The importance of labels

By Tom Quiner

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbKoA06MbjM]

It is now politically-incorrect to “label” people.

I think this means that we’re not supposed to call someone a liberal when they’re a, well, a liberal.

I understand. The liberal label is tainted. Liberal policies have been tried under President Obama, and they have failed. Now liberals want to return to the label they used in another era. They are now “progressives.”

I like labels because they quickly reveal ideological principles. I proudly consider myself a conservative. I am not offended if you call me a conservative, because I am one of an army of principled Americans who believe in fundamental rights of the individual, beginning with a right to life; limited government; unbridled religious liberty; and a free enterprise system unhindered by excessive government restraint.

Like all conservatives, I believe that the government that governs least governs best.

Conservative principles are in stark contrast to liberal (or progressive, or whatever the term of the week is) principles which believe in a fundamental right to abortion; an expansive government; restrictive religious liberties; a highly-regulated free-enterprise system; and government control of key industries, such as health care.

Liberals tend to believe that the government that governs a lot governs the best.

Labels help us to quickly understand the ideological principles that drive, say, a politician. Just as I freely call someone a conservative, I will freely call someone a liberal when the label fits.

Watch the video above presented by Prager University. Political pundit, Jonah Goldberg, shows how liberals castigate those who use labels, and suggest that you’re a bigot (or some other such smear) if you do. In other words, they “label” you.

Is there anything wrong with labels? No, because there is nothing wrong with having principles. In the video above, Mr. Goldberg quotes the great G.K. Chesterton on the subject:

“Trees have no dogmas, and turnips are singularly broad-minded.”

On the other hand, serious people do have ideological principles.