Everybody has pet peeves. Things that just bug them. Here are a few of mine.
You’re sitting in heavy traffic at a red light, waiting to turn left. The light turns green, there’s oncoming traffic, and the guy ahead of you won’t pull out into the intersection so you and the other cars behind this guy have a chance to turn as well. The light turns red, and only the timid guy and maybe one other car have a chance to make the turn. You’re stuck and have to wait for the light all over again. It bugs me!
Next, you’re watching your favorite pro football team, either at the game, or on T.V. (or listening to it on the radio if your team’s game has once again been blacked out). It’s a critical situation – third and one, or fourth and one. And an offensive lineman jumps off sides (false start). Now in full disclosure, I’ve knocked heads with my fair share of offensive linemen in high school and college ball, as I was a defensive lineman. But offensive linemen KNOW THE COUNT. And these guys are supposed to be PROS. There’s just no excuse.
Now let’s talk politics. For many years, the overarching political rivalry (battle if you like) has been between those who call themselves conservatives, and those who call themselves liberals. It’s been generally accepted that conservatives stand for less government, restrained spending, lower taxes, personal responsibility, and a strong national defense. (When in power, Republicans in Washington didn’t always live up to these principles, but they were the goal nonetheless.)
Liberals espoused a more activist and therefore bigger government, more spending, higher taxes (especially on the evil rich), a nanny state mindset as opposed to personal responsibility, and let’s cut defense spending (Bush lied, people died.)
The conservative philosophy was clearly winning the “battle of ideas.” In poll after poll, when people were asked whether they considered themselves conservative or liberal, twice as many people self-identified as conservatives. Liberals were losing the battle – the word “liberal” for all intents and purposes had become a dirty word.
So what did they do? (And here’s where we get back to my theme of pet peeves – finally.) They just changed their label. They’re no longer liberals, oh no. They’re PROGRESSIVES now.
Far left groups like MoveOn.org, and Emily’s List and People for the American Way no longer say they are liberal organizations, or promote liberal causes – it’s all progressive now. The most liberal Democratic candidates almost never refer to themselves as liberals anymore (except for maybe Barney Frank, but he’s not running again). They’re progressives now.
If you look up the definition of the word progressive, you’ll see that the word (depending on the dictionary) means “favoring progress, improvement, or reform.” Now I’m an unapologetic conservative, and I’m for all of those things, but I sure wouldn’t consider myself a progressive under the new meaning of the word. The thing that bugs me is that the liberals have taken a perfectly good word, and ruined it.
Oh well, see you next week.
