Posted on 02/18/2005 2:52:25 PM PST by 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.
these guys are my friends
That was my thought. This idot is all about welfare and having someone pay for his way.
What a joke.
"NO YOU ARE A CONSERVATIVE. You want to conserve a system that no longer works.
I'm a liberal, I want to change it."
GREAT perspective!
MEGADITTO 4U!
I worked 3 jobs just so I did not have to take the free handouts, that reduced my freedoms and made me feel worthless, pitiful, frightened, and unproductive.
I AM PROUD OF YOU, FELLOW AMERICAN. THOU HAST DONE WELL.
Would that all others knew the freedom of being self-supporting. There would be a lot less need for "self-esteem" books....
Well, thank you very much. I didn't think anyone would read my entire comment. But I just had to tell that Liberal how "sorry" his lifestyle is caught up in dependency. Glad to meet you here.
You got the first hit this time. Congrats!
"I'm a liberal because I'm a worthless POS!"
Liberal=Leech
The family and the church used to take care of the legitimate needs of society and would tell the free-loaders to get a job.
Government just mails out checks with money confiscated by threats from the paychecks of others...kind of like robbery, actually. Who could possibly read this drivel and have any respect for a Liberal?
BWAHAHAHAHA!
(er hili-guava)
And it's turned into another nightmare!
"Public" education works overtime to turn the majority of children into mind-numbed robots who have developed a favorable outlook on perversion, but are incapable of reading.
Wasn't "joe joe" the term the Beatles used to refer to a certain anatomical part of groupies.
Also a synonym for cat.
THAT is enough to make one puke!!
Stop it. I mean it. My snorts have turned into snerts.
Egads, if someone could hear me now..........
Why THANK you!!!!
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