Definitions

As I was going through this process there were some words I just assumed I knew the definitions of, some I didn’t know and some I knew.  Then I was thinking about how it could be helpful to have some of these words defined for everyone while we have these conversations.  To help ensure we are all using the same language.  We start here.  Then, I am hoping that as our conversations continue, we can grow it and find “working” definitions for us all.    

PS- this was a lot of typing (copying and pasting made the spacing all off), if there are any typos please let me know. Thank you :)

Defined by Merriam-Webster as-  https://www.merriam-webster.com/

conservative-

noun: 2. a. one who adheres to traditional methods or views 

              b. a cautious or discreet person

adjective: 2. a. tending or disposed to maintain existing views, conditions, or institutions

        b. marked by moderation or caution

                     c. marked by or relating to traditional norms of taster, elegance, style or manners

Where it applies in a political way-

adjective: 1. a. of a relating to philosophy of conservatism

                     b. of the constituting a political party professing the principles of conservatism

noun: 1. a. an adherent or advocate of political conservatism

               b. Conservative: a member or supporter of a political party

conservatism-

noun: 3. the tendency to prefer an existing or traditional situation to change

Where it applies in a political way-

noun: 1. a. the principles and policies of a Conservative party

               b. the Conservative party

           2. a. disposition in politics to preserve what is established

               b. a political philosophy based on tradition and social stability, stressing established    institutions, and preferring gradual development to abrupt change

liberal-

noun: a person who is liberal: such as:

           a. one person who is open-minded or not strict in the observance of orthodox, traditional, or established forms or ways

adjective: 1. a. of, relating to, or based on the liberal arts

                     b. archaic: of or befitting a man of free birth

                 2. a. marked by generosity

                     b. given or provided in a generous and openhanded way

                     c. ample, full

                 3. obsolete: lacking moral restraint

                 4. not literal or strict

                 5. broad-minded

Where it applies in the political way-

noun: b. Liberal: a member or supporter of a liberal political party

          c. an advocate or adherent of liberalism especially in individual rights

adjective: 6. a. of, favoring, or based upon principles of liberalism

                     b. Liberal: of a constituting a political party advocating or associated with principles of political liberalism

Liberalism-

noun: 1. the quality or state of being liberal

           2. a.Liberalism: a movement in modern Protestantism emphasizing intellectual liberty and the spiritual and ethical content of Christianity

               b. a theory in economics emphasizing individual freedom restraint and usually based on free competition, the self-regulating market and the gold standard

Where it applies in the political way-

noun: 2. c. a political philosophy based on belief in progress, the essential goodness of the human race and the autonomy of the individual and standing for the protection of political and civil liberties

                d. Liberalism: the principles and policies of a Liberal

right-

noun: 1. qualities (such as adherence to duty or obedience to lawful authority) that together constitute the ideal of moral propriety or merit moral approval

           2. something to which one has a just claim: such as

1.  The power or privilege to which one is justly entitled

2. (1) the interest that one has in a piece of property- often used in plural

(2) rights plural: the property interest possessed under law custom and agreement in the intangible thing especially of literary and artistic nature

           3. something that one may properly claim as due

           4. the cause of truth or justice

           5. a. right hand sense

               b. the location or direction of the right side

               c. The part on the right side

               d. right field

               e. a turn to the right

           6. a. the true account or correct interpretation

               b. the quality or state of being factually correct

           9. a. a privilege given stockholders to subscribe pro rata to new issue of securities generally below market price

               b. the negotiable certificate evidencing such privilege- usually used in plural

adjective: 1. righteous, upright

                 2. being in accordance with what is just, good or proper

                 3. Conforming to facts or truth

                 4. suitable, appropriate

                 5. straight

                 6. genuine, real

                 7. a. of, relating to, situated on, or being the side on which is away from the side on which the heart is mostly located

                     b. located nearer to the right hand than to the left

                     c. located to the right of an observer facing the object specified or directed as the right arm would point when raised out to the side

                     d. (1) located on the right of an observer facing in the same direction as the object specified

