Maybe Jack hasn't lost his soul.

My son Jack has a distorted definition of liberal. In fact, one might call it a half-assed grasp. Which is typical of an ultra-conservative. Only thing is, Jack isn’t a conservative. Rather in the past 10 years away from home, Jack has been brainwashed. Jack ain’t stupid. He has an analytical mind. If only he uses it. Jack has been known for lack of intellectual pursuit. Especially when he was young and attending school. He chose not to be a quick learner. Even now, at age 50, he’s still trying to figure out how to use his own mind. Effectively. He’s still capable of falling for conservative bullshit. Not as much as he used to. But nevertheless, he still falls for some of it. Like the idea of what a liberal is supposed to be. A few hours ago, Jack thought I’d be for schizophrenics using medicinal marijuana. I might be. Under the right circumstances. But generally not. I think marijuana can do far more harm than good to schizophrenics. Jack says that makes me less than a liberal. Which shows his ignorance. Because liberals like me don’t allow ourselves to be pigeonholed. We’re flexible. Very flexible. We don’t adopt hard and fast rules. We’re open-minded. We’ll even support conservative positions. For the sake of compromise. To meet people half way. We liberals are in constant motion. On the move. Doesn’t bother us to change our stance on issues. Or to even contradict ourselves. For the sake of achieving peace and harmony. Better that than going to war and killing each other. When it comes to budget talks, we liberals are far more like Barack Obama than like most Republicans. We’ll bargain. For the sake of achieving a settlement. We call it compromise. For the sake of saving the nation. The ultra-conservative Republicans would rather destroy the nation and the economy than abandon a ludicrous principle. Yes, a conservative will proclaim that he has a right to be an idiot. And to be proud of it. Because a conservative wants to always know where he is at in this universe. Locked down. Solid as a rock. Immovable. Inflexible. Yes, a complete idiot. That’s why conservatives try to define liberals. In downright nasty and stupid ways. They want to create a bogus enemy. Something they can oppose. They want everything to be black or white. Good or evil. No inbetweens. We liberals don’t buy into that crap. Jack is beginning to learn that. It’s a sign of progress. Maybe Jack hasn’t lost his mind. Or better yet, hasn't lost his soul. –Jim Broede