BS: Are you a Liberal?

Subject: RE: Are you a Liberal?
From: Rapparee
Date: 29 Aug 06 - 03:54 PM

Well, yes and no.

Subject: RE: Are you a Liberal?
From: Don Firth
Date: 29 Aug 06 - 03:06 PM

Thanks for posting that, Ebbie. A tip of the hat to William Campbell. Well said!

I guess that gives a clue as to where I stand.

And there's nothing "whiny" about it.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Are you a Liberal?
From: Ebbie
Date: 29 Aug 06 - 11:09 AM

Charles - and his wife, Ellen, for that matter - is an erudite person, interesting to listen to and talk with. Strangely enough, he is a retired longtime prison warden. Ellen is still deeply involved in prison ministries, not just in a religious sense but their welfare, their attachment and access to their families and their plans for the inevitable future.

Subject: RE: Are you a Liberal?
From: emjay
Date: 29 Aug 06 - 10:47 AM

Thanks for posting that, Ebbie. The writer said it very well.
MJ

Subject: RE: Are you a Liberal?
From: Amos
Date: 29 Aug 06 - 10:40 AM

Slag:

There's an earlier thread on the subject of the ancient and honorable roots of liberal thought, which I recommend to your attention.

I do have certain conservative tendencies in the sense that I think some changes should be thought hard about before making them, tested and introduced gradually. One, for example, is starting wars. Not something to go into half-cocked, if you take my meaning.

A

Subject: RE: Are you a Liberal?
From: Ebbie
Date: 29 Aug 06 - 10:37 AM

By CHARLES CAMPBELL, Juneau newspaper 'My Turn'

When I last crossed the Douglas Bridge a bouquet of faded flowers was still tied to the balustrade, marking the place where one of our fellow citizens chose to end his life by dropping into the waters of Gastineau Channel. We are told that he saw this as the best way to deal with his family's health care crisis. (The man had spinal cancer. Ebbie)

For this tragedy to have happened in today's America is heartbreaking. It was another sad result of our country's having been propagandized into abandoning the liberal ideal. For us to have reached the 21st century without having established universal health care in our country is a disgrace and an outrage. It is no less disheartening that we have fallen so far short in coming to grips with other significant social problems.

I am 81 years old, born and bred in "the Old South," a World War II combat veteran, the son of a Baptist preacher and a liberal. Call me a "progressive" if you like. A liberal is what I am. Liberalism is what made this country great - not "progressivism" (if there is such a word) and most certainly not conservatism.

One of the great things about being a liberal is that you don't have to buy into all of the dubious positions many prominent people on the left espouse and the media gleefully publicizes. In some ways I am deeply conservative. My views on the vulgarization of American culture, for example, and I have little patience with overly aggressive emphasis on causes not related to human suffering. Moreover, I don't much like some of the cockamamie assaults on Christianity. I frequently get out of sorts with the American Civil Liberties Union.

But when all is said and done, I am an unapologetic, unequivocal liberal. First of all I am persuaded to this view because of a visceral belief that when Jesus Christ preached the Sermon on the Mount he meant what he said. My conviction here is reinforced by the evidence of history. Virtually all of the great and good achievements that have served the betterment of humankind over the past three centuries issued from liberal initiatives, and, overwhelmingly, the most honored leaders of western society adhered to the liberal ideal: political leaders from William Penn to Franklin Roosevelt, great humanitarians from William Wilberforce to Florence Nightingale, great social revolutionaries such as Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela - all liberals.

The gift of the best in literature has come to us from liberal writers: from Walt Whitman to John Steinbeck, from Dickens to Dostoyevsky. Name a great novel, honored by time. The high probability is its author was a liberal, oftentimes writing to express liberal convictions.

Liberals have been the prime movers of virtually all recent important advances in human welfare. Let me ask this question. Over the course of recent history has there been even one great social advance or governmental action, primarily benefiting the poor, the aged, the ill-housed and ill-fed or, for that matter, the working classes or small-farm families, that was not given its impetus by liberal forces and opposed by conservative forces?

Today the American government is in charge of people who aggressively reject the liberal ideal. Despite all evidence to the contrary, they want us to consider the "War on Terror" a noble cause. The current administration and its political allies would have us believe that America has been made safer by the death of 2,500 American soldiers and the continuing agony and death among the Iraqi people. The current administration has taken the position that the rapidly deteriorating health of planet Earth is less important than corporate profits.

The catastrophic course on which our country is proceeding will not be altered until the American electorate is persuaded again to embrace the liberal ideal and follow it where it leads.
• Charles Campbell is a Juneau resident.

