Posted on 12/10/2004 9:37:54 AM PST by rogerv
Hi, gang,
I was a regular contributor to the Kerry Online Forum and am now a regular contributor to the Common Ground Common Sense forum. I am a liberal, but I'll be the first to admit, I don't have all the answers. In fact, many of hte questions that matter to me probably matter to you too. I'm concerned with questions about how to tame power, whether governmental or corporate. I'm concern with the rule of law and how we can get the powerful to take it seriously. I'm concerned with the erosion of civil liberties. And yes, I am concerned about some things you may associate with liberalism--social safety nets and taking care of those who fall through the institutional cracks.
I'm here because I think agreement is overrated and that critics can be your best friends: they keep you from getting sloppy or careless. At any rate, I think there are things I can learn from you. I don't expect you are all agreed on anything--I expect there is a lot of diversity of opinion here. If you are interested in what I have said over at Common Ground Common Sense, I'm using the same handle both places, and you should feel free to come over and look around.
Anyway, I'm new here. Anybody care to give me a tour?
Need we be quite so rigid, my FRiend?!
... ...That said, there are many lurkers who may benefit from seeing their liberal ideas debated and debunked. Having a few polite Lib'rals to play off against can enliven the debate, and help us to hone our skills.
FReegards...MUD
Reasonably put, slim. I try not to talk too much about the issues that divide us because they are really not that important, to me. I've been a liberal all my life, but my respect and love for this country is greater than any other issue. So, I have found many more 'friends' here regarding national defense than elsewhere on the net. I have long regarded FR as one of the best damn local taverns in the neighborhood and sometimes we get a bit wild and wooly...and sometimes there are some guests we just never take a liking to.
That said, it will come as no shock that I think nopardons never fails to exhibit the very worst traits of conservative zealots, and a mean spirited unpleasant human excuse for a carbon life form to boot. That doesn't mean I get to shut 'er up, but I can and do tune 'er out. I hope that 'rogerv', if he is real, takes a look around in spite of one of FR's more opinionated blowhards.
Now, with that said, may I let you know that the most important political lesson I have ever learned since before Harry Truman was learned here, on FR, after many days of spirited discussion.
The subject was hate crimes and I had the liberal reflex belief that hate could be classified as a terrible thing that must not be permitted. After many patient and convincing arguments from the serious conservatives and libertarians it finally dawned on me that criminalizing what a person thinks is just plain wrong.
Not many of my liberal friends will admit in public that they are wrong on this issue, but in the long run the conservative view on this subject will prevail in the courts, the ACLU to the contrary...and I've belonged to that group far too long to abandon it now.
So, FR can be a place where we can hear a different point of view, and as long as we don't deliberately seek to start a ruckus (anymore than a mature adult does in a strange bar) we can eventually make some sense of the other point of view...and when we buy a round we can choose to let the spoil sports taste the gloat.
Well said.
That is so true. From the ages of 19 thru 26--I never had health insurance. But, I always had a closet full of shoes and many nights out on the town with my friends.
ROTFLOL...so like a LIBERAL.you don't like what I say,so you attack me.Instead of reading my posts,most of which are filled with facts and quite good info,if I do say so myself,you ignore me...or do you? :-)
Are you from DU? Their latest MO is to come on FR, be
looking to learn, be inserting DU dogma subtly (we are,
after all, brain-numbed Limbaugh robots after all). I
don't know whether or not you're from DU, not accusing
anyone, and anyway, I don't have the real and awful mystical
zot powers. Shudder . . . .
You're the one who came onto this thread and without cause,personally attacked me.Since I've never done that to you,it appears that YOU are the one who is "unpleasant" and has a "terrible personality" !
Us conservatives lik to pik are nose and eet the boogars. dont go messin with us. Now howbout some chickynuggats?
I didn't just join FR (I've been here 6+ years...not including my lurking days),I'm not the one claiming that I can here to learn,and I've never even been to DU;let alone being a member of that disgusting place.
I agree, and hope that would be a general policy for visiting liberals with good manners.
My red dot is one notch to the right of yours. The only good thing to come out of this thread.
Sorry, I disagree. FR is for whomever the owner & moderators decide to let stay. A board like this is like someone's living room. When you're a guest in someone's living room, you follow the rules of the house.
This is a conservative forum. However, there is a significant difference between trolls who drop a t*rd in the punchbowl and run, and those who are interested in serious discussion about conservative ideas, even if they don't agree with them.
How would anyone ever become conservative if no one conservative would ever talk to them?
It's a veritable implosion...but Dubyuh and the GOPers have got to help it them meet their doom by helping to dismantle the Federal Leviathan from which the RATS derive all their power. This Social Security Reform is a good start in that direction, as is Tort Reform and increased availability of Medical Savings Accounts, but we've also gotta start seeing real dollar cuts in Federal Guv'ment agency spending.
Devolve Power outta the Federal Leviathan and back to the States, Localities, and Individuals, as mandated by our Constitution!!
FReegards...MUD
FReegards...MUD
Looks like. :-(
MurryMom is a walking cliche, and mostly I've just gotten a chuckle outta messing with her mind, so no, I've learned nothing from her. But there have been liberals who I've learned from, even if it was just a matter of learning their mindset. Once you begin to learn why Lib'rals are Lib'rals, you can begin to strategize how to win over their hearts and minds. And the very fact that many present FReepers will openly admit that they were once liberals is proof positive that the liberal mind can be changed, given the right circumstances and coaching.
"Quite a number of FREEPERS were once Dems,before they woke up. They didn't come here when they were Liberals, though, and neither did they try to convert the rest of us."
With all the solidly conservative thinkers around here, do you really believe many FReepers are gonna get converted to Lib'rals becuz some small percentage of folks come here with a liberal mindset?! I don't...
"People who want other views, can and do go off to LP, FU, and even to DU."
And indeed they do...but I'm simply not afraid to allow them to matriculate here. We should be confident enough in our ideological underpinnings to win in the arena of ideas.
FReegards...MUD
We have a couple,maybe three admitted Liberals here;all of whom joined long before you did.Two of them hardly ever post and one,in particular,appears to be allowed to be a member her for the sole purpose of letting the rest of us tear her to shreds.
Since this isn't YOUR "living room,take it up with Jim...whose "living room" it is.
Anyone and everyone can read FR;you don't have to join to read it and possibly be influenced by what's posted here.
It's not funny anymore...
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