Let's make a list of what liberal movements in this country have done.

[elperromagico]

This is in response to this post in GD '04 which makes reference to some Republican calling Kerry/Edwards the "most liberal ticket" ever, as if that's a bad thing.

I'm sick of "liberal" being treated like it's some sort of dirty word. It's not. Among the things liberal movements have accomplished in this country are:

Civil rights
Regulation of child labor
Suffrage for women and minorities

Those are just three, and they're pretty damned major. Help me expand the list. :)

[LTR]

1. The American Revolution

Might as well start at the beginning.

[underpants]

13. Right -the conservatives ( "Tories") wanted to stay with the Crown

At least maintain the status quo if you aren't able to reverse the course of events and go back in time (sound familiar?) where as the progressives/liberals wanted to effect change.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

2. You gotta understand something

The people who actually believe being liberal is bad are bigots anyway. They don't want to help the poor, they don't want to help minorities. They seek to keep those people down. I prefer just to wear the label proudly and define who I am and what I support rather than fight such stubborn ignorance.

[SonofMass]

10. You are right. I can't understand why the leadership of the

party avoids using the liberal label. It wasn't always that way.

[aden_nak]

3. Time saver.

Well, we could save time and just copy and paste a list of New Deal programs that are still in effect.

[elperromagico]

7. Indeed. FDR's liberal programs,

and the safeguards he put in place, have thus far saved this country from another crippling economic depression.

[underpants]

14. Rural electrification?

I bet the south would be quite different without it.

[Radical Activist]

4. Gave us the 8 hour work day and 40 hour work week

Not that we all have that anymore...thanks Reagan!

[Itchinjim]

5. The Constitution.

The Bill of Rights.
The Emancipation Proclamation.
Just for starts...

[Radical Activist]

6. Abolition of slavery

that one aint so bad

[MrBenchley]

8. Rural electrification

The Federal Deposit Insurance corporation
The Securities & Exchange Commission
The space program

[baldguy]

9. Pure food & drugs

laws against false advertising
Clean air & clean water
anti-trust legislation

You could go on and on. Everything America stands for was a "liberal" idea at some point.

[Radical Activist]

11. Free public education, the public University system, community colleges

[GoBlue]

12. How about Liberal Democracy?

The PNACkers seem to think its the greatest...as long as its their version ie, not really liberal and not really democratic.

[Meritaten1]

15. Basically doesn't every progressive, optimistic and forward-looking

movement draw some roots from liberalism? From the New Deal to the Civil Rights movement to concern for the environment and human rights?

Liberalism=generosity

Liberalism=compassion for society's less fortunate

Liberalism=faith that an informed electorate can act on behalf of the public interest through government

The reason "compassionate conservatism" became such a buzzword for the Republicans is precisely because conservatism is not something one would normally associate with compassion. "Conservative" usually connotes holding back...conformity...an unwillngness to venture forward?

[elperromagico]

17. Exactly.

A lot of people just don't seem to realize what this country would be like without liberals and liberal movements. Or, as an earlier poster pointed out, they just don't care.

[dryan]

18. A few more

Securities & Exchange Commission
Bank regulation
Landlord tenant acts
truth in advertising laws
truth in lending laws
right to organize and join unions
pay equity (still fighting that one)
living wage
Miranda Rights
Escombido Rights
Mapp Rights
ERA (when are we really going to have this)
draft deferments
meritocracy in the military - did you all know that Wellington "paid" to become a general it was the equivalent of about one million dollars in today's money!!!
no debtor prisons

[Worst Username Ever]

16. The entire civil rights movement

Black votes, women's vote, etc

[CWebster]

19. The environmental movement

Gay Rights. The Impulse behind the Great society. Labor rights and struggles for safety in the workplace. Laws and regulation to protect Rights and promote Democracy. Consumer activism and safety in the interest of public as opposed to big business profiteering. Increased educational opportunities, protection of civil liberties, affirmative action programs to address institutional bias...

[cosmicdot]

20. virtually everything ... Jeffersonian and Jacksonian Democracy

each were movements for more democracy in our government

direct election of Senators


most all human safety nets;

the GOP, 'the Raw Deal' (me, March 2001), delivers safety nets for corporations, non-people, who loathe buying tort and liability insurance to cover their errors, omissions, abuse and blunders on people and the environment -- they just throw us in prisons



~~~~ things seem to have bogged down over the last 30 years or so ... we need to energize democracy ... we need an infrastructure update and overhaul ... and, a general sprucing up of what 'We the People' is all about ...

[kcwayne]

21. Women's right to vote

[rman]

22. 40hr work week, minimum wage

labor safety regulations

(fairness doctrine/rule of sevens ?)

[FredScuttle]

23. Interstate highway system

Yes, it was erected by Ike, but it was proposed by FDR

Also, the GI Bill
child labor reform
space exploration
the National Weather Service
Morill Land Grant Act (which provided the means for state universities)
bank deposit insurance
Centers for Disease Control
public broadcasting

for more, check out http://www.cjnetworks.com/~cubsfan/libgood.html

[pdmike]

24. U.S. Supreme Court Decisions Applying the Bill of Rights to States

The dozens of U.S. Supreme Court decisions applying the Bill of Rights to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment.