What is a Liberal?

We use the terms "liberal" and "conservative" pretty loosely today, chiefly because they have become political words.

But liberal without the quotes is not a buzz- word. It is a deep conviction. It is a belief.

John Kennedy’s oft quoted words say it best. "For liberalism is not so much a party creed or set of fixed platform promises as it is an attitude of mind and heart, a faith in man's ability through the experiences of his reason and judgment to increase for himself and his fellow man the amount of justice and freedom and brotherhood that human life deserves. For a liberal society is a free society, and for that reason a strong society.”

I received an especially sensitive and intelligent letter recently from a Paonia woman of my generation. She says, "I am as conservative as you are liberal, and at times I get so mad at you that even when I am foaming at the mouth, I admire you."

Now that is quality dialogue: two people who can admire the person and disagree with the ideas. She goes on to wish I would be more specific about why I feel the way I do.

I think she deserves an answer, but it is a hard one to pin down.

I grew up in a strong Republican family. My mother was active in local and state politics. In fact, she was a delegate from Colorado to the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia in 1940. She helped nominate Wendell Willkie. She said I should always vote a straight ticket, because that was the only way to maintain the two party system.

Then I went to C. U. and realized Englewood was not the center of the world, and I had a part in it and a responsibility to it. I realized that I did not often agree with my much loved but violently Republican mother.

I voted for Roosevelt, but remained a Republican. Then along came Nixon and I became an Independent. But with the beginning of the women's movement in the '70's I finally saw the light.

I became active in the issue of women's rights. We started a NOW chapter and liberal women who hadn't known they were liberal gathered together. We fought a lot of battles. The position of women in America today is largely the result of the women's movement of the seventies. I became a loud, very active liberal at that time.

I have been asking a number of other people the same question. "When did you become a liberal?" I even asked a couple of conservatives when they became conservatives.

I asked my friends at the round table in the coffee shop and they pitched in. One said she had always been liberal in her feelings. Her parents and grandparents were also and it was the natural way to be. Another had strict Republican parents and became a liberal in college. A third was rebelling against her strict conservative religious background.

Then I asked a couple of conservative friends. One said her parents had raised her as a conservative, and she still is one. But she said she did vote for Roosevelt. Another said she had always believed in the Republican Party and believes deeply in its principles.

The political differences between the two philosophies have become serious.

But dialogue is still possible. Perhaps my Paonia correspondent will let me know how she became a conservative. Oh yes, we do have one thing in common. She says anyone who likes cats can't be all bad. There is hope