                          (2) located on the right when facing downstream 

                     e. done with the right hand

                   8. having the axis perpendicular to the base

                   9. Of, relating to, or constituting the principal or more prominent side of an object

                   10. acting or judging in accordance with truth or fact

                   11. a. being in good physical or mental health or order

                         b. being in a correct or proper state

                   12. Most favorable or desired

Where it applies in the political way-

noun:  7. Often capitalized

   a. the part of a legislative chamber located to the right of the presiding officer

   b. the members of a continental European legislative body occupying the right as a result of holding more conservative political views than other members

           8. a. individuals professing support of the established order and favoring traditional attitudes and practices and conservative governmental policies

               b. a conservative position

adjective: Right: of adhering to, or constituted by the Right especially in politics

(other definitions as an adverb and verb)

left- 

noun: 1. a. the left hand

               b. the location or direction on the left side

               c. the part of the left side

               d. a turn to the left

           2. a. left field

               b. a blow struck with the left fist

adjective: 1. a. of, relating to, situated on, or being the side of the body in which the heart is mostly located

                     b. done with the left hand

                     c. Located nearer to the left hand than the right

                     d. (1) located on the left of an observer facing the same direction as the object specified

                          (2) located on the left when facing downstream

Where it applies in the political way-

 noun:  3. Often capitalized

   a. the part of a legislative chamber located to the left of the presiding officer

   b. the members of a continental European legislative body occupying the left as a result of holding more radical political views than other members

            4. a. those professing views usually characterized by desire to reform or overthrow the established order especially in politics and usually advocating change in the name of the greater freedom or well-being of the common man

                b. a conservative position

adjective: Right: of adhering to, or constituted by the left especially in politics

The Right-

noun: 1. political groups who favor traditional attitudes and practices and conservative policies

          2. The right: the position of people who favor traditional attitudes and practices and conservative policies of the political Right

The Left-

noun: 1. political groups who favor sharing money and property more equally among the members of a society: political groups who support liberal or socialist policies

          2. The left: the position of people who support the liberal beliefs and policies of the political left

republican-

noun: 1. one that favors or supports a republican form of government

           2. A. Republican: a member of a political party advocating republicanism

               B. Republican: a member of the Democratic-Republican party of the Republican party of the US

adjective: 1. a. of, relating to, or having the characteristics of a republic

                     b. favoring, supporting, or advocating a republic

                     c. Belonging or appropriate to one living in or supporting a republic  

                 2. a. DEMOCRATIC-REPUBLICAN

                     b. of, relating to, or constituting the one of the two major political parties evolving in the US in the mid-19the century that is usually primarily associated with business, financial, and some agricultural interests and is held to favor a restricted governmental role in economic life 

republic- 

noun: 1. a. (1)  a government having a chief of state who is not a monarch and who in modern times is usually a president

                   (2) a political unit (such as a nation) having such a form of government

               b. (1) a government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them and governing according to law

                   (2) a political unit (such as a nation) having such a form of government

               c. a usually specified republican government of a political unit

          2. a body of persons freely engaged in a specified activity

          3. a constituent political and territorial unit of the former nations of Czechoslovakia, the USSR or Yugoslavia

democrat- 

noun: 1. a. an adherent of democracy

               b. one who practices social equality

           2. Democrat: a member of the Democratic party of the US

democracy-

noun: 1. a. government by the people; especially: rule of 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. Democracy: the principles and policies of the Democratic party in the US

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

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

GOP-

Grand Old Party (Republican)

originalism-

noun: US law: a legal philosophy that the words in the documents and especially the US Constitution should be interested as they were understood at the time they were written 

liberty-

noun: 1. the quality or state of being free:

1. the power to do as one pleases

2. freedom from physical restraint

3. freedom from arbitrary or despotic control

4. the positive enjoyment of various social, political or economic rights and privileges

5. the power of choice

           2. a. a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription of by grant

               b. permission especially to go freely within specified limits

           3. an action going beyond normal limits: such as

               a. a breach of etiquette or propriety

               b. risk, chance

               c. a violation of rules or deviation from standard practice

               d. a distortion of fact

           4. a short authorized absence from naval duty usually for less than 48 hours

freedom-

noun: 1. the quality or state of being free: such as 

1. the absence of necessity, coercion or constraint in choice or action

2. liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another

3. the quality or state of being exempt or released from something onerous

4. unrestricted use

5. ease, facility

6. the quality of being frank, open or outspoken

7. improper familiarity

8. boldness of conception or execution

           2. a. a political right

             b. franchise, privilege

patriotism-

noun: love for or devotion to one’s country

founding fathers- 

noun: 1. an originator of an institution or movement

           2. Founding Fathers: a leading figure in the founding of the US; specifically: a member of the

American Constitutional Convention of 1787

government- 

noun: 1. the body of persons that constitutes the governing authority of a political unit or organization: such

as

a. the officials comprising the governing body of a political unit and constituting the organization

as an active agency
b. Government: the executive branch of the US federal government
c. Government: a small group of persons holding simultaneously the principal political executive

offices of a nation or other political unit and being responsible for direction and supervision of public affairs

