The meaning of words

I love words. They course through our lives and give meaning to our thoughts and actions. Most of the time the meaning is clear, or can be interpreted with a bit of reason. But some people have chosen to distort words, causing them to become ugly and mean-spirited. Then the beauty and grace of the words are forever diminished. We all lose when this happens.

Liberal and conservative are two words that have been distorted. These terms are not political designations per se; they are views about life, habits of mind. They are attitudes about people, communities and the society in which we live.

Liberals generally believe in human dignity, individual rights, civil discourse for solving problems, protection and advocacy of civil rights, and support for and belief in constitutional government and its institutions.

Conservatives generally believe in human dignity, self-reliance, community service, support for and belief in limited constitutional government and its institutions. They value personal and institutional accountability, protection of civil rights and the use of civil discourse for solving problems.

There is very little difference between these two views, other than attitudes reflected in the size of government and methods of funding services. I consider myself both a liberal and a conservative, depending on the issue. I suspect most reasonable people would consider themselves both.

National personalities like Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage (some in our own community as well) have made "liberal" a curse word, a punitive label connoting excesses in government spending ("tax and spend liberals") or suggesting that a liberal is too concerned about the disenfranchised, or the most needy among us ("bleeding heart liberals" or they believe liberals are "socialists/communists," and recently, "redistributionists," whatever that means). The labels get much worse " too nasty to repeat here. Conservatives also have been subjected to nasty labeling, especially if they believe in thoughtful negotiation and compromise " i.e. political solutions to problems. They are labeled: "moderates or cowardly middle-of-the-road compromisers," particularly if they refuse to support the irresponsible "no new taxes pledge" advocated by a few thoughtless souls in our community.

A new term has emerged in recent years ""neo-conservative." Neo-cons appear to hate both liberals and conservatives. They are not too keen about Republicans or Democrats either. They believe in nothing substantive, only in their own ideological bias " non-negotiable. Many of them distrust constitutional government at all levels. Most are anti-government, anti-taxes, anti-labor, anti-public schools, anti-arts (certainly liberal arts as in our universities) and anti-intellectual. Being against so much is exhausting and leaves little time to support good government.

Let us all take a deep breath and stop labeling, dispense with misusing words and address our community issues with reason and thoughtfulness. Let's debate when necessary but not support those who are not interested in our community, only in themselves. We need traditional liberals and conservatives back. Neo-cons who call themselves "traditional conservatives" need not apply. We need effective Democrats and Republicans. Lets give the "boot" to neo-cons and right or left wing radicals of any stripe.

- Dr. Eugene T. Paslov is a former state superintendent of schools in Nevada and Michigan. He is a school board member for Silver State Charter High School in Carson City and the Davidson Academy Charter High School in Reno.