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Liberal (Not To Be Confused With the Democratic Party)
- By Joshua Howell
- Published 08/23/2009
- Editorial and Opinion
- Unrated
Joshua Howell
I have been covering politics for perhaps a year now, when I founded my school's newsletter and became a writer in the "Good Ol' Fashioned Politicin' " column where I and a friend would debate, in print, the nature of key political issues and observe what was then the ongoing campaign. I am currently attending Texas A&M University.
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Not too long ago I was setting up my Facebook page, filling the personal information section with my birthday, hometown, etc., until I came upon the “Political Views” section. I know I am a leftist at heart, but exactly how to put that without inciting unnecessary implications briefly escaped me. I finally settled on the following: “Liberal,” followed by a parenthetically phrased “Not To Be Confused With the Democratic Party.”
When President Obama describe his agenda, reforming health care, more stringent government ties to the economy, I am baffled about how easily the Democrats capitulate to right-wingers in debates. Just once when some conservative tells an Obama supporter that conservatism is what essentially kept Texas safe from the economic meltdown, I would love for that liberal to respond with “At what cost?”
Texas is 48th in the nation in literacy, we have the most uninsured in terms of health insurance, and we are the number one polluter in the nation. Business is good but we cannot read, we are sick, and we are a very real contributor to global pollution on a massive scale. What accounts for this lack of fight?
Why are the liberals so easy to knock over? Are conservatives simply more intelligent than liberals? Are Democrats, spineless?
Hardly. It would seem though, that liberals intrinsically have a much more difficult ideology to argue for. It is much easier to explain why something cannot work than to explain why something could.
Consider the scientific community with respect to evolution. There is a palpable amount of evidence to suggest that evolution in association with natural selection was the primary driving force for the existence we know today. More evidence was found than scientists ever thought necessary to prove that humans have descended from apes. But why does the majority of the populous simply refuse it?
Because there are blips in the data. Compared with this vast amount of evidence there remains a few unanswered questions, and they seem to be enough to cast doubt on everything else. In government, it will always remain a profound simplicity to point to a waste here and there, to tarnish what is otherwise an otherwise implacable job or plan and immediately embark on ways to scrap it altogether, than to reform it.
Democrats cannot settle for merely being as intelligent as their conservative counterparts. They must be more intelligent and become better debaters if they want to maintain intellectual validity on a grand stage. How the Republicans can defame what is otherwise a fairly impressive health care plan is the current example.
The Republican machine can rely on platitudes to argue their point. Unfortunately Democrats have done the same, with no such luck. What is demanded of them?
Democrats need to point out that we are 50th in life expectancy and 37th in health care efficiency. The French, live three years longer than we do, despite the fact that we have better facilities and better trained medical personnel. They have a better health care system and it is neither shameful nor a lack of the “American Way” in wanting to steal it.
Obama is a liberal all-star, frequently able to outwit his opponents without looking up from the bills he signs into law. He is impressive at the lectern because he upholds a prudent and discerning mind. The man works harder than his opponents. Democrats would do well to emulate him.
Joshua Howell covers politics and is founder of a school newsletter and a writer in the “Good Ol’ Fashioned Politicin’” column about key political issues. He will attend Texas A&M University this fall.
When President Obama describe his agenda, reforming health care, more stringent government ties to the economy, I am baffled about how easily the Democrats capitulate to right-wingers in debates. Just once when some conservative tells an Obama supporter that conservatism is what essentially kept Texas safe from the economic meltdown, I would love for that liberal to respond with “At what cost?”
Texas is 48th in the nation in literacy, we have the most uninsured in terms of health insurance, and we are the number one polluter in the nation. Business is good but we cannot read, we are sick, and we are a very real contributor to global pollution on a massive scale. What accounts for this lack of fight?
Why are the liberals so easy to knock over? Are conservatives simply more intelligent than liberals? Are Democrats, spineless?
Hardly. It would seem though, that liberals intrinsically have a much more difficult ideology to argue for. It is much easier to explain why something cannot work than to explain why something could.
Consider the scientific community with respect to evolution. There is a palpable amount of evidence to suggest that evolution in association with natural selection was the primary driving force for the existence we know today. More evidence was found than scientists ever thought necessary to prove that humans have descended from apes. But why does the majority of the populous simply refuse it?
Because there are blips in the data. Compared with this vast amount of evidence there remains a few unanswered questions, and they seem to be enough to cast doubt on everything else. In government, it will always remain a profound simplicity to point to a waste here and there, to tarnish what is otherwise an otherwise implacable job or plan and immediately embark on ways to scrap it altogether, than to reform it.
Democrats cannot settle for merely being as intelligent as their conservative counterparts. They must be more intelligent and become better debaters if they want to maintain intellectual validity on a grand stage. How the Republicans can defame what is otherwise a fairly impressive health care plan is the current example.
The Republican machine can rely on platitudes to argue their point. Unfortunately Democrats have done the same, with no such luck. What is demanded of them?
Democrats need to point out that we are 50th in life expectancy and 37th in health care efficiency. The French, live three years longer than we do, despite the fact that we have better facilities and better trained medical personnel. They have a better health care system and it is neither shameful nor a lack of the “American Way” in wanting to steal it.
Obama is a liberal all-star, frequently able to outwit his opponents without looking up from the bills he signs into law. He is impressive at the lectern because he upholds a prudent and discerning mind. The man works harder than his opponents. Democrats would do well to emulate him.
Joshua Howell covers politics and is founder of a school newsletter and a writer in the “Good Ol’ Fashioned Politicin’” column about key political issues. He will attend Texas A&M University this fall.