I am a liberal

I came here to understand the conservative point of view. I've lurked for a while now. I decided it'd be appropriate for me to say a few words.

I think that you are patriotic Americans. I am a patriotic American too. It is our right and duty as Americans to vehemently disagree with eachother about how this nation should be governed. It is also our right to call into question the patriotism of those with whom we disagree, but it is our duty not to. It was patriotic to protest the government four years ago, and it is patriotic now. I thank you for this patriotism.

I support the constitution. I support second amendment rights as well as first amendment rights. I think that it is necessary and good that a court interpret these amendments, but I am as appalled by the notion of a free speech zone as I was by DC's handgun ban. I'm angry about the recent encroachment against the fourth amendment, and the steady erosion of the tenth. It affects blue states as much as red ones. I don't care for drugs, but you tell me how the interstate commerce clause empowers the federal government to keep my neighbor from growing and then smoking a plant without leaving his back yard.

There is little doubt that the federal government exercises more power than it is allowed by the constitution. On the other hand, I think that the infrastructure of a modern country demands more federal powers than are described in the constitution. Instead of amending the constitution, we allowed more and more powers to be read into it. Now it's a status quo that we can't easily abandon.

I support abortion rights, but I think that the opposite position is also very reasonable. If abortion is murder, then there is no question that it should be banned at the federal level. If abortion is simply a medical procedure, then it is tyranny for the government to forbid it. Either way, it would seem that the question should be decided on the federal level. Yet, if we can't reach a consensus about something as basic as whether abortion is murder or an operation, how can we choose to forbid or protect it? I think abortion is a federal-level question that for the moment must unfortunately be decided at the state level.

I am a liberal. I don't think Obama is more tyrannical or arrogant than past presidents. I think a government health-care option would be good for Americans. I don't care that Bush wasn't eloquent, and I also don't think that intellect in the narrow sense is the most important quality for a president. On the other hand I think that the Iraq war was a catastrophic mistake that America won't live down in my lifetime. It weakened America financially, diplomatically and militarily. So, I am very much a liberal. Still, I think we have some common ground.

I'd like to say something a bit more personal. I'm an academic. We spend a lot of our lives thinking about very abstract, technical things. This makes academics prone to elaboration and understatement in our area of expertise, and simultaneously to oversimplification and overconfidence outside of it. We can be short on common sense, but we can have counterinuitive insight in technical matters. It takes academics, entrepreneurs, and factory workers to make a plane fly, and it takes all of us to make the right decisions for America. I think that anti-intellectualism marginalizes an important part of American society, and I think it's destructive. To those who say that small businessmen have nothing of value to say about the US economy, I say you're wrong, and to those who say that academic economists have nothing to say about the US economy, I also say you're wrong.

We, Americans, conservative and liberal, need to figure out our own compromises, because our media and our politicians sure as taxes won't do it for us. Like it or not, we're in it together.

We simply don’t have the money to run the Federal, State or Local governments as they are currently run. Without default or inflation there is no way to finance the government. There is no tax high enough to pay our current obligations.

High tax rates and redistribution of wealth not only don’t work, the are immoral. By the time someone pays federal, state, local, sales and a bunch of other user taxes they add up to nearly 50% of a person’s income. In essence we are all modern day share croppers. What right does the government have to take half of what you earn? Wealth redistribution is even more immoral. Is it reasonable that the majority of people are allowed to vote to steal the work of another person?

One of the most important values I believe in is personal responsibility and avoiding moral hazard by not rewarding bad behavior. Wealth redistribution reinforces moral hazard. Why should someone save for the future when they know that even if they don’t save, the government will provide them with a secure lifestyle?

As a professor in the physical sciences, I have to say the answer posed at the end of your first paragraph is: “Yes”.

As to the diversity mentioned in your second paragraph, the university where I work is one of the most closed-minded, reactionary places I know.

As to the discussion concerning abortion, I would pose the following question to LaL:

If I hit a pedestrian with my car I can be charged with vehicular manslaughter...

If it is a pregnant woman, I will be charged with two counts of vehicular manslaughter.

Perhaps our distinguished “Professor” now residing in the White House could clarify this seeming contradiction . (I doubt it. “Lecturers” like him usually only teach low-level courses where they can do the minimum of damage.)

