WENDELL WILLIAMS An ESSAY
FORMER DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE
U.S. CONGRESS (CA)
“Progressives” yes, “Liberals” no
Liberal is a terribly self-defeating word.
Liberal has come to mean to the critics as being too free with spending the government's money.
Of course, most agree that we should all be conservative managing our own personal finances, as well as government's use of our tax money.
So, it is more difficult to sell an undecided independent voter using the term liberal than if we were to replace that word with what I believe carries less negative baggage, the term, "progressive" or "Progressivism."
Progressive is a much better term because everyone understands (or should understand) that its meaning is associated with the only constant law in the universe, which is “change.”
And if that is true, then being Progressive or change-minded means, we shouldn’t just keep repeating the policies of the past over and over, as Regressives (Republicans) are wont to do. To achieve a better society we need to have policies which "progress" along with the advancement of the constantly changing times. When progressive policies don't keep up with the changing times "regressive" actions result, and we stay stuck in the past.
A good example of this is the Regressive's interpretation of the 2nd. Amendment.
Back when that Amendment was written, there were no machine guns,
no AK47's, not even the six-shooter pistol had been invented.
Those weapons were unimaginable then. Only single shot rifles and pistols existed.
Our founding fathers had no idea how that amendment would be interpreted in the
future. I am sure that if they had written it today, it would exclude
all of the military-style guns designed to kill lots of enemy soldiers in
seconds. These rapid-fire weapons were not designed for deer hunting.
If you shot a deer with an AK47 with multiple bullets' there would be nothing left but a pile of unrecognizable meat.
AK47’s are WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION and should be outlawed.
And that doesn’t mean getting rid of the 2nd. amendment,
Everyone is interested in progress, so the word “Progressive” sells better than liberal.
I will use the terms Progressives and Regressives throughout this paper. I am reminded of Lyndon
Johnson’s quip, “Democrats look ahead through the windshield while Republicans continue to gaze
in the rearview mirror.” “True, true, true”, as Harry Truman was fond saying,
So, I would ask that all of us Democrats stop using the word “liberal” and instead, always use the term “progressive" in its place.
And we also should stop referring to Republicans as Conservatives and always refer to them as REGRESSIVES. Because they truly “Are always looking in the rear-view mirror.”
It might take a while before the word “regressive” is absorbed into our lexicon. But if we all keep using it,
it will.
WORDS MATTER.
WORDS ARE POWERFUL,
MORE POWERFUL THAN THE SWORD.
WENDELL WILLIAMS
FORMER DEMOCRATIC (Progressive) NOMINEE
U.S. CONGRESS (CA10)
