It is critical to understand that what the pundits mean when they say conservative or liberal. Conservative and liberal are the states of mind, the attitudes, of being somewhat cautious of change and new ideas or of being more open, less restrained in recognizing valuable change. Both are very supportive of individual freedom and individual responsibility. Just as both insist upon restrained government, they both insist upon limiting the absolute rule of the few over the many.

A true liberal and a true conservative do not differ so much in goal as in the speed that change is accepted for that goal. Neither would fail to weigh the worth of what we have against whatever burden of its flaws.

This is not what our pundits–the paid-for-yapping noisemakers of every variety–mean when they use the terms. In fact, our yappers have no idea that such simple and clear definitions exist.

What they confuse with liberal is better defined as left-wing, assuming one has a clear definition of left-wing.

What the yappers refer to as conservative is actually right-wing.

Those terms, left-wing and right-wing, only seem themselves vague until one backs up a few yards and looks at what it is that the lefties and righties are trying to accomplish.

The left-wingers are out to cast aside everything in our society and replace it with anything that comes along. They have determined that the ethics, morals, conventions, standards, and practices with which our civilization is built all must go. They are actually communistic. The left-winger knows where you should work, knows how your money should be spent–in fact, knows everything about how to run your life better than you do.

The right-winger is very little better. They know that you should obey orders always, do what you are told, believe what you are told to believe, and never, ever question the motives, ethics, or decisions of the government. They believe that power and money equate to good, and that the most powerful and rich are the best. Though money and power can be achieved in ethical and unethical ways–to a right-winger, their only question is legality. As long as no law is broken, the filth, misery, and blood spattered on each dollar gained is immaterial. In terms of government, the right-winger is fascistic.

Left wing and right wing, they are both dim shades of the real thing. They are harsh, distorted echoes, unwelcome and distasteful harmonics of the states of mind, liberal and conservative, which they claim to be.

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To be clear, the term “pundit” originally meant a wise person. In our society, it means mouthpiece, paid to sound wise no matter how insincere, stupid, or imbecilic. They are not paid to inform but to excite emotion for and against. Except in their own minds, they are not journalists. I doubt we have even one who would stand up to Joseph McCarthy or spill the beans on Joseph Stalin, especially not if their incomes, much less their lives, were on the line.