'You're a Liberal! No!!! YOU'RE a Liberal!'

By Si Dunn

So now we have John McCain and Mitt Romney accusing each other of being "a liberal," as if that label somehow is synonymous with being a creep, a Nazi or a cybercrook.

Look up "liberal" in most any dictionary, however, and you'll find such definitions as "tolerant" and "not narrow in opinion or judgment."

I would wear those labels gladly, and I sincerely hope the next President of the United States is both tolerant and not narrow in opinion or judgment. We've already had almost eight years of overtly constricted opinions and judgments under George W. Bush and his supporters in the House and Senate.

If John McCain suddenly were transformed into a true political liberal, I might, albeit grudgingly, consider voting for him. It would take more than a miracle, however, to convince me of the sincerity of political opportunist Mitt Romney's sudden transformation to liberal.

Of course, none of this "You're a commie liberal! No, you're a slimeball liberal!" is going to matter much in the grand scale of things once we finally--finally--get the chance this fall to sweep the close-minded conservatives out of office and once again put some liberals in real positions of power, at the local, state and federal level.

Washington, D.C., and the rest of America are long overdue for fresh shots of tolerance and leadership thinking that reaches well beyond the pale of tax cut...tax cut...tax cut...tax cut....

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