JFK

I've been reading Mark Kurlansky's 1968: The Year That Rocked The World - suprisingly, it has yet to mention anything about me being born in that year, which I personally find quite relevant -- but in talking about the political environment, it naturally goes back to JFK. I've been impressed that Kurlansky doesn't shy away from taking a few jabs at JFK (and Bobby, for that matter) for making some bad decisions. JFK is one of those guys who everyone thinks of in glowing terms, but there's no reason to ignore the Bay of Pigs or some other less enlightened decisions he made. (Only partisan hacks ignore both sides of things - such as Republicans who laud Reagan but scoff off Iran-Contra, the savings and loan crisis, etc.)

This quote, which I did not get from the book but from a post on Daily Kos, really sums up the reasons that it kills me that "liberal" has become a derisive word. I wouldn't call myself a liberal by the common definition - I don't believe in rent control, and I'm not against the death penalty (though I waver), among two areas that would disagree strongly with liberal thought. Hell, I drive an SUV. That should squash the label right there. But the below is pretty hard to disagree with, and spot fucking on:

What do our opponents mean when they apply to us the label "Liberal?" If by "Liberal" they mean, as they want people to believe, someone who is soft in his policies abroad, who is against local government, and who is unconcerned with the taxpayer's dollar, then the record of this party and its members demonstrate that we are not that kind of "Liberal."

But if by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people -- their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties -- someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a "Liberal," then I'm proud to say I'm a "Liberal."