Have you noticed how people like to label your political views? It seems like they want to put you into some convenient box, to be identified as being either conservative or liberal. Lately being a conservative or a liberal does not seem to be enough. Now the question has become annoying, are you a progressive? What happened to being called a liberal! Are you a True Progressive? And what does that mean? And then there are those who claim to be a conservative. But these latter day conservatives are not what I grew up thinking a conservative was. It is all confusing! And quite frankly I think these labels have lost their meaning. I do not know about you but I do not like to be labeled. I actually believe that most voters are truly conservative on some things and liberal on other issues. As far as being called a Progressive who does not like being for Progress? I still like the word liberal. Good God it is all very confusing!

It is all kind of funny really. I thought I was insulted the other day. An acquaintance, called me a neo liberal! I had to look it up. I felt bad until I found out that I had no reason to feel ashamed. It means someone who believes in free market capitalism. I believe capitalism works fine as long as we manage greed. Franklin Roosevelt believed in capitalism so I felt that I was in good company. Greed ruins everything, the thing is to regulate and manage the vice of greed. It is only human that people will want to rip you off if they are allowed to do so.

Than there is the hair splitting of whether one believes in social democracy or if one is a socialist. It seems that it is so important for some of you out there to put me or someone else in a box, so that you can classify me or another person. I just want us to work on improving the lives of all Americans. I do not care what the label is, I only care if the idea works or not.

The real joke is the modern day definition of conservative. What do they want to conserve? A few so-called conservatives bemoan the fact that traditional conservatives are now a thing of the past. Aren’t these so-called conservatives such as Trump and Ted Cruz really just reactionaries dressed in conservative garb. It seems quite evident that what the persons want to do from the so-called liberty caucus is to just destroy government. Trump talks about draining the swamp. That is really funny because what we have seen thus far from Trump is nothing but chaos, a confusing jumble of tweets that have no ideological basis.

I am really old fashioned. I believe in our Constitution, and believe that the words of the Constitution are to be taken seriously. There is no original intent, but we do have words that matter. Is it conservative or liberal to take the words for what they mean? The first amendment to the Constitution is a good example of what I am trying to say. In the words of the first amendment, we have the clear statement that the founders meant for us to have a separation of church and state. The amendment went further and stated how we should have freedom of speech. Is it conservative or liberal to believe in the meaning of the words in that amendment?

I doubt whether our President has ever read the Constitution. If he has how can you miss the concept of not having a religious test for who can enter our country? A travel ban is a ban based upon whether you are a Muslim or not. We have an emoluments clause for a reason. If you accept a gift from a foreign power is that not a violation of that clause in the Constitution. Again, does that make me or any other person who believes in the words and their meaning a conservative or a liberal?

Yes, there are labels and these labels have lost much of their meaning, and their significance. It seems to be more than just an effort to put us in some ideological box but it can be darn right insulting and perhaps even incorrect to label anyone.