Do you think the country is getting more liberal (and how old are you)?

[Onlooker]

[ewagner]

1. I'm afraind not

We still have to recover from
8 years of Ronnie Raygun's "Morning in America"
4 years of Senior's "Thousand Points of light"
8 years of a Moderate Bill Clinton (although there were some liberal gains)
3+ years of the most radical conservative government this country has ever known.

add to that:

Nationalism created by 9/11
Conservative Christian movements taking place in schools and business.

The country has shifted hard to the right because that's where they have been lead.

It's going to take some time to turn this big 'ole ship of state around.

But it must be done....and it must be done in 2004

[muchacho]

2. Evolution is a slow process

For all of you that think that the country is getting more conservative take a look at war protests in the 60s compared to the ones in 2002.

[bigwillq]

3. I say Yes

For all those who are tying to move in a progrssive, liberal direction. I applaud you. Unfortunately, the government is pushing even harder to make it a conservative society based on what a select few think is right.

Heck, I can't legally marry my boyfriend. Why on earth in 2004 America are we letting this happen.

Although it might kill me one day, they've banned smoking not only in most public places but even in some town: OUTSIDE! and they treat smokers like the plaque.

Women do not have the right to choice what to do with there bodies, whether it was rape, incest, or a brief moment of recklessness.

People cannot adopt children based on who they sleep with.

Heck, I would go on but right now I want to kill myself (not literally).
This government is NUTS!

[HawkerHurricane]

4. Yes

What we are seeing now is the last, desperate gasps of the conservative movement that was started by Goldwater's defeat in 1964. They will fight tooth and claw to prevent thier downfall (and lie, cheat and steal also) as thier 'cause' is more important than anything else... but the majority is shifting left, and there is nothing they can do about it short of civil war... which they will lose.

[BiggJawn]

5. Witness the rise of the Murkan Taliban.

Governors claiming that Gays marrying is illegal, the pResident and most of the ReTHUGlican side of the house screaming for an AMMENDMENT to the document that iterates and guarrantees rights that would take away a Right...The Fundy Right getting enough of an ear that they think they are a force to be reckoned with in this country (beware the Silent Majority, Pat!)
People believing in junk like "creationism", Angels, John Edward, and every single damn thing Carl Sagan warned us about in "The Demon-Haunted World" (read it. it'll scare the piss out of you)
Abstinence only "sex education" programs that cause our young people to become either pregnant or disease-ridden (both conditions making it easier to ostracise the young folks)

Need I got on?

Really, spotty outbreaks of homosexual weddings do NOT make the country "more Liberal" by a damn sight.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

13. You're absolutely right...

Not to slight the feelings that the newlyweds have for one another; but they are all aware that the government could do a turnaround and annul all the weddings. The ceremonies are as much a protest to the shoddy treatment of gays and lesbians in this country as they are symbolic of their love for each other.

It's akin to Rosa Parks' protest.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

6. I voted Yes and my age, but the country is Brazil

And it IS getting more liberal, in all senses. Eat your heart out. :evilgrin:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

7. I'm getting more liberal; but the country's got a long way to go.

Conservatives are even more freaked out by gay rights issues than they were about racial equality in the 60s. The majority of those who live under the poverty level are African American (31.5% of all African Americans), and I don't doubt that this pleases the republican party to no end.

Women are still financially undercompensated in the workplace, and every day we come a little closer to losing our reproductive freedom completely.

Only 5 years ago; nobody would dare question an individual's right to disagree with the government. Now it's considered "Unamerican".

[stopthegop]

9. where did you get the stat about African Americans and

the poverty level?
I doubt its accuracy...

[GoddessOfGuinness]

14. poorly stated...

I'll edit.

[stopthegop]

16. thank you...

that rings truer..
have a good weekend

[DrWeird]

8. I'm young, but I still voted yes.

Compare how liberal this country is to forty years ago.

[NoPasaran]

10. Yes and no

I'm in my 40s

The government is certainly more and more conservative.

Society in general is more open, more tolerant, more diverse than when I younger.

[Kamika]

11. Voted yes, I'm 21

I see ALOT of younger people who are liberal and I don't exactly hang around typical liberal places

[Uzybone]

12. Yes of course edit: Im 26

only someone who is not living in reality will say no. Free societies by their nature will get more and more liberal as time goes on.

[MissMarple]

15. I'm over 50 and I think people are beginning to see what illiberal

politics and policies can do. George&Co are antidemocratic, anti liberal control freaks. The game they're playing is total world domination, not saving America from the bad guys. I think more people are beginning to see this. And if you think that how you do something is as important as what you are doing, George&Co are going about their endeavors in the worst possible way. I agree with Kevin Phillips when he said they are all incompetent.

[supernova]

17. More liberal and I'm 40+

than it was when I was growing up, if you measure it by more opportunities for women and minorities.

I feel confident that I can apply for just about any job I want and get at least a fair hearing on it.

We feel more comfortable talking about sexual issues in general, divorce and single-parenthood are not the social stigmas they once were.

So that's all to the good. But with the rise of the neocons there is a push back toward regressive behavior. We cannot allow that. We must continue the forward march toward full enfranchisment of everyone.

But we must speak to their fears, in order to be successful. We simply can't just tell them that they are stupid, ignorant, or unthinking. We have to reassure them that the liberal voice is the voice of justice.

[gyopsy]

18. No...

i question the validity of this poll. The perception of this varies greatly based on where you live. In Florida, I can't help but feel things are getting more conservative.

[Doogie]

19. Doesn't seem that way

Just that the liberals remaining (and newly minted ones), are concentrating into pockets, mostly big cities at the edges of the country. IMHO

[achtung_circus]

20. America is liberal?

I refer you to a book called "Fire and Ice" by Michael Adams of the Environics Research Group. Although written for a Canadian Audience it has implications for Americans as well. It statistically measures people and society's "values", plots them on a "map" and measures societal trends.

In broad terms Adams says that, couterintuitively, Canada, land of "peace, order and good government" has become much more "liberal" than the American value of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

If fact, the US is becoming, again statistically, a Blade Runner kind of place, with huge inequities that are only increasing.

Environics' website includes their questionnaire and will map you onto their map. It breaks society into non-geographical "tribes" of shared values.

<http://erg.environics.net/fire_ice/>