Maikimo.net taxonomy tags

I’ve been struggling to stop overly lumping in genuine, honest conservatives — with whom I have much in common — with the festering, malodorous sore on the face of democracy that is right-wing, extremist, neoconservative Bush Republicanism.

In this clarifying effort I can probably put to use Lefty’s semantics suggestion in a Daily Kos comment:

I’ve stopped using the term “conservative” as much as possible, preferring the term “regressive” instead. First, I feel it is a more accurate description of the debate to frame it in terms of regression and progress. Second, “regressive” sounds uglier and more undignified, much as the right wing has done with the term “liberal” in common usage over the last 20 years.

Sounds fair — regressive extremism is ugly and undignified. Thanks, Lefty.

But mostly, I’d rather live in a world that doesn’t need labels. How long, O Lord? Maybe when the lion lies down with the lamb? (popular reference, I think, to Isaiah 11 and 65)

Until then, though, as Martin Luther quipped, “If the lion lies down with the lamb, the lamb must be replaced frequently.”

As an Enneagram Nine I am often the lamb in conflictive situations. So for now accurate labeling — Crap! That’s a lion! — helps me lessen the frequency of my replacement.

And sometimes — on my good days — an accurate label reminds me to respect and engage the lion as a splendid fellow creature, even though all I see is him licking his chops and drooling.

In the interest of precision, I note that the text actually couples wolf with lamb, leopard with goat, and calf, lion, and yearling. No lion and lamb AFAIK. The message for me is clear enough, though: one day we’ll all get along.