— OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT —

Let it be known that from this day forward, the scribe whose words you are at this moment reading will rechristen himself – drum roll please – “reformist”.

As a former editor who takes the meanings of words seriously and often literally, I’ve always had a problem with the terms liberal and conservative. Yes, I know that even many liberals think liberal is a dirty word, which is why they rechristened themselves the woefully inaccurate term “progressive,” as if imitating the pre-crisis public policies of Greece is “progress.”

But as a former liberal myself (up through around grad school), I never regarded it as a dirty word for the most part, except in the sense of overdoing something like “spend liberally”. It’s also supposed to mean well-rounded and open-minded, although many “liberals” are some of the most closed-minded people I know. It has a positive connotation in the sense of “liberal arts education,” or “classical liberal” – i.e. the Adam Smith sense of free markets and free trade.

“Conservative” isn’t a dirty word except perhaps among lefties. Righties are proud to describe themselves as conservative and use the term all the time.

Even so, conservative – and liberal – mean different things at different times, and in different places. In China and Russia, a conservative is someone who wants to revert to the far-left policies of old, and a liberal is someone who wants to enact free-market reforms. In the United States, by contrast, the situation is reversed.

Conservative can mean keeping things as they are – which is just how it should be for many of our age-old institutions. But for other phenomena, such as decades-old, ossified government programs that are bankrupting the country and that are in serious need of reform, would it not be “conservative” to keep the programs as they are?

There you have some of the problems surrounding the use of the terms “conservative” and “liberal.” Again, as a former editor I take the meanings of words seriously. So a much more accurate description of where I stand politically is “reformist”.

Reform means changing something for the better. And there are lots of programs and institutions in this country that need to undergo such overhauls. (Note that some things erroneously get labeled as “reform” even though they’re change for the worse, like Obamacare.)

So I hereby declare that henceforth I shall describe myself as a reformist. And if you, reader, are of a like-minded persuasion, then you should rechristen yourself reformist as well.

— END OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT —

As we settle into this Thanksgiving, it’s worth remembering some of what the second permanent English settlers in the New World (the first being the Jamestown settlers) went through in order to lay the groundwork for what later was to become the United States of America. Here’s some food for thought, courtesy of the History Channel DVD Desperate Crossing: The Untold Story of the Mayflower.

* The Pilgrims spent 10 years living in the Netherlands (where there was more religious freedom than in England), before deciding to set off to the New World.

* About half the passengers were non-Pilgrims who just wanted to go to the New World as well, whom the Pilgrims called the Strangers – although after two months of crossing the Atlantic in close quarters it’s doubtful that they were considered strangers anymore.

* They were victims of a bait and switch deal where the investors who financed the voyage at the last minute demanded that the Pilgrims had to work six days a week for them after getting to the New World – like indentured servants. By that time the Pilgrims were too deeply into the project (e.g. had sold their land and many of their possessions) to back out.

* Just before departing they had to sell off literally tons of supplies in the ship in order to pay additional bills.

* They wanted to leave in spring or early summer but were beset by delays so they finally set off in August, with the Mayflower and Speedwell. But the Speedwell started taking on too much water so they turned back to have it repaired. After waiting a few weeks they set off again and had to turn back yet again, finally deciding that the Speedwell was just too unseaworthy. They lost a month that way, so had to set off in September, one of the worst possible times not only because of the Atlantic gales revving up, but because that meant they would arrive in the New World in November at the beginning of winter.

* During a storm, a main support beam cracked, threatening the integrity of the whole ship. But they managed a make-shift solution.

* According to the agreement with the investors, they were supposed to arrive and settle in the Hudson River Valley – not far from present-day New York City. They reached landfall around Cape Cod, then headed south toward the mouth of the Hudson, but got caught in the Pollock Rip Shoals off of Cape Cod where many many ships have gone down. They were in grave danger but fortunately the wind direction shifted and they managed to turn back.

