Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Label

Democratic, Republican, Conservative, Liberal, Progressive, Socialist, Communist, Capitalist, Radical

Pick a category.

I find all of the labels and terms frustrating and not conducive to understanding the real issues and points of view relevant to political debate.  People are so caught up in the labels and stereotypes that nothing can truly be discussed in any depth.

The Wizard of Oz in the Broadway show Wicked sings this...

"A Man's Called A Traitor or Liberator.
A Rich Man's A Thief or Philanthropist.
Is One A Crusader or ruthless invader?
It's all in which label is able to persist.
There Are Precious Few At Ease
With Moral Ambiguities,
So We Act As Though They Don't Exist."

Is the Wizard right?


We might as well label everything "A," "B," and "C."  Would that be harder or easier to remember?
Part of the problem is that anyone who identifies him or herself as a member of one of the above groups wants to tell you that everything he or she thinks as an "A" is sunshine and lollipops.  Also, the same person will tell you that all "B"s beliefs will lead to doom and gloom. The terms have been distorted.  The terms have been used and reused until they've become almost meaningless. 

The nouns "Democracy" and "Republic" have been mangled too.
Democracy is defined Merriam-Webster as...

1: government by the people; especially : rule of the majority b : a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections

2: a political unit that has a democratic government

3 capitalized : the principles and policies of the Democratic party in the United States <from emancipation Republicanism to New Deal Democracy — C. M. Roberts>

4: the common people especially when constituting the source of political authority

5: the absence of hereditary or arbitrary class distinctions or privileges

The country which during its existence was known to most of the world as "East Germany" was formally titled the German Democratic Republic.  I personally would have referred to it as a truly Socialist or Communist state, despite it's claims of "Republic" and "Democracy" in the title.

Is "The People's Republic of China" really a Republic?  Is China a place where the power of rule lies with the people?  It has a largely nationalized economy and oppressive government which clearly restricts the freedoms of its people.  I'll let you decide if the formal title of China truly describes it's nature or if maybe it's just trying to sound good to "the West."

"Conservative" can be used in an apolitical context to describe the closed, but peaceful nature of the American Amish.  "Liberal" can be used to describe the "free love" attitude of 1960s youth movements.  The terms have also changed over time and are extremely dependent on context.  Some so-called conservative values now, would have been considered highly liberal notions in the past.  Were the American Founding Fathers conservative or liberal?  If you transplanted them to today's context would most people consider them backwards thinking and small minded (a liberal's opinion of a conservative), or would they be considered radical, illogical or immoral loonies (conservative view of liberals)?

I don't have a solution to the "terms" problem, but I felt the need to express my frustration with the whole system of political labeling.  Maybe we should all just move to Oz where there's a Wizard who will tell us what we want to hear while tying our hands behind our backs.  Wait.... we already have governments doing that.

References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Republic_of_China