'Liberal' May Finally Be Shedding Its Political Stigma

[applegrove]

‘Liberal’ May Finally Be Shedding Its Political Stigma

January 25, 2023 at 6:03 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 52 Comments

https://politicalwire.com/2023/01/25/liberal-may-finally-be-shedding-its-political-stigma/

"SNIP.......

More than half of Democrats now identify as liberal, suggesting that the long-vilified “L-word” may be losing its potency as political kryptonite, The Hill reports.


.........SNIP"

[kimbutgar]

1. I had a right wing brother in law who lived in Arizona and he used to call me the looney

Liberal from San Francisco. Even though he was born in California and moved to Arizona in his 20’s. I told him I was proud to be a liberal and if we are talking about loons he should look in the mirror. He didn’t like my comment.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

5. good for you

[bucolic_frolic]

2. GHWB was in my memory the original perp for its use as an epithet

[Mr.Bill]

15. I remember when he was debating Dukakis

and he pointed to him and said: "I'm tellin' ya, he's a liberal!" He said it with the tone you would use if you were calling him a rapist or a child molester.

I remember thinking sure he is. That's why I'm voting for him.

[JHB]

28. Maybe for general audience, but was much longer in conservative circles

[Meadowoak]

3. I wear it like a badge of Honor.

[AllaN01Bear]

10. her hear.

[walkingman]

11. Me too!!

[scarletlib]

12. I am Scarlet Lib.

I chose that when I first got on internet
(Compuserve/AOL) god knows how many years ago.

When people ask I explain that I proudly wear the Scarlet letter of Liberal.

[d_r]

4. they switched to "woke" now

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

6. I got a "woke" sticker from Etsy. Need to buy some more.

[d_r]

7. Excellent

[gulliver]

23. Yep, "woke" rehabilitated "liberal" nt

[Sky Jewels]

8. We should have embraced it 43 years ago.

Instead, we let Republican assholes use it as a smear. Too many Democratic politicians, including those at the very highest level, were afraid to be unabashedly progressive and fight back verbally. It really hurt us.

[Renew Deal]

9. It's more tangible than "progressive"

Which is mostly a meaningless term.

[betsuni]

17. +1

[Fiendish Thingy]

13. Political Identity labels are meaningless

It’s people’s positions on issues that matter, and consistently, a majority of Americans, Democrats and Republicans, support policies generally considered to be liberal, regardless of what political label they identify with.

That should guide how Democrats campaign and govern.

Nevertheless, I did find the poll results interesting.

[ananda]

14. I never liked the word progressive because it implied...

a moderate to Republican bias.

I've ALWAYS been a proud LIBERAL, yellow dawg Democrat.

[Cha]

16. Yeah, that was Stupid.. and

"conservative" has turned into Con job.

[GGoss]

18. That Reminds Me...

[betsuni]

19. Especially now that "progressive" is redefined as anti-establishment, the establishment

meaning the Democratic Party, as if Democrats aren't progressive. Liberal means Democrats, the progressive party.

[tblue37]

20. Unfortunately, the label "neoliberal" for conservative economic policies confuses people.

[betsuni]

24. Yes. Calling Democrats neoliberals: attempt to win an argument with an epithet.

An important part of the redefinition of "progressive":

"The basic claim is that, from the New Deal through the Great Society, the Democratic Party espoused a set of values defined by, or at the very least consistent with, social democracy or socialism. Then, starting in the 1970s, a coterie of neoliberal elites hijacked the party and redirected its course toward a brand of social liberalism targeted to elites and hostile to the interests of the poor and working class."

Of course that never happened. "Union membership peaked in 1955, two decades before the party's supposed neoliberal turn, and has declined steadily ever since." But no, it's all Bill Clinton's fault.

"The uselessness of 'neoliberal' as an analytic tool is the very thing that makes it useful as a factional messaging device for the left. The 'neoliberalism' rubric implicates the Democratic Party in the rightward drift of American politics that has in reality been caused by the Republican Party's growing radicalism. It yokes the two parties together into a capitalist Establishment, against which socialism offers the only clear alternative. "

Rebranding FDR/LBJ as socialists, why "progressives" must take the Democratic Party back to its pretend socialist populist roots and do revolution or whatever. "It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism."

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2017/07/how-neoliberal-became-the-lefts-favorite-insult.html

[orangecrush]

21. Gingrich

Started the stigmatizing, iirc

[BOSSHOG]

22. That's what you do when you don't know how to

Lead, govern or manage money. Republicans have so many poster boys and girls of ignorance, racism and hatred that few stand out. But not one statesmen amongst them.

I’m old and I’m so liberal I’ve gotten everyone of my Covid shots and boosters and have every of intention of voting in 2024 and beyond, unlike some who have been groomed to think getting the shot will kill you. They didn’t get the shot and now their dead.

To butcher up the title of an old Barbara Mandrell country song:

I WAS LIBERAL WHEN LIBERAL WASN’T COOL

[orangecrush]

25. ...

[newdayneeded]

26. Hmmmm, Limbaugh dies,

and "liberal" is no longer used as a derogatory label.....coincidence.....I think not!

[Patton French]

27. It never had political stigma.

That was completely manufactured by the RW media.