Why I Am a Liberal (Not trolling - Jist food for thought)

useless knowledge ^ | Warren C. Norwood

[loe joe]

Some of my friends, family members, and co-workers wonder how I could be a political liberal in the midst of this new swell of conservatism the United States. The answers to that are all too simple.

I am a liberal because the system originated by liberals called Social Security has made my parents' retirement more possible and comfortable than it would otherwise have been.

I am a liberal because the system originated by liberals called Medicare paid for my mother to have two knees and a hip replaced at a cost that otherwise could not have been born by all of her children together.

I am a liberal because Medicare paid for my father's operation to remove a cancerous kidney at a cost that would otherwise certainly have forced my parents to liquidate their assets.

I am a liberal because that system originated by liberals called WIC gives my daughter food stamps for cheese and milk and other necessities she needs to feed her children.

I am a liberal because that system demanded by liberals called company-paid employee medical insurance helps pay doctor bills for me and my wife and my daughter and son-in-law and grandchildren and sister and most of my other close relatives.

I am a liberal because the idea of autonomy of the individual is a liberal idea.

I am a liberal because the idea of political liberty is a liberal idea.

I am a liberal because government by the consent of the governed is a liberal idea.

I am a liberal because the Bill of Rights is a set of liberal ideas which protect us all. Freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of worship, freedom of the press, due process of law, freedom from torture, the right to face our accusers, the writ of habeas corpus, and freedom from unreasonable search and seizure are all liberal ideas. Most people in the world do not have those rights.

I am a liberal because those liberal ideas in our Constitution give us control of our representatives from the school board to the Senate and President of the United States, give us the liberal idea of checks and balances, and the liberal idea of no taxation without representation.

I am a liberal because the idea of public education is a liberal idea.

I am a liberal because the idea of a five day work week is a liberal idea.

I am a liberal because the idea of a strong, well funded and disciplined military under civilian control is a liberal idea, as is the notion of Veteran's benefits and military retirement.

I am a liberal because the Geneva Conventions are a liberal idea. The conventions protect American prisoners and all prisoners of signees from torture and abuse.

I am a liberal because the idea of the public maintenance of roads is a liberal idea.

I am a liberal because civil rights, children's rights, women's rights, and labor rights, are all liberal ideas.

I am a liberal because almost all the progressive ideas of the last four centuries have been liberal ideas resisted by the conservatives of their times. Those liberal ideas make this a better place to live for me, my family, my friends, my community, my country, and my world.

I ask people who insist on repudiating liberalism to please check off the liberal ideas above they are ready to do without.

[beelzepug]

"First you name the others ("my wife") then you name yourself."

So, the final answer, in order to be both grammatically correct and polite, would be "My wife and me", right?

[international american]

Good rant, babe!!

[rintense]

Daddy, I want a golden goose! And I want it now!

[Tarpaulin]

"Saddam was firm believer in the Geneva Convention"

Ah, my bad. Yes, that was big time sarcasm. :)

[mhking]

Better then to *snort*

Only when your milk doesn't come out of your nose...

[marron]

You basically have listed everything you like and labeled it "liberal".

You've fallen into the usual confusion that now days accompanies the use of "liberal" and "conservative" in the US.

Most American "liberals" would better be described as populists, socialists, and leftists. The moderates, which you seem to be, share some of the same values with us which is why we are able usually to get along.

The long list in the middle of your piece is precisely what I am referring to:

...autonomy of the individual... political liberty... government by the consent of the governed... the Bill of Rights... Freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of worship, freedom of the press, due process of law, freedom from torture, the right to face our accusers, the writ of habeas corpus, and freedom from unreasonable search and seizure...control of our representatives from the school board to the Senate and President of the United States... checks and balances... no taxation without representation.

These are what we call "classic liberalism". American conservatives are "classic liberals" by and large. American conservatism has nothing to do with traditionalist conservatism of other lands and other times.

The key split in this country is between the classic liberalism of Locke and Jefferson, and their notions of limited government, versus the statism of Rousseau, or the French revolution, and their notions of unlimited Democracy.

