Site Presented By
Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
...then what's the point?
Come on & grow a pair - we don't need any milquetoasts aboard this train!
Asking for permission? How 2001...
Liberals will never win the name-calling game with the reactionary movement. They're just better at it, good at hate-mongering and milking anger and spewing venom. But what reactionaries have never been good about is governing. This is borne out time and again. That is their fatal weakness. That is also why they attack government as bad -- because to them, good government is a huge threat, undermines their whole reason for existence. What's more, they aren't about good governance, so much as seizure of power. Reactionaries keep to this standard operating procedure, wherever they crop up.
But what liberals are about is good government -- and that means government that gets the job done, does what it's supposed to do, avoids corruption, takes care of its citizenry, is responsible and supportive, works for the people, and not against them. The liberal conception of good government is the not-so-secret weapon liberals have against reactionaries, which is why the Right in America has worked so hard to inflict a tyranny of diminished expectations on the majority of Americans, souring the very idea of "good government" so people see government as part of the problem, not part of the solution (and reactionaries work the levers of power to make bad government even worse, confirming their own propaganda).
So, rather than just putting "Liberal" on lapels and cufflinks, actual liberals need to bring back the conception of good government, that government can be good, that government can help Americans -- and they need to push hard for legislation that makes this so. Not purely symbolic identity political posturing, but nuts-and-bolts improvements for Americans. This will rebuild a constituency for liberalism again in this country.
In so doing, in demonstrating to Americans that government can be good again, in improving America, liberalism will then move past the empty sloganeering of reactionary-dominated politics toward a Good Society, a revitalized America, a tolerant, peaceful, diplomatic, prosperous, hopeful, and diverse America ready to tackle the problems of the 21st century with grace, dignity, and honor. Then "liberal" will resume its proper place in American society.
So your reality begins and ends with Google and Wikipedia. That's sad.
the average person would most likely never label Roosevelt as a liberal or King. If they think of them as anything they would think of them as Progressives
That's simply wrong.
Liberal implies over-doing it
No, Liberal, in the way you are trying to use it, implies generosity. The way you're trying to shoehorn it into some phrases isn't a common usage.
I find labels such as "liberal and "conservative" useless not so much because of their shifting connotations but because neither adequately applies to me.
If I were forced to characterize my politics, I'd say I'm conservatively a liberal. For example, I very much believe in gender and racial equality, but I don't get hysterical over articles about the first lady's beautiful black ass or some stupid thoughtless remarks Don Imus made to buck up his ratings. I buy the meat of liberal values but I reject the shrill emotionalism that seems to ride piggyback.
I believe in honor, integrity, and personal accountability.
So, what am I? Is there a label for us cafeteria planners?
I'm an old-fashioned KOOK.
Nutcase, whacko, pinko, liberal, tree-hugging. KOOK........
Old Hippie, radical.
I'll leave the weak and befuddled and consider myself a progressive.
Michael
There must be a New Deal and Great Society i'm not aware of Social Security is going broke and the Great Society ruined three generations of good people
I'm so glad Michael Lind wrote this. I feel exactly the same way. Everyone was walking around hating on me for being a "bleeding heart liberal". My response to their ignorance and stupidity was typically a shrug of the shoulders, *sigh*, and then I would respond with something like, "I don't understand what is wrong with caring about people!"
Lately (since Nov.4th) several of my middle of the road friends have started proclaiming their new found liberalness. I just sit back and smile. I love it.
Today's center-left Americans can find a usable past in the liberals of the New Deal and Civil Rights eras. They will search in vain for philosophical ancestors among the snobbish, nativist, technocratic, authoritarian, segregationist Progressives of the early 20th century.
This is a gross overstatement, bordering on slander. These characterizations don't hold for Louis Brandeis and Robert La Follette, just to think of two offhand. To say there is no "usable past" in the Progressive Era is nonsense.
To tell you the truth, my distaste for the term "liberal" dates back to the early 90s, when liberals did a fine job of their own tarnishing the term with no help needed from the right. I came associate it with the tedious identity politics and victimology that radiated out of Oberlin and Wesleyan at that time, with which I feel no affinity.
Actually, the rest of the world considers "Liberalism" to be a libertarian leaning centrist, pro free market, anti government regulation, anti government intervention in people's private life. It's actually more in line with the now non-existent Rockefeller style moderate Republicanism. In western Europe, Israel and most other democracies, liberal parties usually form coalition with more right wing parties because of their free market tendencies. Foreigners often get confused when US progressives are referred to as "liberals".
As a Whig! For over 150 years, we Whigs have been ashamed of the label. No more!
Hello:
I personally think "progressive" is a better term, as liberals embrace progress, as opposed to the regressive tendencies of the conservative mindset. In fact, I rarely use the term "conservative" any more, opting for the more appropriate "regressive" instead.
Quibbling over labels is counterproductive, anyway. The names don't matter; the ideals do.
Progressively yours...
OF COURSE IT'S OK TO BE A TIMID LIBERAL.
BUT
WHAT THE US of A NEEDS ARE DEVOUT SOCIALISTS!
IT'S TIME FOR A 3rd PARTY.
AMERICAN SOCIALIST PARTY.
ACRONYM: ASP.
DO WITH IT WHAT YOU MAY.
FOLKS I AM REALLY SERIOUS, I know the name Socialist strikes fear in the
hearts of many citizens.
You already have many Socialist concepts in practice, Unions, Social Security,
unemployment insurance,etc etc etc.
TRY IT YOU'LL LIKE IT.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
