LETTERS: ASSERTIONS ON CONSERVATIVES NEED TO BE LOOKED AT MORE CLOSELY

To the editor:

Your guest writer, Paul J. Allee, used a lot of space to blast conservatives and defend liberals throughout history. His constant assertions that conservatives "move to the left" needs to be looked at a little closer.

Only "firebrand liberals declaring the status quo was no longer tolerable" signed the Declaration of Independence? If I remember my history correctly, the colonists revolted because of punitive taxation. That is hardly a liberal ideology. But wait! If I apply a little "Allee logic" to the situation, I can see that today's conservatives stole the idea of lower taxes from yesterday's liberals. If that were true, both conservatives and liberals in Congress would be beating each other up to cut our taxes! If you don't mind, I won't hold my breath while today's liberals give me a tax break.

Conservatives established roadblocks to civil liberties and social justice while "Liberals took the lead"? Again, history records that our "firebrand" liberal founders included slave owners who would not give up their slaves. They instead deferred the question of slavery to future generations. Republican Abraham Lincoln granted freedom to slaves, though his motivation is now under attack by liberals who refuse to accept he believed slavery was morally wrong.

Conservative or liberal? What's in a name? Some founders wanted only property owners to have voting rights; no women or blacks please. George Washington waged war on farmers who rebelled against what they considered to be unfair practices by rich bankers. The liberal founders conquered the native Indians while preaching "manifest destiny."

The truth is that conservatives and liberals in congress do very little that is against the will of the people at the time. The Great Society program would never have passed without the support of the people at that time. The Congress didn't end segregation. They only responded to the will of the people. It was people with names like Parks and King, not Kennedy and Johnson, who ended segregation.

Were they liberals? In some cases yes, in others no. There are no sharply defined lines that say every liberal or conservative must believe exactly the same thing on every issue. If you truly believe that our diversity is our greatest strength, then you must allow for conservatives that are minorities and pro-choice, and for liberals who believe in a strong national defense and fiscal responsibility.

It is incredibly arrogant to assign the credit for all good deeds to one ideology and blame to another. We share a common history, the good with the bad. There is plenty of blame and credit to go around.

Until we can stop calling our each other names ("pudgy, loudmouthed critic") and consider more than one opinion on an issue ("It is the American liberals who are the risk takers and innovators of new ideas for solutions to America's problems") we will never move beyond our current state of petty politics.

Jerry Canady,

Chaffee