The other items on your list would come from that second tradition, the idea that if the people want it, then they must have it, even if it means government intruding into areas it constitutionally ought not go.

Some of the items on the list the great mass of people do want. Constitutions are changeable, but there is a process for changing them, and it involves convincing people, not simply decreeing it so. Or finding a lawful way to go about it that does not violate the constitution. If you are a constitutional conservative, a classic liberal, then you know that your wants must be carried out in a way that does no injury to the rule of law.

civil rights

Republicans, all the way.

all the progressive ideas of the last four centuries have been liberal ideas resisted by the conservatives

There is that confusion again. American conservatives are the keepers of a very different flame, the classic liberalism of Jefferson and Locke. US liberals are populists, statists, and socialists by and large. Nice folks, some of them, but not content to keep their hands in their own pockets.

[small voice in the wilderness]

You are a liberal because you do not possess enough confidence in your own abilities to care for yourself. Nor do you believe in your parent's capabilities. Nor your children's abilities. You are guilty of setting lower standards because you don't believe you or your family has the ability to rise above expectations a free society has for its citizens. Yours is a life of discouragement, for yourself and your family. You have no idea what it means to encourage your children, lift yourself up, and respect the hard work of others. Respect and self respect are strangers to you. I'm sorry for your life. It must be very depressing.

[section9]

Oh yeah, as if the Bill of Rights was an invention of modern liberalism.

The Framers would be horrified by the statist tenets of the modern Democratic Party.

Nice, intellectually dishonest way of trying to reframe the debate, asshat. Too bad this is a conservative board and you guys gave away the "framing" tactic on National Public Radio after the election. You think we fell off the turnip truck yesterday, methinks?

Go away and come back when modern liberalism comes up with an original idea that has nothing to do with stealing money from productive people and giving it to politicians to skim the cream off the top.

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[cbkaty]

I am a liberal because the system originated by liberals called Medicare paid for my mother to have two knees and a hip replaced at a cost that otherwise could not have been born by all of her children together.

Hmmmmmm....so if you and the other kid's were the payees, she'd be s___ out of luck...and likely be a double amputee....?

[silent_jonny]

Bullseye! (ouch!)

[Darksheare]

I'm the fountain of bad ideas.
Sometimes gets interesting in the meeetings.

[MisterRepublican]

[itsamelman]

What do we want?

A GOLDEN GOOSE!

When do we want it?

WE WANT IT NOW!

[Laura Earl]

We pay for WAY more of his stuff than we would like.

[beckysueb]

I am a liberal because the Geneva Conventions are a liberal idea. The conventions protect American prisoners and all prisoners of signees from torture and abuse.

So where was the Geneva convention when our troops have been tortured in every war we've ever been in. And I'm sorry, but panties on the head is not torture. Beheading slowly with a bowie knife is torture. And the idea of a strong military is a conservative idea. If it was left up to liberals, we wouldn't even have a military. We wouldn't even have a country.

[mhking]

Uh, joe?

Let me guess -- you LIKE having others pay the freight for you and your family. That's the only "liberal idea" in your bloviating diatribe when you get down to brass tacks. The remainder of your tripe are collective strawman arguements, the bulk of which are not only not true, but can be disproven by any first year political science student with a "D" average.

You present these suppositions as fact, yet have no logical nor cogent support for them; I guess we're supposed to accept your "learned" word as gospel? I think not. I prefer to have empirical evidence to work with. But then again, I guess empirical evidence is not a "liberal" idea.

This is too easy -- kind of like shooting fish in a barrel...

[layman]

"Medicare paid for my father's operation ... that would have forced my parents to liquidate their assets.

WIC gives my daughter food stamps for cheese and milk and other necessities she needs to feed her children."

So, do i have this right ... you do not take responsibility for your parents or your children? Yep ... you're a liberal.

[SwankyC]

Again, taking money from others to give to your daughter to feed her children. Can't she take care of them herself? Where's her husband?

The bitch probably had him aborted. There's another liberal idea.

[Darksheare]

Excellent!

[Brad’s Gramma]

Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!