Cold-blooded conservatives

At this writing, I have no idea who has or will win the election. No matter. I’m still a “crazy liberal.” Whether or not I’ll be fleeing the country next May, I’m sick and tired of the thoughtless rhetoric conservatives throw at liberals. “Crazy liberal,” “hippie,” “granola,” “tree-hugger,” or worse, “socialist.” When did caring about the disadvantaged or the “other” become a source of embarrassment? When did understanding the socio-historical roots of racial inequalities or valuing the environment amount to socialism? Why do conservatives feel threatened by gay marriage and civil unions? Why deny gay Americans automatic entrance to the emergency room to comfort a dying partner?

I’m tired of this crap from conservatives, and frankly, I’m disappointed by liberals’ puny responses. All conservatives have to do to stifle debate is throw out one of these terms. The Nov. 1 Campus Beat is a prime example. The cartoonists call Kerry a socialist. Almost as bad as “commie pinko.” It’s unfortunate that Americans don’t recognize that Kerry’s health care plan is a far cry from socialism, yet certainly seeks to rectify the deep-seated inequalities in the current system.

The New York Times reported last month that 45 million Americans are currently uninsured. Liberals’ compassion is not self-congratulatory: it encourages real understanding of the difficulties (understatement of the year) of living without health insurance or even living in a state of poverty.

Endemic poverty (the lived experiences of 35.9 MILLION Americans, according to the U.S. Census Bureau) is unacceptable in the “richest country in the world.” Liberals worry about health care and poverty. Cold-blooded conservatives, many of whom have been duped into believing that these are not pressing issues, think (or pretend to think) that a tax credit here or there or some faulty education act will improve people’s lives. Health care should be a right conferred by citizenship, not employment, something that every industrialized European country acknowledges.

Any issue involving blacks provides great fodder for investigating the “labeling away” of legitimate liberal concerns. Drug use is a great example. The National Household Survey on Drug Abuse of 1998 found that “most current illicit drug users are white. There were an estimated 9.9 million whites (72 percent of all users), 2.0 million blacks (15 percent) and 1.4 million Hispanics (10 percent) who were current illicit drug users in 1998.”

Blacks, however, constitute more than 35 percent of all drug arrests, according to the Department of Justice. Racist enforcement policies? No, you’re just a (crack-smoking) crazy liberal if you’d suggest that. A link between slavery, second-class citizenship and crime and poverty in 2004? No, you “Goddamn hippie,” to quote South Park’s Eric Cartman.

Conservatives have brilliantly managed to win over huge segments of the working and middle classes by trumpeting “traditional” values and perpetuating the conspiracy theory of the “liberal empire” while equating liberals with godless commie heathens. Thomas Frank’s What’s the Matter with Kansas traces the 30-year history of a most unnatural alliance between blue-collar workers and rich conservative yuppies. Of course, the working and middle classes have the most to benefit from “compassionate liberal” policies, but gawd darnnit, we don’t want no crazy liberal blacks, Jews or gays in power!

Wealthy “Christian conservatives” are some of the worst. Jesus emphasized compassion and empathy, reaching out to the poor, lepers, women and (oh my!) prostitutes in an era when strict divisions characterized social organization. The disadvantaged in American society typically feature near the bottom on the public policy priority ladder, with poor blacks squarely situated on the bottom rung.