I read “What it means to be a liberal” and all the letters written in reply, which were, for the most part, admirably restrained.
I am an unabashed liberal but in recent times have become sick-unto-death as a result of following the war over ideology. I believe this internecine conflict is destroying the common identity of Americans; it has rendered the term “patriotism” almost meaningless, and it has turned good people against each other.
One turns to the op-ed page of almost any newspaper and is sucked into a whirlpool of sarcasm, vitriol and bile. I’ve been trying to think of how to live with all this bitterness and still retain some semblance of humanity. Mostly I’ve tried to think about how to be less ideological.
In this endeavor I’ve reduced politics to one simple statement: There ought to be free exercise of the human spirit within the bounds of human decency–period. It is in terms of this principle that I evaluate politicians and their policies. True my principle is a little vague, but I like it that way. It gives me room to think without running up against rigid propositions.
