This is Connie writing this week, and when I was trying to think of something to write about for some reason the word liberal kept coming to mind. Maybe it was all of the political talk on TV that got me to thinking about it. We just had an election here in our city and the words liberal and conservative were tossed around a lot. Although I’ve been described by my friends as the “liberal” one in our group, quite frankly I’m always been skeptical of the true meaning behind both words and of the people who claim them.
Yes, I’m a woman in her sixties who is seeing a younger man. I don’t see why that’s supposed to be so liberal. Personally, I’ve found that a younger man can fulfill my needs a little better than a man my age or older. Hell! That’s just practical as far as I’m concerned.
I participated in the Occupy Wall Street protest here in our city and I didn’t see that as being liberal either. To me that was common sense. Why wouldn’t I protest other people controlling my destiny? I was a foot soldier during the Civil Rights Movement, why would I be any less now? Anybody who believes that the wealthiest people in the United States don’t hold most of the power in this country is fooling themselves. It’s always been that way. I don’t remember reading a thing about the poorest men in the Colonies signing the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution when the United States was formed. Protesting is a right.
My friends tell me that I’ll go along with almost any radical thing that comes along. I don’t agree with that. I’ve got my limits, but yes, there are a lot of things that I don’t have a problem with in my life.
I was always for Women’s Lib long before it had a name and I still am! I was married for three decades and I was my husband’s equal in every way, and I knew it—so did he. If you’re a woman don’t come sniffling around me talking about walking ten steps behind some man. You’ll get no sympathy from me. Eve was made from Adam’s rib and that’s on the side of the body. Gay rights! Why not? It’s not my place to judge the lifestyle of others. There’s only one judge and jury at life’s end and it’s not me or anybody else I know on this earth.
Politically, I think of myself as an independent. I’ve voted Democrat, Republican, Libertarian and I’ve written names in that weren’t established candidates. If I like a candidate, he or she has my vote.
So, am I a liberal? I decided to look both words up to see how Webster’s New World Dictionary defined them. The two definitions of liberal that I liked were “not restricted” and “giving freely”. The definitions for the word conservative that caught my eye were “conserving or tending to conserve; preservative, and tending to preserve established traditions or institutions and to resist or oppose any changes in these.”
Oh! Oh! “Tending to preserve established traditions or institutions and to resist or oppose any changes in these?” I don’t like that. Change is a constant and if Connie Palmer is anything she’s constant when it comes to change.
I guess my friends are right. Maybe I do have liberal leanings. Guess I’ll take some time and muse on that.
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