Weâre about to enter a Virginia election year and thereâs one thing thatâs certain: Weâll hear Republicans accuse Democrats of being liberals and Democrats accuse Republicans of being conservative.
Of course, sometimes not even those labels suffice as pejoratives. Sometimes weâll hear candidates tack on the adjective âmostâ as in âso-and-so is the most liberal legislatorâ or the âmost conservativeâ â depending, of course, on what part of the state youâre in.
Itâs amazing how much power we give to certain words, as if those words actually mean something. Sometimes they do, of course, but sometimes they donât. Calling someone something does not make them so. Wouldnât it be better if we had some objective measure of just who is liberal and who is conservative and how liberal and conservative they actually are?