Definition of Being a Conservative or Liberal

In last week’s Ezine I commented on the dismay in some quarters that John McCain is not “conservative enough”. I posed the question of how someone would define being “conservative” or “liberal” in 50 words or less. That sparked a number of responses I want to comment on this week.

Several wondered what my own definition would be using that criteria. The answer is that I don’t have one. That’s not my approach and the purpose of the exercise was something completely different.

Let me explain by telling you a story about an experience of mine. Please pardon the mild use of gobbledygook.

When I was co-writing the Army regulation on equipment modification (a $36 Billion activity) the early drafts were using language to this effect. “The Material Developer has the right to approve a modification so long as the performance envelope is not changed.”

Now, the concept we were working under had been briefed and approved with that language. But when we got into things and really had to define terms, we found that “performance envelope” was nothing more than slang. It was a term in common usage between the Combat Developer and the Material Developer. In fact, it was a term that was used every day and everybody nodded their heads as if they knew what it meant.

Imagine our surprise to learn that no Department of Defense (DOD) or Army regulation or schoolhouse had any kind of official blessing on the term. It was slang, it had no official definition and it was useless unless we actually gave it an official definition. Once we discovered the fact, the development of that definition was argued long and hard over many hours.

And so it is I find that people talk politics and say the words “conservative” or “liberal/progressive” in the same way we used to say “performance envelope” and the lack of a commonly agreed upon definition that can be universally applied is an impediment to our discussion of our problems.

To repeat from my sophomore year in High School, words don’t mean, people do.

And so it is that we argue as if we knew what we were talking about, when in truth we do not. And while we argue in ignorance, our country sinks further in debt, becomes more deeply mired in a war we can’t seem to win or go away from and suffers from a deteriorating economy.

The point is that we need to get away from discussing political topics by using labels such as conservative, liberal, libertarian and the like. Instead we need to focus on clarifying and agreeing on our principles and outcomes. That’s how we will solve our problems.

Keep them cards and letters coming.

Regards,

Larry

Where Does the Money Go?

Among the segments of Bill Moyers Journal last Friday night was an interview with the authors of the new book, Where Does the Money Go?: A Guided Tour to the Federal Budget Crisis. Clearly, given my own often voiced concern with this topic, the show resonated with me. I hope it will with you, as well.

Here is a quick link to the book via the Fiscal Prudence section of our Resources page.

http://www.kindredmindsent.com/Resources/index.asp

You should also be interested in the resources noted on Moyers’ PBS blog.  Here is that link.

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/02152008/profile3.html

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