C’MON LIBERALS – GET A GRIP

I am a liberal. I know that’s not the popular description for people of my ilk. Now, we are supposed to be called, “Progressive.” That’s because the label, “liberal” has been slandered by the right wing. So, we changed our name. We caved.

Well, we’re caving again. Three recent examples are the controversies of Joe Biden, Lenny Bruce, and Beto O’ Rourke.

First, Biden. He has a habit of touching people. When those people turn out to be women, liberals now consider him a predator. C’mon liberals – get a grip.

Politicians forever have been tactile. It is a sign, often phony to be sure, but a sign nonetheless of connection. It is not, in that context, a sign of sexual desire. There are occasions, of course, when a politicians touching can cross the line and become offensive. See, e.g., the President of the United States.

Liberals are supposed to be the people who understand nuance. Liberals are supposed to be the people who see the gray in life. Conservatives are the people whose world is purely black and white; good and bad (I realize that I am dividing liberals and conservatives with precisely the strict lines that I am condemning conservatives for using, but I intend this as a generalization, so forgive me). Where is the nuance in the reaction to the accusations against Biden? It’s missing. That ain’t liberal.

Then there’s Lenny Bruce. He’s dead, of course, so he isn’t the one being attacked. His legacy is.

There is a show now in New York that is a tribute to Lenny Bruce. It is a one-man show in which the actor recreates Bruce’s most famous routines. Now, anyone who has ever heard of Bruce knows that he was the opposite of politically correct. That was his whole point. So, as the show first opens, the actor’s first line is the first line of one of Lenny’s most famous routines – the one about the power of words.

The first line is, “Are there any niggers here tonight.”

The routine goes on to explain that words are powerful when they are forbidden; that we create anger and hate by saving certain words as only expletives; that if we understand words that way and use them as a matter of course they will lose their power as weapons.

Well, what’s happening? People are offended by the language and are walking out of the show.

C’mon liberals – get a grip!

First of all, what did they expect at a Lenny Bruce retrospective? Wine and cheese?Beyond that, these people may disagree with the premise of the bit, but are they so closed minded that they won’t even allow themselves to consider it? That’s not liberal.

Finally, there is Beto. He is being attacked for having said that his wife handles most of the family’s child care. Oh, God, what an animal! And then, worst of all, he felt compelled to apologize.

Now, I’m fully in favor of child care being a joint effort between the parents. Sometimes, today, it’s the woman who bears the burden. Sometimes, like my next door neighbor, it’s the man. That we should be able to share that job by not designating one gender over the other as the caregiver is liberal. It is not liberal to crucify one of the parents for having a time consuming career.

C’mon liberals – get a grip.

Here’s the problem: if we don’t get a grip soon, our ability to grasp the Presidency will be lost.