1. administration

2. such a group in a parliamentary system constituted by the cabinet or by the ministry

             2. a. the organization, machinery or agency through which a political unit exercises authority and

performs functions and which is usually classified according to the distribution of power within it

                 b. the complex of political institutions, laws and customs through which the function of governing

is carried out

            3. the act or process of governing

            4. the continuous exercise of authority over the performance of functions for a political unit

            5. political science

            6. a. the office, authority or function of governing

                b. obsolete: the term during which a governing official holds office

            7. obsolete: moral conduct or behavior

govern-

verb: 1. a. to exercise continuous sovereign authority over

             b. to rule without sovereign power and usually without having the authority to determine basic policy

           2. a. archaic

               b. to control the speed of (a machine) especially by automatic means

           3. a. to control, direct or strongly influence the actions and conduct of

               b. to exert a determining or guiding influence in or over

               c. to hold in check

           4. to require (a word) to be in a certain case

           5. to serve as a precedent or deciding principle for

intransitive verb: 1. to prevail or have decisive influence

                            2. to exercise authority

By Rick Kunz

Since I have been invoked at the beginning of this blog experience, I thought I would contribute a couple of excerpts from a piece I have been working on for quite some time.  It addresses the ideas of Freedom and Liberty and the difference between the two.  I begin with a hypercritical commentary which I defend because it has always frustrated and saddened me that we take our inheritance so much for granted and fail to live up to the expectations of our forefathers.  I have ended this contribution with an outline of my vision of America which I call on all my fellow citizens to consider with due reverence. 

R.A. Kunz

On a most momentous day in history -- September 17, 1787, last of the constitutional convention -- Benjamin Franklin rose to speak, urging unity, entreating his fellow delegates to unanimously endorse the document over which they had labored for months.  He offered this insight, “…there is no form of Government but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered, and believe farther that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in Despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic Government, being incapable of any other.”

            That Franklin’s prophetic words would come to pass has been a long time coming.  The truth is Americans no longer believe in self-government; there is no one left with the fortitude to assume the responsibilities it demands.   Through neglect, the vision of our forefathers is vanishing.  Therein lies the corruption -- far more insidious than Franklin could ever imagine – an incontinent virus flaring across our culture affixing itself to our sense of reality, attacking antibodies of common sense and rationality.  Such a learned intellectual as Franklin could never conceive of a people so incapable of processing abstract thought into their construct of reality.  Liberty and Freedom -- mere words now -- words which won’t pay the bills, put food on the table or add to a 401(k); words which no longer guide our choices, substantiate our values, or conform to the meaning we attach to our lives.

On that final morning it had come time to sign.  Franklin attempts to drag his fellow framers over the last hurdle.  For months they had debated, disagreed.  The venerable document was a product of the difficult task of compromise which can be defined as working together while disagreeing. In his speech Franklin laid out the conditions of liberty.  “I can not help expressing a wish that every member of the convention who may still have objections to it, would with me, on this occasion doubt a little of his own infallibility, and make manifest our unanimity.”    This was in part the truly revolutionary concept fashioned in Philadelphia.  Their differences could have been settled using the age-old solution:  Method 1.   Either by force of will or force of arms a government could have been fashioned.  But would it have lasted?  The colonies were fearful of their vulnerability; surrounded by rapacious world powers on all sides who, as Franklin reminded them were, “waiting with confidence to hear that our councils are confounded…and that our states are on the point of separation only to meet hereafter for the purpose of cutting one another’s throats.”  --

-- Nothing unites like fear.

No.  This group, having studied, not only history but human nature, rejecting all previous forms, drew up a blueprint for a new form of government based on the principles of Method 2, a self-governing citizenry, their consensus the source of its power, its future entrusted to the care of each succeeding generation.  Many rich and powerful nations have come and they have gone.  These could not last, founded as they were on temporal matters which, by decree of nature, must return from whence they came.  Only one nation has been built around an idea centered on the human spirit: a power transcendent of time and space – a power flowing eternal.  Despite their disagreements, together these men wrote a score of ethereal genius, intended to unite, imperfect, unfinished, leaving it to others to execute, to improve, bring it closer to the fuller truth. 

We did not win our independence by calling people names or form our government with catchy phrases and colorful hats.  What made America great was the courage to fight for our ideals and the wisdom to put into words a vision slowly growing in the hearts of humans from the beginning of time; to set their own destiny and grant to each other the rights which had been only a dream for millennia; a dream enshrined in our constitution – a living document entrusted to our care, dependent on our defense.  America is not defined by geographic boundaries.  America is a set of ideals – a vision of what is possible when humans live together united in their dedication to equality for all. The majesty and breathtaking scope of the American Experience lies not in the vacillations of a superficial stock market or the gluttonous growth of Gross Domestic Product.  It is not measured by a count of tanks and bombs.  It is not calibrated by physical attributes or social distinctions.  It is neither glamor nor glitz, celebrity, or the trappings of conspicuous consumption.  These are false obsessions captured in the black hole of comparative values.  No, for those with wisdom to envision, it is held in the spirit of a people strong and wise enough to govern themselves. 

Property of Richard A. Kunz

Tonight

Today is one of my kiddos birthday's and Election Day.  The 2 voters in our home voted early and today's focus has been on the birthday.  We enjoyed the birthday meals (kiddos in our house choose what we eat for the day on their birthday), did school (we homeschool and have for a few years), had a Barbie wedding (inspired by granddaughter), told the story of their first birthday (...years ago today I was...) and occasionally listened to news coverage.  Typically, birthdays are all about the birthday person, they plan the day for us.  I usually have things I do throughout the day but no other plans are made- it's the one day of the year that is all about that ONE person. :)

Obviously, over the last 26 years there have been times that my mind was split but rarely.  This was the first time it was on the news, on an election, on "the future of our country".  I knew there was nothing to see, to learn, I had told my kiddos there won't be a conclusion till the next day; I knew it.  But my mind was there.  That was new to me.  

This is not the first time I have experienced something new over the last 5 years in the "political" world but it caused me to reflect on how many I have had.  I am slightly ashamed -now- that I didn't always pay as much attention to that world.  I grew up with my father having a copy of the Thomas Jefferson Bible as well as the King James Version, quoting Founding Fathers, listening to NPR, watching the news and "discussing" the topics with the TV and radio.  He always challenged us to think.  

I was going through things from my childhood this summer.  I found some letters my father had written us, his children.  This is from one of the letters he wrote us "But the habit of critically thinking- of hearing, listening, evaluating and understanding- is very important. The United States of America is one of the most important things that humanity has ever done. It was built on the notion that all things should be free.... Freedom is thinking. There is no other way. Above all, I want my children to live freely."  This has stayed with me over these last months.  And honestly, probably stayed with me throughout my life, even if not consciously.  

There was a time, probably 15 years ago, when something was going on with our state governor and my father and I were talking on the phone.  I had no idea what he was talking about.  I still remember his voice as he said "Khriste May".  That was it.  That was when I realized I needed to be paying attention.  I justified it at the time that if I was homeschooling my kiddos (11, 5, 3 at the time) I needed to know so I could share it with them.  I still didn't like watching the news so I would read the newspaper.  And I grew from there.

Flash forward to 2015, I am still not able to coherently put all my thoughts together (I am hoping this can be a place to that, not just for myself but for others).  Then to 2018, talking with my daughter as she is going to vote for the first time.  Then 2020.  I share some of that time in the blog Why?.  Then, November 3rd, 2020, sitting on the couch, TV on in the background, with my daughter and the dog, as she colors, I type, pausing to note called states on our Electoral College Map printouts, everyone else in bed.  Wondering why this time is different.  Not just for me.  For everyone.  Wondering what it means for us, as a family, as a town, county, state, as a country, as humans, as members of the human race.  Wondering what it means for our world, our planet, our future.