Labels libel.

                  I am a

·      Liberal

\\·      Conservative

·      Radical

·      Idealist

·      Materialist

·      Skeptic

·      Mystic

·      Cynic

·      Humanist

·      Capitalist

·      Socialist

 – simultaneously, alternately, depending on how I slept and what I’ve eaten. Any label makes a mockery of my beliefs, which shift shapes like clouds in the sky. Today’s thoughts may refute yesterday’s – and so they should, for who knows for sure has stopped thinking. 

                  Why deploy labels? To simplify, justify, vilify. Playground taunts whiz like spitballs to goad, hurt. The Nameless One’s our Labeler-in-Chief: MAGA! RINO! COMMUNIST! Labels spare us the ordeal of articulation. Labeling makes wimps feel wise and fools brave.

                  The scary label du jour is “Democratic Socialist” so I thought I’d look them up. What do these ogres stand for? How do they threaten our Republic?

                  The press is leading the charge here with label-libeling. Journalists like a good war, the bloodier the better. Wars attract attention, fatten wallets. Journalists may loathe the Nameless One, but they love his limelight. One beef against Biden was he governed too quietly.

                  The recent election of Democratic Socialists presages a vicious war for the heart and soul of the Democratic Party (we hope, we hope). The old guard is shaking in its boots as the youngbloods sharpen their knives. I myself felt wary of these sans-culottes. Might their radicalism wreck America?

                  Turns out, these hellions are very radical. They stand for

 ·      Universal health care

·      Strong labor unions and greater worker bargaining power

·      Higher taxes on the wealthy

·      Reduced economic inequality

·      Tuition-free or heavily subsidized public higher education

·      Expanded public housing and social programs

·      Stronger regulation of large corporations

·      Robust environmental policies, including government investment in clean energy

·      Campaign-finance reform and measures to reduce the influence of money in politics

 in Alistair’s succinct summation. So do I. So do most folks not flummoxed by lies or crazed by avarice. Our body politic, the consensus concurs, is sick, running a high fever, breaking out in scabrous boils. Each of these maniacal measures would improve the condition of the Many at the expense of the monied few. None would upend our state. Where’s the risk?

                  The risk is fewer billionaires – and perhaps, oh my gosh, NO trillionaires, at least for the foreseeable future. The risk is a cleaner planet, a better-trained healthier workforce, and for the Many more livable lives. The risk is less chance of politicians being bought and renewed belief that our votes count.

                  Nor, it turns out, are any of these proposals radical. The only argument against them is the expense. How can we afford all these programs AND tax-cuts for billionaires AND gilded monuments to our chief AND exorbitant, incompetent wars!

                  Golly gee.

                  There is a war in America, but it’s not among the partisans who wish democracy well. It’s a war between the rich and the rest. If younger citizens feel sickened by the status quo and restless for change, who can blame them? The present generation of politicians has made a mess of things. Notwithstanding relative prosperity, we the people are glum. We need fresh energy, idealism, determination. We need to bump incumbents and invigorate those who remain.

                  Things are bad in America – and for the next few months, until the November election, they’re likely to get worse, as the Nameless One connives to steal the nation he’s supposed to serve. The good news is the bad news. The mismanagement of America is so obvious and vile, all but the most complacent will be roused to preserve what we prize. In the war between the Many and Money, I bet on the Many. The label I aspire to is Patriot.