I'm going to take a stab at some things I've read, and don't understand fully:
Language shapes the concepts we use to understand and communicate. It is very difficult, if not impossible to understand something you cannot explain in language (I include mathematics and other symbology in this).
A standard tactic of propagandists, enshrined in the tactics of the Nazis, the Soviets, and Saul Alinsky (to name a few) has been to take control of the language; use words to mean what you want them to mean, and repeat them in that context until they become accepted by your target audience. George Orwell described it well in "1984"; "political correctness" is its embodiment in our current society.
I can't speak to the definitions of "Liberal", "Conservative", "Progressive", or "Libertarian", but I have a firm conviction that the political spectrum is _not_ linear and that until we who favor the conviction that this country was founded on the principles of minimal governmental interference on guaranteed personal freedoms gain control of the _language_ of the national debate, those who feel that the State is the ultimate arbiter of our freedoms will continue to gain power and influence.
Language shapes the concepts we use to understand and communicate. It is very difficult, if not impossible to understand something you cannot explain in language (I include mathematics and other symbology in this).
A standard tactic of propagandists, enshrined in the tactics of the Nazis, the Soviets, and Saul Alinsky (to name a few) has been to take control of the language; use words to mean what you want them to mean, and repeat them in that context until they become accepted by your target audience. George Orwell described it well in "1984"; "political correctness" is its embodiment in our current society.
I can't speak to the definitions of "Liberal", "Conservative", "Progressive", or "Libertarian", but I have a firm conviction that the political spectrum is _not_ linear and that until we who favor the conviction that this country was founded on the principles of minimal governmental interference on guaranteed personal freedoms gain control of the _language_ of the national debate, those who feel that the State is the ultimate arbiter of our freedoms will continue to gain power and influence.