Support BuzzFlash Get a copy of click image MORE BuzzFlash INTERVIEWS WORLD MEDIA WATCH P.M. CARPENTER MAUREEN FARRELL BARBARA'S DAILY BUZZ SOUTHERN STYLE CARTOONS THE ANGRY LIBERAL EDITORIALS CONTRIBUTORS MAILBAG PERSPECTIVES ANALYSIS NEWS ALERTS LINK ARCHIVES SEARCH ABOUT FAQ

BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARY
by Hugh Conrad

Former president George H. W. Bush once scathingly referred to people with progressive principles, deriding us as people who are anathema to the mission of America, saying that he would not utter the "L word."

At this time of year when we are asked to be grateful for a multitude of blessings, I would like to convey this holiday message to the former president.

If being liberal means that I:

-- Stand up for "your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free," whether the people are white, brown, black, yellow, or red;

-- Stand up for the downtrodden and oppressed, in this country and those beyond our borders;

-- Stand up for the rights of the elderly who rely upon the gift from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who founded Social Security as a way to allow seniors to spend their final years in dignity;

-- Stand with the decision of President Harry S. Truman when he pursued one of the greatest humanitarian programs of all time by rebuilding Europe after WW II through the Marshall Plan;

-- Stand up for the rights of the media to express opinions that may differ from those of the government;

-- Stand up for the people who must rely upon Medicare for their health care needs in their senior years;

-- Stand up for the right of our people to assemble and march against the policies of our government, as hundreds of thousands did in November in our nation's capital against the Bush Iraqi policy;

-- Stand up for the defense of our country like President John F. Kennedy did in the greatest victory in the Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962;

-- Stand up for my freedom to worship my God this Christmas as a Christian,

Then Mr. Bush, I am proud to be an American, and proud to be a Liberal.

If being liberal means that I:

-- Stand up for our veterans who have saved Democracy through their heroic actions over the past 226 years, by giving them health care and reasonable retirement plans;

-- Stand with the decision of President Roosevelt to establish the Securities and Exchange Commission, an organization that saved the free-enterprise system in the 1930's when it was in danger of collapsing;

-- Stand for the provision of a public education for all Americans, regardless of race, creed, ethnicity, or income-level;

-- Agree with the fortitude of President Truman when he integrated the Armed Forces in 1948;

-- Stand with those who have been granted a right to trial by jury, regardless of their financial condition;

-- Stand with those who fight to give every American the right to representation by counsel;

-- Stand with those who work so hard to take care of children in underprivileged families or in abused family situations;

-- Stand with those who have fought so hard for the rights of minorities in this country, something so diligently pursued by a Republican, Abraham Lincoln;

Then Mr. Bush, I repeat, I am proud to be an American, and proud to be a Liberal.

Despite the fact that you followed no political philosophy other than expediency in your career, and despite the fact that you have provided us with the most intellectually-challenged president in my lifetime, one who is compassionate in word but despotic in deed -- despite all of that, I must tell you something this holiday season: "I am proud to used the "L word" prior to, or after, my name."

(Hugh Conrad is a liberal, a freelance writer, and college English instructor from Lilly, Pa.)

BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARY