Conservatives, and in particular Republicans, are good at naming things. They have a penchant for coming up with phrases and terms that are catchy, albeit grossly misleading and inaccurate.

Take for example the alliteration in the following: freedom fighters, compassionate conservatives and liberal lies. If you hear them enough, you might actually believe them reflective of some kind of objective sense of reality. They are not.

Unfortunately, Zach Calef in his Nov. 14 column, “Liberal lies swarm tax concerns,” has not only brought in this skewed perceptive thinking, but utilizes faulty and misleading “evidence” to support his attacks.

The opposition to the Bush/Republican tax scheme is not based on lies, but on fiscal ideology. Not only does he refer to any opposing viewpoint as a lie, he stereotypes all those with differing opinions as liberals (and since all opposition is liberal and all liberals lie, all opposition must be liberal lies).

Here are a couple of statistics Mr. Calef left out of his commentary: Forty percent of the Bush tax-cut is aimed at the wealthiest 1 percent (and some of us have a problem with that fact based on sound economic and social concerns); in the 1990s the United States experienced its greatest economic prosperity, even though, as Calef subjectively characterizes it, Clinton and the Democrats had “a screwed-up tax code” and were funding “wasteful programs.” Well, if that was screwed up, then I want more.

The real problem with Mr. Calef’s commentary is his irresponsible labeling. Why not stick to the facts instead of launching attacks with stereotyping?

What if I were to propose that those of us on the left side of the spectrum learn to name things better? I’m sure we can prevaricate as well as those on the right. How about “conservative coercion?” What about “right-wing whitewash?” I kind of like that one, but even I can’t say it three times fast.

We should just stick to the issues and facts instead of buying into a manipulative perspective of reality. Ah, what do I know? I’m just a tax-and-spend liberal.

Robin Stone

Assistant Professor

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