time that the cause is fixed and needs to be honorably retired.

Some of the referenced programs in the post include Unions, the Rural Electrification Administration, and the FDA to name three. Do you notice that each has either outlived their useful lifespan or has morphed into a huge lumbering bureaucracy? I don't have a problem with progress. I like indoor plumbing and light switches. What I don't like is non-productive government agencies that suck our tax dollars into a black hole that Captain Kirk couldn't escape from. I'm also not too thrilled with organizations that would force a worker into their ranks, and force him to pay into their campaign coffers whether he supports their causes or not.

Right now the cause of the day is Health Care Reform. Eventually I hope that no one actually writes "If you enjoy waiting in line twelve months for an ultrasound..." or "If you enjoyed being told that you are too old for a lifesaving drug....." and they end it with "Thank a Liberal".

Here's the reality check. Beware of labels unless you apply them to yourself. Any label another puts on you is designed to force you into their mold. Thanks for reading.

FTFGIMAD