By Staff
If there is a contest taking place, then some age-old expressions take on renewed importance. It takes two to tango, or there is no substitute for winning, or the name of the game is winning. The contest might be a game of checkers or a basketball game, or then it could be a political race in which some ugly charges have been thrown out against one candidate. Of course, how one wins is always important, and when the votes are counted and when the dust has been cleared away, the candidate making the ugly charges has won. So often it is then that the people come to realize just how mean and despicable political campaigns can be.
Over the years, we have seen many campaigns in which mud was thrown and which the attacker managed to convince enough voters that the charges he has hurled are true, so his charges are believed.
Here in this Pamlico area of North Carolina, we have the most conservative electorate of anywhere in this state. In a political contest the campaign strategy so often seems to hinge on the charge that such and such a candidate is a liberal. We now repeat a statement we have often made here over the past 53 1/2 years of editorial writing. There are liberal and conservative Democrats and there are liberal and conservative Republicans. Here in this Pamlico area, not every Democrat is liberal and not every Republican is conservative. But in political campaigns, it seems winning strategy to call a Democrat a liberal.
Now if we look over this nation of ours, a candidate in Minnesota would not dare run for public office as a conservative. It would be doomsday immediately if he did. No candidate in this Pamlico area would run for office as an avowed liberal.
If we take a look at politics and politicians in the New England area of America, we find within a given state such as Maine or New Hampshire candidates running as conservatives, when in reality and according to our Pamlico area standards, a conservative there would be classified as a liberal here. Democrats control Boston and in general they control the state of Massachusetts. And those in control pride themselves on being liberal.
Actually, the terms of liberal and conservative are used rather loosely here in our state. Definitions of each given here in North Carolina would hold no water in New England or Minnesota or California.
From what we read, the state of California is so mixed up, politically speaking, that neither liberal nor conservative can hardly describe the situation there.
Because of the manner in which the two words are used, we might see a group discussing whether that one is a Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative.
In America while there has been no such move in this direction, one day we might have lost Democrat and Republican parties entirely and be living with Liberal and Conservative parties.
It just could happen one day or one year.