Just how liberal is the Liberal party?

[Selteri]

After this last election along with the general opinion of the 'liberal' party...

Yet, on analasys of our 'liberal' party it seems that the democratic party is closer to being two or even three parties that have rolled into one group.

The Extreme liberals - We have a number of far left Liberals in the party, these are the PETA and Greenpeace members. These people have been villified for being in general far left of the mainstream. (And connected to the Democratic party as though they ran it.)

Pros - Greenpeace is a bit too far left, the same with PETA, yet there are much more moderate groups that don't propose quite so radical of actions. - IE Sierra Club.

Cons - Far Left groups have the same problems as many far right groups, they care more about their pet project then the people on this planet far too often. IE - Right idea, but taking it a bit too far.

Moderate Liberals - These are the more traditional members of the Democratic Party. The ideals are primarily considered to be 'Socialist' in nature though many conservatives claim anything left of the far right is closer to 'communism', even though it's close to being a shade of gray between the two. Most 'moderate liberals' believe that Government should have a nose in business and the country to keep it 'clean' such as regulating emissions and big business.

Pros - Moderate Liberals tend to believe in the greater good for their decisions. Their actions tend to be thought out and carefully considered. Most Moderate liberals support universal health care, trust busting and laws that push reform very hard.

Cons - Moderate Liberals are still Human and far too often they fall prey to special interest groups. Thought out and careful consideration is not a knee jerk reaction.

Moderate Centrists - Having been labeled as Liberal for not being with the radical religious right these people tend to split between the two parties even though the present incarnation of the Republican party doesn't fit a majority of their ideas. Many Moderate Centrists beleive in fair wages, breaking monopolies and protecting children but also don't like the idea of taxes and beleive strongly in morality.

Pros - Moderate Centrists tend to hold a fair amount of what have been called 'liberal' values, even more so under todays definition of the right wing. Many of them espouse the ideas of fair play with significant freedom otherwise

Cons - Far too many Centrists support some things the republican party stands for and will switch sides over a 'pet' issue even should they disapprove of the candidate. Far too often they are swayed by an empty 'moralism' argument.

Conservative Democrats - These are the hardest people to describe as members of the democratic party. Many of them consider themselves to be refugees of the republican party yet still are demonised by their own party.

Pros - Much like the Moderate Centrists, they tend to hold a number of 'liberal values' that have left the conbservative party. A good example is how many conservatives who stated that they left the republican party when they were told things such as 'it is treason to question' or 'we need to give up our rights to protect them.'

Cons - Their numbers are very small, most went with the Bush Lite parties like the Libertarian parties that still fall under the sway of the Neocon hate mongers. A great example of this type could be found in Denver under KNRC 1150, sadly that channel has fallen silent. It began as being officially balanced but quickly fell to conservative rhetoric. Very often these 'conservative democrats' do just that, they stand democrat for a little while but slide back in line.

Overall view of the Democratic and Republican parties as compared to a global scale

Democrats - On a global - political scale based upon leadership and stances - Moderate - Conservative leaning with a few far left members - A far cry from radical liberalism as has been charged by the republican party.

Republicans - On the same global - political scale based from the same leadership stances - Far Radical Right - totalitarian authoritarianism with corporations being placed over the people and religious being used for supression of the rights of the individual.

So... in essence, the 'liberals' that are supposedly solidly a part of our party don't quite cut the 'liberal' mustard on a global scale, but instead falls into the category of being Moderate. It's quite distressing to see how we have been labeled as being far worse by those who have fallen themselves to fanatacism and radicalism on the far right.

Edit - I'm sorry, I don't know how Radical changed to true in the C&P I did on this, I'm guessing I typoed and missed it.

[TreasonousBastard]

1. Where were you when...

the Democratic Party consisted largely of segregationist rightwing Dixiecrats and county machine hacks?

Both parties have gone through a lot of changes in the last hundred years, and both of them have always had their more or less liberal and conservative wings. In the past 10 years, though, the Republicans have been successful at purging their liberals, while many Democratic conservatives simply switched parties.

The left wing of the Democratic Party was never really a part of the party, but was an alliance with Socialists, trade-unionists, and others that was mutually beneficial. Unlike the Republicans, who happily incorporated the extreme right wing, Democrats have been wary of looking too "communist." FDR owed a lot of his electoral success to deals with the Communist party, but would never admit it, probably for good reason.

Times change-- prosperous union members aren't out there fighting, being more interested in how their retirement packages look, other unions don't have the resources any more, the socialist elements have been fractured and marginalized...

The big fights of the 60's, civil rights, the environment, war... aren't mobilizing people like they once did. There's little for the left to do but react and whine without a cause to center people on. Iraq and hating Shrub for being an incompetant thief just isn't cutting it, and there's not much else to talk about.

[porphyrian]

2. PETA and Greenpeace aren't the far left.

By definition, being liberal is about freedom. Both of those organizations, as well-meaning as they may be, are about controlling the minds and actions of people, which is about as far from liberal as you can get. Don't continue to promote the right-wing propaganda that PETA and Greenpeace define the liberal base, that's bullshit.

[Selteri]

3. I didn't say they defined the liberal base

I stated they are the radical left, there is a major difference. In my opinion they are groups of radicals that are just as bad as the far right.

As any fanatic, be if the far left or far right, they continue to redouble their effort while forgetting the goal.

[porphyrian]

4. You said they were "The Extreme liberals."

They aren't, for the reasons I've already stated.