Subject: RE: Are you a Liberal?
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 29 Aug 06 - 10:14 AM

Another proud liberal here. I can't think of any positive change that has ever been created by a "conservative" movement. It doesn't make sense to align with conservative ideals if you wish to prosper and move forward.

Ron

Subject: RE: Are you a Liberal?
From: kendall
Date: 29 Aug 06 - 09:59 AM

I'm a Liberal and damn proud of it!
Look up Liberal and Conservative in the Crossword dictionary, then tell me which one is better.

Subject: RE: Are you a Liberal?
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 29 Aug 06 - 12:59 AM

I'm a liberal except for when I'm a conservative or a libertarian.

Subject: RE: Are you a Liberal?
From: dianavan
Date: 29 Aug 06 - 12:39 AM

Who was that Amos?

It was very funny.

Subject: RE: Are you a Liberal?
From: Bert
Date: 29 Aug 06 - 12:10 AM

Wonderful Amos.

Subject: RE: Are you a Liberal?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 28 Aug 06 - 11:50 PM

To a degree, and I want evrybody to be free......

Subject: RE: Are you a Liberal?
From: JennyO
Date: 28 Aug 06 - 11:17 PM

In Australia a Liberal is a member of the Liberal party, which is equivalent to the Conservatives in the UK. The lesser of two weevils here is the Labor Party, although often it's hard to tell the difference. As they say - no matter who you vote for, a politician wins. I do the best I can by supporting the Greens who seem to have no chance of winning, but hey, you gotta start somewhere.

By the US definition I guess I would be a liberal. I believe in helping those less fortunate than ourselves, a fairer distribution of the wealth, and caring for the environment - more of an aging hippie, me.

Subject: RE: Are you a Liberal?
From: bobad
Date: 28 Aug 06 - 10:59 PM

In Quebec he's the Minister of Public Works.

Subject: RE: Are you a Liberal?
From: number 6
Date: 28 Aug 06 - 10:57 PM

In Canada a Liberal is an accountant or a lawyer who drives a Volvo.

sIx

Subject: RE: Are you a Liberal?
From: Amos
Date: 28 Aug 06 - 10:54 PM

Here ya go, Slag. Don't click if there are kids in the room.


A

Subject: RE: Are you a Liberal?
From: Ron Davies
Date: 28 Aug 06 - 10:34 PM

That question is of course for Slag.

Subject: RE: Are you a Liberal?
From: Slag
Date: 28 Aug 06 - 10:34 PM

Hey, I'm still a little new to this, especially STARTING threads! I've only blown it a couple of times!!!

Subject: RE: Are you a Liberal?
From: Ron Davies
Date: 28 Aug 06 - 10:33 PM

If you are "very liberal toward the care of the less fortunate", why does that not include illegal immigrants already in the US, who want a path to citizenship--(without leaving the US first)--, which you damn as "amnesty"--and oppose? As citizens, or even people demonstrably on the path to citizenship, they would be much less exploitable. But either you don't see this or you don't really care if they are exploited.

So your "liberalism" is suspect.

Subject: RE: Are you a Liberal?
From: dianavan
Date: 28 Aug 06 - 10:30 PM

In Canada, a big 'L', Liberal, is an actual political party and I am not a member.

I am, however, liberal in other ways.

Subject: RE: Are you a Liberal?
From: Bill D
Date: 28 Aug 06 - 10:22 PM

Slag...you GOTTA put these threads down below. (choose BS before posting) I know..Joe 'can' move 'em, but try to save him the effort, hmmm? Thanks.

ohh..yeah, I am mostly a liberal, but it takes a lot of explanation.

Subject: RE: Are you a Liberal?
From: Slag
Date: 28 Aug 06 - 10:21 PM

DITTO: BS thread!

Subject: Are you a Liberal?
From: Slag
Date: 28 Aug 06 - 10:14 PM

Labels get thrown around a lot and it's easy to do. You can just sweep everything up into a pile and agree with it or attack it but I think we all know that is wrong. Those of you who have read some of my posts would probably consider me very conservative and in the general sense you would tend to be right. HOWEVER, labels can be misleading. Would any of you guess that I worked as a street minister in Sausilito for 5 years? That I have been a certified suicide counselor? That I worked as a drug rehab assessor and facilitator? I am very liberal toward the care of the less fortunate and the distribution of goods and funds to that end. I really big on education for all. I have worked in helping Vietnam refugees ( "Boat People" ) get established and functioning in our country. I started this thread and it's counterpoint so you might consider and share in what ways you are "A Liberal".