Political labels — not political names or issues — dominated the local headlines after the Sept. 7 primary election: “Conservatives Oust GOP Moderates” and “Conservatives Win Big In GOP Legislative Races,” for example.

But these attempts to put politicians and their fan bases into neatly abbreviated boxes can be misleading and even meaningless, say pollsters, political observers (including some in the press) and politicians themselves.

“We tend to stay away from them,” said pollster Bruce Merrill, professor of journalism and mass communication at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Communication at Arizona State University. Political labels are “more important to journalists,” he said.

Lobbyist John MacDonald agrees.

“They are so broad as to be almost irrelevant,” he said. “They’re shorthand for the media.”

In many cases, policies at major news media organizations tend to discourage the use of political labels.

“Voice of America journalists… avoid at all times the use of unattributed pejorative terms or labels to describe persons or organizations, except when the individuals and groups use those labels to describe themselves or their activities,” states the VOA Journalistic Code.

“Too often, labels reveal more about the author of a story than they do about the subject,” writes Stephen Jukes of Reuters news service.

And this from The Associated Press Style Book and Libel Manual: “In general, avoid these terms (leftist, ultra-leftist, rightist, ultra-rightist) in favor of a more precise description of an individual’s political philosophy.”

Charles Lewis, bureau chief for Hearst Newspapers, says, however, some basic labels are acceptable, but they shouldn’t be embellished.

“We believe political labels, such as ‘liberal, conservative and moderate,’ are essential in certain circumstances, though we would never allow such modifiers as ‘left-wing’ or ‘right-wing’ because they are pejorative, rather than educational.”

Positioning themselves on the political spectrum, incumbent Arizona legislators and challengers certainly labeled themselves during the past legislative session and in their primary campaigns.

Embracing Labels

“I are a mod,” quipped Sen. Carolyn Allen, R-8, during a floor speech in May in which she lashed out against political organizations that she said were trying to defeat Republicans, such as herself, who supported increased spending for education and child welfare programs, a woman’s right to abortion and who opposed a constitutional amendment against gay marriage.

Ms. Allen defeated Robert Ditchey, who was supported by the Center for Arizona Policy, which promotes its mission to support “ pro-family laws and values in Arizona… to increase support for the traditional family.”

“I am the conservative choice,” said Mr. Ditchey in a pre-election interview.

In his unsuccessful bid to replace Sen. Linda Binder, R-3, Rep. Bill Wagner labeled himself based, in part, on the condition of the state’s financial ship.

“I can operate as a conservative or a moderate,” explaining he votes conservatively when the economy is down, but favors higher spending — an “investment,” he called it — when the economy is on the rise.

Hard To Avoid

Rep. Phil Hanson, R-9, said that although political labels are not always fair, they’re difficult to avoid. “It’s hard to talk about issues without labeling.” He described himself as a “conservative with moderate tendencies.” As an example, he said he is opposed to gay marriage, but is pro-choice.

A mail piece from Rick Murphy, who defeated Mr. Hanson in the primary, charged that Mr. Hanson was “Dangerously Liberal on Crime.”

“They labeled me a liberal, and that’s worse than being a moderate,” Mr. Hanson said.

Mr. MacDonald said, “Only in Arizona could you label Phil Hanson a moderate. It’s a basic fact of legislative life that lawmakers are going to view issues individually. Your conservative friend today may be your liberal enemy tomorrow.”

In commenting on his election loss, Mr. Hanson used another label to describe a faction in his Republican Party, saying the “right wing” of the party threatens to destroy it in the next several years.

Governor Napolitano, who says she doesn’t label herself, told Arizona Capitol Times political labels “don’t work any more.”

“They are a roadmap to keep track of the players,” she said, but voters look for candidates’ stands on issues, rather than labels.

Historically, the terms “conservative” and “liberal” originated from the United Kingdom’s Conservative and Liberal parties established in the 18th century.

“A conservative tends to be for the free market in economic affairs and against what he calls ‘big government,” states a political dictionary published by American Spirit, a non-partisan educational organization. “On social issues conservatives are pro-family, anti-abortion and, in general, support traditional moral values and religion.”

The American Spirit dictionary says a liberal “is a person who believes it is the duty of government to ameliorate social conditions and create a more equitable society. Liberals favor generous spending on the welfare state; they exhibit a concern for minorities, the poor, and the disadvantaged. This also applies to crime and juvenile delinquency, where liberals are as concerned with removing the social causes of such behavior as they are with detection and punishment.

“Liberals also tend to be concerned about environmental issues, the defense of civil liberties, and do not favor excessive military spending,” the publication says.

Moderates, the dictionary says, are “not extreme.” “Moderate political policies are those that occupy the middle ground, between the right and the left and that do not try to effect fundamental societal change,” says the publication.

As applied to politics, the terms “left” and “right” came into use after the French Revolution. The “liberals” sat to the left of the president’s chair in the French National Assembly, the “moderates” in the center and the “conservatives” to the right.

William McGowan writes in Scholastic Update that political labels are far from exact.

“As legislators toil at the cumbersome process of making the nation’s laws, such labels are tossed around like hand grenades…” he writes.

“But what do these labels mean≠ And do they mean the same thing they used to≠” Mr. McGowan asks.

Political Labels Passé≠

ASU’s Mr. Merrill says “conservative” and “liberal” fit only 15 per cent of the population. “I’m not sure the terms in an academic sense are very meaningful,” he said.

Mr. Merrill said that surveys he has done to measure voter feelings about politicians showed little difference in their opinions between when questioners used just the politician’s name and when a description, such a “conservative,” or even a title, such as “senator,” was used with the name.

Furthermore, broad political labels will become passé, Mr. Merrill said, because of the need for a new standard of terms to meet the “rise of single-issue constituencies” which focus on “Judeo-Christian issues and the moral structure of the America.”

Today’s terms, he said
, “are turning people off. It may be unfair to candidates.”

Mr. Merrill said 18 per cent to 20 per cent of registered voters are among the “religious right” and in a low turnout election (20.5 per cent of registered voters in Arizona went to the polls Sept. 7), they have a disproportionate influence.

“The ideologically committed voters in the Republican Party tend to be religious right and the far right,” Mr. Merrill told the East Valley Tribune in an article published Sept. 8. The comment sparked a call from a primary election candidate, who, Mr. Merrill said, thought the comment was an inference that most of the candidate’s support was from the “religious right.”

“I’m going to be more careful in my own my own language and descriptions,” Mr. Merrill said. —