So take back the word "LIBERAL." I will NOT let a fascist define who I am

[radwriter0555]

in a bad way.

I, a liberal, socialist Democrat stand for civil rights, equal rights, women's rights and human rights. How is this a bad thing?

I stand for good quality, socialized education, and equal education for all. I stand for affordable and good quality education for all. I say teachers salaries should be doubled, and we need 10 times more grade schools than we currently have. I say our children are THE most important asset we have and THE most important investment WE can make in the future of tihs planet. Please, I beg you to explain how that liberal virtue is a bad thing?

I say that universal health care is a right, not a privilege, and I will move mountains to support anyone who can help us move the US into the 21st Century to achieve that goal -- equal access to good quality health care for all IN America. That's a liberal value. What's wrong with caring for my neighbor?

I oppose war, and I enjoy peace. I abhor violence and embrace loving our fellow man, woman and child. I don't mind guns; but once we have peace and prosperity and we all live without GOP fear mongering, those guns will just disappear from a society who isn't raging at each other, or drug addicted or desperate or mentally ill.

I say decriminalize all drugs, drug use and drug possession. Empty the prisons of anyone in jail for such offenses. Reduce our governments, we won't need so many cops on the streets, so many backlogged courts.

I'm a liberal. I'm a good person who wants our society to live free of fear and oppression. There is no way I can be ashamed of that.

[displacedtexan]

1. Well said!

[LittleApple81]

2. I have been yelling the same thing in DU for the past week. I am

fed up. WE ARE LIBERAL AND WE ARE GOOD!

[sldavis]

3. excellent sentiment

We need to reclaim liberal as a positive word. Liberals love America but hate what's happening to it under the Bu$h regime.

[pathansen]

4. Definition of Liberal: generous, open minded, progressive, tolerant

These are all virtues rather than a "dirty word".
The opposite means:
stingy, closed minded, intolerant and backwards.

[David__77]

5. Counterpoint: Why I'm not a liberal.

I associate "liberal" with two things. First, Adam Smith and other pro-free trade ideologues, wholly discredited by the course of human history, are economic liberals in the classical sense. Second, warmongering, anti-people Democrats like Scoop Jackson were liberals.

I think that American liberalism was irreparably damaged by its capitulation to red-baiting McCarthyism during the 50s and 60s, when unions and others went in big for the criminal war against Southeast Asia. The "New Left," for all its weaknesses, emerged in order to address the vacuum created by the liberals' abandonment of progressive standpoint in relation to the whole world. Social Democrats USA, to me, exemplify this Cold War Liberalism, with their current support of the Iraq aggression and other neo-conservative policies, only they would allow for unions unlike their openly rightist counterparts.

The newer generations of progressive activists do not identify with liberalism, in part, because of this controversial legacy. They are more apt to identify with the political legacy of the New Left, which was arose in direct conflict with liberalism. What is happening that's positive is that the AFL-CIO has abandoned its anti-immigrant, pro-foreign aggression policies and returned to a progressive position. But I don't think that "liberal" is salvageable in the long term as a notion with which many people will identify.

I think "progressive" is a better, more inclusive term. It includes progressive self-identified liberals, socialists, social democrats, other leftists and so forth, who share a common commitment to the general welfare.

[ClassWarrior]

6. Language is vital.

We need to claim it back.

You go, Rad...

[Burma Jones]

7. Here's Where I might differ some

I believe that education takes place primarily in the home, where attitudes are formed and discipline learned. Without having a society where a family can believe that an education matters, the quality of the schools will not mean much. So, my liberal bent is that we have created a winner take all society where Education does not bring hope.


I grew up in the military and always had free health care, everybody else should too. Everybody does have access to some level of health care in this country, it's just uneven and also takes you to a bureaucratic and financial hell. The Insurance Business has rigged the game, we need to have a single payer system to take them out of the game. No Fucking Insurance Company has ever removed an appendix.


Sometimes war is necessary. I supported Afghanistan, opposed Iraq. I respect the military, sometimes despise their Civilian management.


Drugs should be regulated, not illegal. Violent Criminals should be castrated or killed. Property crimes should be punished through restitution by imprisonment and work until restitution is made, SO, Ken Lay, life without parole, 'cause he'll never make that much money. Small Time crooks, little imprisonment, small restitution. Repeat offenders in Property Crimes get longer sentences.


Environmentalism:

Alternative Fuels NOW, we've been fucking around with this for thirty years.

The Environment is more important than jobs. If some environmental regulation displaces jobs, the government is responsible for rectifying that situation.

If it costs mucho dinero to refit power plants to make them burn coal cleanly, then take money from the war on drugs and wage a war on lung disease.

Outsourcing:

We are part of a global economy. Our society must help people left behind by our changing stature from the world's leading industrial power to Number Two (at best). We don't know where we're going and we don't have people in charge that give a shit about it. The only other option I can see is to set up a Nuke War between India and Pakistan and hope the fallout reaches China.

[Atman]

8. Liberal is not a dirty word