Yes, I'm a liberal. So what?

[smartvoter]

I don't need to be called "progressive" because conservatives have spent decades and countless dollars distorting the word "liberal."

Equal rights was a liberal cause.
Integration was a liberal cause.
Labor protections are liberal causes.
Protections for the poor are liberal causes.

Every last fucking thing we rely on to not be stomped out by an elite, ruling class is because of liberals.

Yes, Freepers, that fact that you have enough money from -- and free time away from -- your jobs to log on and spew hatred and hound sick people and relish in flag and fallen-soldier desecration is because of protections liberals fought to put in place.

Yes, I'm a liberal. So what?

[ThreeCatNight]

1. And damn proud of it!!! eom

[Midlodemocrat]

2. All intelligent people are liberals.

Just sayin'

[smartvoter]

5. No argument here. nt

[Initech]

17. I've been saying that for a long time!

[marmar]

3. Say it loud, say it proud!

Unapologetically Liberal!

[William769]

4. I was born a liberal, raised a liberal, live as a liberal

& will die a Liberal.

[RobertSeattle]

6. Jesus was probably the first liberal

[YOY]

16. Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato

Were all progressives. Were they not?

The Buddha came before Jesus at any rate...definitly liberal as well. Many of the same philosophies once you cut out the superstitious mumbo jumbo in both religions.

[RobertSeattle]

18. Good point - thanks

I suppose my point was more pointed at the Fundies.

[YOY]

22. and rightly so!

If anyone needs to understand hypocracy it is them.

[magellan]

20. Indeed

"Of all the varieties of virtues, liberalism is the most beloved." - Aristotle, BC 384-322

[smartvoter]

23. It's hard to find an exception to this rule, is isn't it? nt

[Sean138666]

7. True Liberals! That's Us!

And if the freeps and so-called "liberals" don't like it, then they can try to weed US out! It's not gonna happen, you yankers!

I love these kinds of posts.

(Returning member, not a debut)

[smartvoter]

9. Welcome back! nt

[Sean138666]

12. Thanks

This was a pretty good thread to come back on too.

[malachi]

21. Freepers should take care to not confuse Liberal with Pacifist. I

would derive no greater pleasure than surprising one of these trolls.
Although a Liberal, I'm certainly not a Pacifist when my country is under attack by freep shit.

[PurityOfEssence]

8. Most of those who identify themselves as "progressive" are cowed

Liberalism is a good thing: it accepts the idea that we don't have all the answers, and need to continually adjust. It accepts differences in people and attempts to accommodate those differences by engagement and fine-tuning.

I truly feel that most of those who identify themselves as "progressives"--which isn't a bad term--do so because they've accepted defeat at the hands of barking asshole reactionaries. This is not a good thing, because it creates a rift in the left and lets the right gloat with this "proof" of their superiority. Remember: to the right wing, getting one's way is the only thing that's important; for us to back down or sidestep on something like this is an ongoing proof of their victory. To deny the term "liberal" is to reinforce the gleeful assholes who love to dominate.

We seek to accommodate, they seek to crush all opposition and rule with impunity. Backing down is stupid. Then again, there are many smart people who don't get this, and Bill Clinton is the most obvious example.

[bunkerbuster1]

10. Dunno, that Phil Ochs song always tempered my enthusiasm

But if it pisses off freepers to self-ID that way, fine.

[anarch]

11. indeed - liberal is not a bad word

I myself am a liberal in some respects, a conservative in others, and probably pretty much a pinko radical as far as most right-wingers are concerned.

If we're going to name and classify people: that guy in Texas who has shown such blatant disrespect to our troops, to Christian compassion and respect for the dead, and to my country...he's just an asshole.

(I'll let you decide to which "guy in Texas" this should apply.)

[AuntPatsy]

13. Have always been proud of carrying that label here.

[pilgrimsoul]

14. Thank you for explaining so well

the meaning and sentiment behind my sig line. From one proud liberal to another - you rock!

