A childhood response to name-calling gives young folks emotional relief from verbal insults combined with a defense that everyone understands. We all remember that “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names can never hurt me.” But we forget this as we grow older, when we find that names indeed can bruise even the most hardened among us, especially when their meaning has been twisted some way. This has happened a good deal in politics and spills over into social situations, to the detriment of us all. Name-calling, and the behavior that goes with it, has been destructive to the political process and should end because it sets precedents that are difficult to overcome in other areas of the culture.
We react to words the way we’ve been taught by our parents, our schools and later on by what we do, listen to, read, or watch. We develop our set of frames or beliefs, then fit word meanings within them. So for some of us “family values” means caring for others in our primary relationships, while valuing privacy and individual thought. For others, it might mean a strong parental authority that provides a strict set of instructions or rules to group members who are genetically related. To others, “family values” might have no positive meaning at all because they have had no good experiences within a family to associate with anything of value.
Who says what also impacts word meaning. For example, if Hillary Clinton talks about family values, we may think about forgiveness as it relates to our perception of her attitude towards her husband Bill’s indiscretions. Or we may simply scoff at her use of the term because our experience with it doesn’t match our understanding of family in relationship to the Clintons. Family values in relationship to George Bush Jr. may evoke an image of happy children, supportive parents and a stable marriage because that has been our experience and what represents our values in a family. So the message becomes identified with the messenger within our particular frame of reference
The terms “liberal” and “conservative” have become epithets at various times in our history. The literal, historical meanings have been replaced by definitions made to establish negative references through repetition. Some of us remember “pointy headed liberal” used by Spiro Agnew to describe anyone who questioned Richard Nixon’s administration where Agnew served as Vice President before his forced resignation for political irregularities. Conservative became a negative following Barry Goldwater’s proclamation about the need for extremism in liberty’s defense tied to a mushroom cloud that played out on television advertisements during his run for the Presidency. The words “liberal” and “conservative,” however, have positive meanings that are appropriate for a wide range of beliefs, often not held separately, as opposed to the name-calling definitions that have been manufactured to create or exacerbate social and political divisions.
To be conservative has been fashionable with many people, and for a number of years liberals find themselves apologizing or denying any association with the word “liberal.” In fact, “progressive” is the new term to describe someone who believes in certain ideas. The word liberal, however, comes from the Latin word “libre” or free. In the past it has represented those who believed in a set of social ideals of freedom of expression, occupation and belief. Yet many people associate it today with “license” or the tossing aside of controls needed to maintain proper ideals and values. It is related to free love, drugs, communal living, and defiance of authority represented by the fractional few of the 1960’s.
Liberals have just as much interest in structure, controls and ideas as the conservative. Because that’s true, up until the past 10 to 20 years, Congressional members in the past were able to work across their political divides because there were areas of consensus. Name-calling tactics weren’t used as distractions from the important job of running the government. But things have changed, and we have become captive to our labeled groups, with our bad boys sent out to taunt our fellows across our political divides with verbal sticks and stones.
The best of conservatism means to maintain the best of our past, to preserve our economic foundations and our natural resources, to use all of our assets wisely and judiciously and to be scrupulous and careful in our dealings with each other. The best of liberalism means to give everyone a voice, a place, and the dignity and respect of his/her set of beliefs and practice. If we can all reach out using the best of us, liberal and conservative, we can achieve in harmony and keep our communities strong and our nation secure. May we join in prayer during the upcoming holiday season, both liberal and conservative, asking God that we may speak to each other through the message of love given to us by the One whose birthday we celebrate annually.
