The best part of the Iowa State Fair is the Iowans you meet. The typical Iowan is generally
- approachable
- direct
- friendly and
- guileless (free of deceit).
We say what’s on our minds even though sometimes even a Senator can get into a little trouble for it. But few in Iowa seem to object to straight talk.
Knowing that Iowans will share their views, I sometimes strike up a conversation just to find out what people are thinking. That is especially fun at the Iowa State Fair because you meet such genuine people.
Here is the story. The name of the political party, the gender of the person, and the political term have been changed to protect the innocent, but that doesn’t matter because the point of this story is about the use of language and not about political viewpoint.
I was standing at the Democratic Party booth in the Varied Industries Building. A man beside me and close to my age was also visiting the Democrats. We agreed that we liked Senator Harkin, that he was a fine representative of the state. I added that I also liked Senator Grassley. “Oh, no,” he said, frowning, “he’s too conservative.” I asked, “What does that mean? What is a conservative?” He didn’t seem to find an answer to that so I continued, “Are there particular issues where you find him to be too conservative?” Well, he couldn’t think of one so I said, “Well, that’s OK. I didn’t mean to put you on the spot.” (But I had been curious how a typical Iowan thought about the term conservative. Well, I’d better admit the truth. It was a woman by the Republican booth who liked Grassley but not Harkin and who had difficulty with the term liberal, but that part doesn’t matter.)
What do I think the lesson is? For a sizable number of people, the mind will snap shut upon hearing certain words that may in fact have nothing to do with political reality, and especially the terms liberal and conservative. When the voter’s mind closes, politicians are off the hook. They don’t have to formulate a position that would ever solve anything. When the mind closes upon hearing one word, the media are off the hook too. They don’t have to string together the words that would accurately reflect the story they are reporting. We lose.
Think about it the next time you hear or read either of the terms liberal or conservative. Was the term used so that the speaker or writer no longer had responsibility to be intelligent? to be accurate? to be truthful? Was it used to hide their true position or because they had no position? Was the term used because someone didn’t know how to write clearly or to speak intelligently?
Two words do not define the political landscape. They never have; they never will.
Don’t let ‘em fool ya, even if they’re pretty, talk folksy, and wink.
photo by flickr by banderson
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Good post!
While there are general principles I assume go with party affiliations, I suppose it is not generally fair to judge an individual politician simply by their party. There are plenty of Democrats who are good, honorable people just as there are plenty of Republicans who are good and honorable people (and fill in the same for other).
I think politics is a lot like sports teams – early on for one reason or another, people develop a preference for a particular team and cheer for that team. For example, I happen to be a Packers fan and also cheer for any team playing the Vikings. Why? No good reason – just that’s who I chose early on.
Now, that’s not to say that there aren’t good reasons for choosing political sides, but many people (myself sometimes included) cannot get past the “D” or “R” that goes along with the name.
I think that’s a very sad state for our country to be in – all of us are divided and cannot have an honest conversation.
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