According to the ever-popular Kevin Fischer, liberals are embarrassed to be called liberals. According to Fischer,
Nobody wants to be called a liberal.
And can you blame them?
It is pretty embarrassing.
What’s interesting about Fischer’s assertion that liberals are ashamed to be called liberals is that he makes the assertion without providing any tangible evidence to support his assertion, nor does he attempt to explain why we liberals are supposedly so ashamed to be labeled as such. I wear my label as a liberal as a badge of honor, and I can’t think of a single liberal I know who’s ashamed to be called a liberal.
In his entry, Fischer cites the fact that on a recent appearance on interCHANGE, Joel McNally used the term progressive instead of the “L” word (Fischer’s words, not mine). Fischer cites McNally’s use of the term progressive as proof positive that McNally’s ashamed to be called a liberal, but I’ve always thought of the terms ‘liberal’ and ‘progressive’ as being interchangeable, and I know I’m not alone in that belief. I certainly don’t mind being called a liberal, because being a liberal isn’t something to be ashamed of, despite what conservatives like Kevin Fischer would have people believe.
The terms liberal and progressive are interchangeable and I don’t think most liberals are ashamed to identify themselves with the l-word. For liberal politicians, however, it is a different matter. Liberals who are running for public office almost always identify themselves as progressives because their internal polling shows that voters perceive liberals as having an agenda to increase taxation and wasteful government spending. The term progressive on the other hand creates an image in the voter’s mind of someone who is working to improve the condition of his fellow man.
So, I think that Fischer is referring to politicians because almost no one running for public office wants to be identified as liberal. It is the kiss of death for liberal politicians and internal polling in most districts will bare this out.