I’ve been wondering about the logic used by my very conservative friends when they assert one of their “facts” about the liberal media, or anything else they label as liberal. For what it’s worth, my very conservative friends come in two boxes and a small sack. Box one contains friends from the parish from which I retired. I know them well. Box two contains friends from the locker room at the Y. I know them less well but they are more colorfully vocal about their beliefs. The small sack includes a handful of local elected types with whom I work on several community projects. I know them even less well, but their operating assumption is that ‘progressive’ is a bad word that nobody wants as a label, and ‘liberal’ is so pejorative as to require confession and repentance.
The peculiar mantra of coming back to the center means sliding over to the edge of the right wing. They remind me of some of my more radical friends in the 1960s and ‘70s who were on the far left at the time. Come to think of it, those old radicals are now about the same age as many of these hard line conservatives. Maybe there is some truth in the adage that today’s radical is tomorrow’s stuffed shirt.