This one is for Bear

So Bear and I have been having a dialectic regarding my status as a liberal over at Jeff's site Ponytailed Conservative.

I wanted to take up the topic here on my turf.

So for the record back when Clinton was still president and America was thriving and prosperous I was really not that active politically. I was living a bohemian life here in Oregon, out on the coast range on the lovely Wilson river.
I worked on a fishing boat and when I wasn't fishing I was tending bar at the Rogue Pub.
I really didn't think about a divided America. I was thinking that we spent too much money on weapons of mass destruction, cut down old growth forests too much and were generally arrogant and wasteful as a nation.
Then George W came along with his aspirations for being the president and the talk of conservative vs. Liberal began to become a heated topic. All things liberal were evil and associated with weakness and communism while conservative was equated to strength , integrity, patriotism and the American way.
I watched in horror as platitudes rolled off of W's tongue and he captivated people with rhetoric based in fear and arrogance...
He made claims to be a uniter and consensus builder but what I saw from his work in Texas was a man who was bent on having his way regardless of what was good for the state much less the individual.
He sent people to die and mocked their pleas for clemency and mercy while professing a dedication to the sanctity of life. He claimed to be a Christian and to take his instructions directly from god. Yet his actions indicated a man who was self interested in gaining power and keeping it at any cost. His strategy, calculated and methodical, driven by Carl Rove the disciple of Lee Atwater began to unfold.
He pandered to the religious evangelical Christians, mocked those who spoke of living a simple peaceful life as being weak and painted himself as a "Washington outsider" not corrupted by the political machine which he sought to change forever.
I began to see the divisions among my friends and family.
Single issue thinkers (like my brother who thinks only of taxes) could identify with his simple messages and the butchery of once elegant dialogue of political speakers. He gave us "misunderestimated, and religiousity" while playing a gun totin redneck who won't take no guff from nobody.
His outsider country boy act was enough to fool a lot of people. His single minded desire to end taxation also weighed in to accomplish the mission of taking power in Washington.
His mockery of the Clinton administration fueled the fire of those who were still pissed that Clinton had gotten away with getting a blow job.
He was ready to divide the country so that with very little manipulation he would be guaranteed a victory.
Then my brother started blogging.
I missed my brother since we had not had a close relationship for decades as he seemed (still does) unable to get it together enough to visit me even though I had been living in Oregon for over a decade. I started blogging too as a way to communicate with him easily and at a low cost.
SO what to call my blog? That was a doozie.
I settled on liberal treehugger as a sarcastic poke at him. In my introduction I pointed out a few things that I loved about Oregon. I also made a point that the definitions being bandied about these days didn't really fit.
I thought that people who were calling themselves "conservatives" were very liberal thinking when it came to the use of the Federal government.
I thought that the people being called "liberals" (by the republicans) were the ones who were interested in maintaining democracy and ensuring the role of the Federal government as a protector and advocate of the citizens of America.
I looked into it and found that the Republican party was a very liberal party when it came to the use of Federal power relating to what went into ones body or mind and the use of the military to create massive spending of taxpayer dollars.
The liberals on the other hand wanted the Fed's out of the bedroom out of our heads and wanted to use the power of the federal government to force a level playing field when it came to matters of finance.
So really there are no liberals or conservatives. It is all shades of varying color. I did not (and I still do not) see a blue side and a red side. I saw purple everywhere.
People who opposed the war also were adamant about restricting abortions. People who wanted to blow up Iraq also wanted to smoke and grow pot without the fed's kicking down their door.
People who believe that there is only one true god wanted a clear separation of church and state.
We were all over the place.
So I decided I'd be the 'liberal treehugger' and try to point out just how mislabeled everyone is these days.
Despite all the efforts to show these discrepancies there are still people who refuse to read and hear what I'm saying and only focus on the title of my blog.
For the 100th time I am against Bush and his policies.
I am however very much for America. I support the men and women who are fighting the unjust possibly unlawful war in Iraq, though I would choose a different path for America than Bush has chosen.
That does not mean that I do not care for the people who are stuck doing their duty. It does mean that I feel obligated to stir it up and make people talk about it.
I do not think that I have all the answers but neither I think does Bush.
I would call for a smaller Federal government. I would ask that individuals not pay more in taxes than corporations. I would expect that we as a society would be able to recognize when we are on an unsustainable course that we get off that course and find a different way to exist so that we are not sticking to the path of despair.
I wonder do you think I'm a liberal because I don't like Bush?