* A schism broke out, with some of them saying their special laws drawn up for their venture will be invalidated if they don’t settle within the Virginia Colony, which at that time encompassed part of the Hudson River Valley. That’s what led to an onboard agreement – now called the Mayflower Compact – in which they drew up special rules and regulations to abide by in lieu of the Virginia Colony laws.

* They originally tried to settle down on Cape Cod but realized they had antagonized the Nauset tribe too much by digging up their mounds containing stored provisions and disturbing grave sites. So they settled on the mainland at what they called Plymouth, which turned out to be a poor choice for settlement compared to the present-day Boston Harbor 40 miles to the north. They chose a spot where a group of Wampanoags called the Patuxet had lived. They villages were deserted, because four years earlier in about 1616, almost all of the Patuxet along with thousands of others up and down the northern coast had died from plague, probably from germs brought over by a French ship.

* By February or March, only a little over half of the original 102 passengers were still alive. Most had died from scurvy and other diseases, including their governor, John Carver.

* Several months after arriving they finally established relations with the Wampanoag. Squanto, one of the few surviving Pautuxet, chose to live with them and taught them a lot about surviving in the new world. Squanto already could speak English, because several years before, he was captured by traders/slavers and sold as a slave in Malaga, Spain, where he escaped to London and made his way back to his homeland.

* That spring, the Mayflower and its crew headed back to England, many months later than what they originally planned. It only took a month to go back, versus the two-month journey the way there. When it arrived in London, the investors were expecting the ship to be loaded with valuable goods from the New World. It was only loaded with rocks, for ballast.

There was a WSJ op-ed where the author laments the media’s labeling of all things Republican with red and Democrats with blue:

“Perhaps the most brazen language diktat has been the mischievous switch of political colors. … The change came in 2000 courtesy of MSNBC and NBC’s “Today” show. …Saddling your political rivals with a symbol to which they have been historically opposed is an even better and naughtier joke. Either it was that or numbing cluelessness.”

The red-blue switch used to somewhat bother me but not anymore. Want to know why the use of “red” and “blue” is so much more common now than it was pre-2000? Because the Dems must have hated the “red” label due to its association with communism. They were insecure with that, and didn’t want people to think they were that far to the left. Now that Repubs have been annointed with the “red” label, no one’s going to associate Republicans with communism.

So let the pundits have their fun. The switch has freed the media (who of course lean left) from that insecurity. Using the terms “Democrat” and “Republican” all the time can get boring, so why not liven things up a bit – add some color to the conversation – by throwing “red” and “blue” into the mix?

Last week marked the passing of the venerable Bob Rice, a long-time denizen of the north woods of Wisconsin, in the Chequamegon National Forest, Clam Lake, Wisconsin. Age, 63.

Bob was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs. Not long after graduating from high school, he moved up to the forests northern Wisconsin and never looked back. There he bought 40 acres (later expanded to 80), and built a small home on Red Ike Lake, which he added on to over the years. He always talked about his desire to have a power line run out to his house, and after many years it finally happened. Until then he got his electricity from a gas-powered generator.

He married Lynn Holter, the daughter of master wood carver Jerry Holter of Clam Lake, and had two kids, Nate, now serving in Iraq, and Anna, a college freshman.

At our cabin – what I call the Lake House in the Middle of the Woods, bought by my dad decades ago – Bob was our closest neighbor, about a mile’s trek through the woods. I spent a lot of time at Bob’s, especially when I lived up there right after high school while working at Telemark resort 20 miles away. He was a man of integrity, humor, knowledge, friendliness, helpfulness, and dedication. As a master carpenter, he could build or fix anything. He died with his boots on; I’m told that he was still in the middle of building a mansion. I’m also told that the owner of the mansion must be devastated because he liked Bob so much – not just for his work, but for his good company. Someone else told my mom that he was his best friend. I’m sure lots of folks considered Bob their best friend.

Bob managed to give up smoking and never resume, but not so, I am told, the bottle. It appears latter is what, perhaps indirectly, finally did him in. But even so, 63 years of good cheer, hard work, and a love of the north woods is a pretty good life.

Now Bob is living it up on the great Red Ike in the sky.