Posted on 02/23/2010 4:10:06 AM PST by look.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.
Here are some of the things that I believe:
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.
Please leave comments if you'd like. I'll try to respond tomorrow.
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.
First, thank you for having the courage and honesty to speak your convictions here. In my 6 decades on this planet so far, I have seen a transformation of the term “liberal.” During the 1960s and 1970s, I too thought of myself as a liberal. I opposed the Viet Nam “police action” in the 60s and opposed the actions of Nixon during Watergate. I felt it was my civic duty to stand up for the Constitution and oppose those actions that I believed violated it. During those times, liberal meant opposing the intrusions of Big Government. However, today it seems the term describes those who support more and more Big Government – just the opposite of what it meant 40 years ago. John Kennedy was a Democrat and considered liberal in those times – yet he would be a conservative by today’s standards. Today I define myself as conservative. Times have changed how these labels apply. As to your statements, I think the more you delve into the issues, the more you will come to the conclusion that what are termed “conservative” values are actually what you believe deep down in your heart.
As an academic, have you researched our current president’s personal/academic/professional history?
What conclusions have you drawn?
The reason we cannot agree on whether abortion is murder or not is because one side is too squeamish about admitting the truth.
You see - that would bring a hellstorm down upon their shoulders.
Every human being has a beginning.
As an academic - it should be easy for you to pinpoint when that beginning occurs.
I would call you a Libertarian.
You're first two statements contradict the third. Can you show me where in the constitution is says the federal government shall provide health-care?
“What kind of Opus is this?”
The typical garbage you hear from the lovely folks on college campuses across the country who get a sh!tload of money to poison the minds of their students.
Welcome. Many of us are classic liberals, or were in JFK’s day.
Damn...do I long for those days. I’m not sure of Obama’s motives, but he’s been taught nothing else except America is a bad place, which is balderdash when compared with every other place on earth. I took it for granted for too long, believing our unprecedented freedoms would last forever. I and others chose to remain silent when we should have been shouting, damn the crazy looks we get.
..and then came political correctness...which is a failure to challenge or criticize out of fear of offending a minority. It is killing us in: education, hiring, politics, national defense. The liberalism of today that harbours this pc and other maladies must be stopped.
IBTZ does not help in that regard.
If he's just trolling, he will make himself known and the Kitties can have their way with him. If he's here out of curiosity and an earnest desire to understand, then engagement would be the proper course of action.
It wouldn't hurt to have a self professed liberal academic a little more open to conservative points of view, now would it?
Besides, if he truly does support the 2nd, he can't be all bad. And probably not as liberal as he might think.
But mostly you need to understand yourself even better and maybe focus less on the principles you believe in rather than the labels that "feel good" when you apply them to yourself. The peer pressure in most universities won't allow this but it is the only way to become clear as to your true political philosophy. (BTW: Some of us are academics, too, in the true sense of the word.)
"Liberal? You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
Wow! that's just not paying attention to current events
Certainly one could with validity, argue the facts of tyranny re Bush II assault on civil liberties in the “war on terrorism. Always an interesting conversation.
But how is it that which Abomination is proposing in his health-care less tyrannical than "your" belief of Bush assault of individual freedoms in his war on terrorism??
Arrogance. In one years time, Abomination has demonstrated more arrogance than any president in my lifetime.
Don't mind the details . . . all one has to do is with an "open mind" watch the "PROCESS" of his efforts to pass health-care.
Can anyone here in their lifetime recall such behavior as we are witnessing of any past president?
Many differences between Bush II and this very sad moment in our history. Many may disagree with Bush's ideas and policies regarding his war on terrorism. Others (like me) choose to believe he tried to make the best of some very awful choices to "PROTECT" my country.
Abomination on the other hand is preparing to make the best of awful choices to strengthen his own grip of power.
This is both tyrannical and arrogant.
With apologies, I reside in Southeast Asia. I have been watching this circus from a distance. Other than redistributing the money, rules and players, can anyone simply explain to me how anything which is being proposed in the health-care plan actually benefits the everyday working stiff??
Dude, you are NOT a liberal — not by the current definition. Liberalism has veered sharply to the left, almost to outright communism. We would describe you as a mainstream Republican (or a RINO, to be precise).
lol internet
You are a patriotic American if and only if you pledge your life, fortune and sacred honor to uphold THE self-evident truths.
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
Excerpted from The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America. (emphasis added)
I support the constitution.
I support the Constitution too, but your party has no clue what it is about and the head DUmmie in the WH, dingy hairy, San Fran nan pig lousy, and 99%s of the (ds) in the House and Senate are clueless about what it says.
I'm an academic.
That is your biggest problem. Back to the DUmp for people like you.
Seriously, welcome.
Welcome. Can you answer this one Question? Would you fly in a plane designed and built ONLY by academics?
By what right do you or anyone claim the earnings of neighbors, friends and family? Conservatives believe in self-reliance and voluntary charity.
There is little doubt that the federal government exercises more power than it is allowed by the constitution.
The Founders agree.
"Government is not reason; it is not eloquence. It is force. And force, like fire, is a dangerous servant and a fearful master." George Washington
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is argument of tyrants. It is the creed of slaves." William Pitt in the House of Commons November 18, 1783
A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicity. Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address.
Liberals ALL fail that test.
LLS
Don't have much of a bone to pick- you sound like a classic liberal, which has a lot in common with us knuckle-dragging Neanderthals...
Howsumever, this?
...I don't think Obama is more tyrannical or arrogant than past presidents...
Let me put it graphically:
Any proponent of murdering unborn children is not entitled to anything 'polite' whatsoever.
The zot cannot come too soon.
If a person is sitting on a political fence, you do not want to shove him to the dark-side, challenge him to explain why he's on the fence and show him the light :-)
Welcome to the light IaL.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.