Put conservatives in a bad light!

During the 1980s, all we heard was the word 'liberal'. Liberal was the big, bad word that the Republicans used to describe Democrats. This term was really useful during the 1984 and 1988 Presidential elections. Yep, it worked. Michael Dukakis had a large lead in the polls...but when Bush just kept hammering away with the word liberal, liberal, liberal...Bush headed to victory.

During the 1988 election, Bush's people successfully connected issues like the death penalty to the term liberal. Same in 1984 with Ronald Reagan with taxes and welfare. Hell, if you ask a republican today why they are a conservative, the answer is usually 1. they oppose welfare (though they don't realize that it was Clinton that passed welfare reform), 2. they support the death penalty (which, sadly, many democrats do as well) and 3. they support lower taxes (and they don't care one lick about spending).

Therefore, the republicans have turned liberal into a 'bad word'. The liberals even know this. That is why they no longer use the term liberal themselves. They call themselves 'progressives'. To me, the liberals are playing into the conservatives hands.

Liberals need to have to have pride in being liberals! They also need to figure out a way to bad mouth conservatives the same way the republicans bad mouthed liberals in the 1980s.

First, liberals need to be proud to be liberal. They shouldn't use the word 'progressive'. Hell, the first time I heard 'progressive', I thought that it was a moderate movement. I was thinking of the days of Teddy Roosevelt in 1912. Boy was I wrong.

Still, liberals need to tell people what liberals do, or have done in the past. I don't have the quote with me right now, but Matt Santons (Democratic candidate on West Wing) during the live debate talked about how liberals gave blacks the right to vote, ended slavery, created Medicare and Social Secuity, etc... If someone can find me that quote that would be great. Still, Santos explained what liberals did and why he was proud to be a liberal. That is the first thing liberals have to do...be PROUD to be LIBERAL, not progressives!

The other thing that liberals need to do it to make conservative a bad word. I don't think that the liberals can turn the word 'conservative' itself into a bad word. I think they need to connect it to another word (actually a prefix), and that is neo-! If liberals talk about where 'neo-conservatives' stand on the issues (and there are a lot of issues we can use), then the effect will work just like 'liberal' did in the 1980s.

Also, I don't know if it is just me, but when I hear the prefix neo, I automatically think 'neo-nazi'. Therefore, if liberals continue to use 'neo', people might indirectly relate conservatives to Nazis. Is that fair, not really. But hell, when have the republicans been fair about anything?

It is time for liberals to stop playing 'fair' and to actually fight.