I think that you are patriotic Americans..... I am a patriotic American too…but many of your fellow travelers are not as evidenced by the character of liberal protests and public comment regarding the American military, foreign and defense policy etc. And it seems leftists only become patriotic when a Democratic president resides in the White House. I support the constitution. I support second amendment rights as well as first amendment rights. I think that it is necessary and good that a court interpret these amendments, but I am as appalled by the notion of a free speech zone as I was by DC's handgun ban. I'm angry about the recent encroachment against the fourth amendment, and the steady erosion of the tenth. It affects blue states as much as red ones. I don't care for drugs, but you tell me how the interstate commerce clause empowers the federal government to keep my neighbor from growing and then smoking a plant without leaving his back yard. …… The fact that you don’t capitalize the Constitution speaks for itself in terms how you view it. I support abortion rights, but I think that the opposite position is also very reasonable. If abortion is murder, then there is no question that it should be banned at the federal level. If abortion is simply a medical procedure, then it is tyranny for the government to forbid it. Either way, it would seem that the question should be decided on the federal level. Yet, if we can't reach a consensus about something as basic as whether abortion is murder or an operation, how can we choose to forbid or protect it? I think abortion is a federal-level question that for the moment must unfortunately be decided at the state level. …so are you saying abortion is beyond your “pay grade?” ..a pretty common liberal reaction. I am a liberal. I don't think Obama is more tyrannical or arrogant than past presidents. I think a government health-care option would be good for Americans. I don't care that Bush wasn't eloquent, and I also don't think that intellect in the narrow sense is the most important quality for a president. On the other hand I think that the Iraq war was a catastrophic mistake that America won't live down in my lifetime. It weakened America financially, diplomatically and militarily. So, I am very much a liberal. Still, I think we have some common ground. False (Greek, Roman?) columns, teleprompters, “it’s a gift, Harry, “we won, get over it,” and“its Bush’s fault” is not arrogant? I'd like to say something a bit more personal. I'm an academic. We spend a lot of our lives thinking about very abstract, technical things. This makes academics prone to elaboration and understatement in our area of expertise, and simultaneously to oversimplification and overconfidence outside of it. We can be short on common sense, but we can have counterinuitive insight in technical matters. It takes academics, entrepreneurs, and factory workers to make a plane fly, and it takes all of us to make the right decisions for America. I think that anti-intellectualism marginalizes an important part of American society, and I think it's destructive. To those who say that small businessmen have nothing of value to say about the US economy, I say you're wrong, and to those who say that academic economists have nothing to say about the US economy, I also say you're wrong. ….I too, am an “academic” but do not categorize myself in that context nor employ it as a label to explain my shortcomings, attributes or worldview. But I have seen that movie before with my liberal academic associates. Please leave comments if you'd like. I'll try to respond tomorrow…. I’d be interested in seeing them. We, Americans, conservative and liberal, need to figure out our own compromises, because our media and our politicians sure as taxes won't do it for us. Like it or not, we're in it together….Your liberal media is sure trying to do it for us.

I don't think Obama is more tyrannical or arrogant than past presidents.

I would like to believe that. We got pretty hyperbolic here over Clinton, and the country managed to survive eight years of him. But Obama is different. I honestly believe that he fundamentally hates this country.

I think that the Iraq war was a catastrophic mistake that America won't live down in my lifetime. It weakened America financially, diplomatically and militarily. .

Only in the sense that it gave Congress and the presidency to a particularly left- wing group of Democrats. We will be recovering from this administration for a generation.

Still, I think we have some common ground.

I appreciate any political discourse with the other side that's free of ad-hominem attacks or the insistence that people who think like me want to impose a religious dictatorship. For that I am thankful.

**I support abortion rights

—You don’t say. That’s too bad. Here on FR, we support the rights of the unborn, not the imaginary ‘right’ to murder those unborn children.
++++++++++++++

look.a.liberal: Here’s a slogan to ponder in your academic circles: Equal Rights for Unborn Women. (Keep your hands, syringes and tongs off THEIR bodies.)

http://www.ushistory.org/Declaration/document/index.htm
In the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,”

look.a.liberal, our Government has betrayed us, no?

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