[smartvoter]

19. Right back at you! nt

[bufffbison]

15. besides that...

watch out how often the people uses the word liberal. liberal is a more commonly used word in the english language, than conservative!

liberal arts
some instances, medicines uses liberal on how much medicine to apply
soaps and shampoos, use liberal amount
cooking oil/sprays, use liberal amount
Fox news, every minute, they use the word liberal in their newscasts!

seriously pay attention to the world, on how often they use to word, liberal... this is something i have been noticing for quite some time.

[catzies]

24. And to paraphrase from "The American President," why aren't you?

Remember that great speech when his opponent tried to vilify the ACLU? ;)

For all the reasons you listed and more, I am a liberal too. :toast:

[Independent_Liberal]

25. I'm an independent liberal.

Hence my user name.

:)

[JohnnyBoots]

26. My favorite liberal moment was when I lived in WV in a very

RED part. My buddy, father of two young ones after a rant on the damn liberals was shocked to find out his WIC, CHIP, food stamps and Gov. Cheese as well as subsidised day care were all because of us damn liberals. This was when I "Came out of the Closet" as a liberal to my buddy. Just because I chew tobacco, know football and NASCAR, and like my fair share of beer he automatically assumed I was a GOP zealot. It really has become a stereotype. Needless to say I have carried my soapbox in my back pocket since then hoping to convert other confused hard working Americans.

[OrlandoGator]

27. The public internet that Freepers love to rant on: a liberal project.

And contrary to the mythology, Al Gore did help to create the internet.

[Lugnut]

28. I'm a liberal.

I'm in good company at DU and elsewhere....

"But if by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people -- their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties -- someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a "Liberal," then I'm proud to say I'm a "Liberal.".....John Fitzgerald Kennedy"

[Czolgosz]

29. I'm a liberal but I don't generally use the term, and it's not because the

Republicans have tarnished the term or because I'm afraid of being thought of as a liberal (I'd be insulted if anyone thought of me any differently). I don't have much use for the term "liberal" because the ideological war between liberals and conservatives has been fought and won. We won. That fight is over and there are more significant battles to press forward with.

How can I say we won? Conservatives favor tradition and oppose change whereas liberals believe in reform and trying new ideas, and they don't make a fetish of tradition or dogma. Just look at how often Bush Co. tries to cast its putrid agenda as "reform" and see how little respect it shows for traditional institutions which conflict with that agenda (e.g., Social Security, Medicare, the progressive tax system, the tradition of keeping national wildlife preserves pristine, etc.). Bush espouses a liberal agenda when he seeks to reform those traditional aspects of our society which he undervalues, and we espouse conservative views when we oppose him in that effort.

The fight between liberalism and conservatism is more a fight about the willingness to accept change than it is about the type of change. If the current administration is any measure in that fight, we liberals won. Gone are the days when the Republicans argue in favor of keeping the status quo while the Democrats argue for new legal rights, broadening liberty, and trying fresh approaches to ensuring equality. That was the fight from '30s to the '70s, but that fight is over. We won.

Now that both sides embrace change, I am more interested in steering the direction of that change. I'm a liberal, surely, but more importantly I'm a populist. I want to see change and not just for the sake of change but change for increasing the rights and power of the people in their struggle against the corporate elite.

The fight is no longer between the liberals versus the conservatives. The fight I see is between the people and the accumulation of wealth and power by corporations and the very small minority of wealthy power brokers who take obscene profits off the majority of the people.

[BiggJawn]

30. Me Too!

Like your paid vacation from work? Like the 40-hour week? like having WEEKENDS so you can thrash your ATV around virgin forest land in your chickenhawk fantasies? what, you think you got all that because your boss is a kindly "Christian" man? S'Yeah, Right....

Like the fact that your mom gets her medicines and doctor's vists paid for by Medicaid?

Thank a Liberal, especially for your mom, because a "good conservative" would have figured out a way to fuck her out of what your dad left her and lock her away in a county poor-house for the rest of her miserable much-shortened life...

You Bush-lickers (and I don't mean that in the GOOD way) don't EVEN know how much your lives would totally SUCK if it hadn't been for the Liberals who came before us...