Let's simplify our lives: let's be honest.

[Atticus]

Most of us know what it means to be a liberal, a TRUE liberal.

OMG! Was I presumptious enough to say "TRUE" liberal---in all caps, yet?

Yeah, I said that. Because I'm being honest. One is either a liberal or one is not. The "is not" category includes everyone from fascists to those who call themselves liberals, but when called upon to walk the walk, find excuses as to why that "just isn't practical at this time."

So, basically, this is a call to cut the bullshit.

Liberals understand that the battle between the haves and have-nots is never-ending---and they are on the side of the have-nots. They favor working class over privileged class; unions over management; the poor over the wealthy; and, the powerless over the powerful.

Liberals agree with Doctor King that "It is always the right time to do the right thing." Even when it "isn't practical"; even when it is "doomed to failure"; even when our leaders are cautioning that we must "keep our powder dry".

I need not list all of the attributes or beliefs of a "true" liberal. As I said, most of us know what being a liberal genuinely means.

And, we know that, if we are honest, we cannot condone or justify or excuse things like cutting the taxes of the wealthiest elites and then finance the cuts by letting poor people starve or freeze or die of curable illnesses.

We know that, if we are honest, we must agree that there are moral absolutes that are not subject to debate. It is always right to be kind and generous and compassonate. It is always wrong to be mean and greedy and arrogant.

We know that that there are some people who, by their words and actions, have shown that they are not worthy of respect or deference or even our association. And, we know that Beck and Limbaugh and Palin and Bachman are examples of this category.

At various times in our history, the majority said that it "wasn't practical" to recognize black Americans as full citizens, gay Americans as entitled to equal rights under our laws or labor unions as legal representatives of working people. They were wrong.

Today, a majority maintains that it "isn't practical" to prosecute Bush, Cheney and their disciples, for crimes against the nation and the world; it "isn't practical" to develop a plan to transition to alternative energy within the next decade or so; that it "isn't practical" to FORCE the reversal of the effects of CITZENS UNITED and a recognition that corporations are entitled to none of our Constitutionally provided rights. These people are also wrong.

It isn't complicated. It's difficult.

That's an important distinction.

[valerief]

1. +1000

[Horse with no Name]

2. I, too, am a PROUD LIBERAL

Excellent post.

[Lorien]

3. "A Majority" says that? No, just a handful of people in control say that

the majority is all for it.

[dkf]

4. Why is our biggest concern how rich the other guy is and not how we are going to do amazing things

With science and technology that will benefit us all?

Making taxing away someone else's wealth as the ultimate in satisfaction is depressing! Is that really what being a liberal is about?

[ZombieHorde]

5. "Most of us know what it means to be a liberal, a TRUE liberal."

Do you consider that claim to be an opinion or a fact?

"Liberals understand that the battle between the haves and have-nots is never-ending---"

Do you consider this claim to be an opinion or a fact?

"Liberals agree with Doctor King that "It is always the right time to do the right thing." Even when it "isn't practical"; even when it is "doomed to failure"; even when our leaders are cautioning that we must "keep our powder dry".

You consider these claims to be opinions or facts?

"We know that, if we are honest, we must agree that there are moral absolutes that are not subject to debate."

Do you consider this claim to be an opinion or a fact?

[Pholus]

6. Derf.

for ($i = 0; $i < 4; $i++) {printf "Do you have a point?";}

Less repetitive and JUST as content filled as your question.

[Boojatta]

7. Actually, ZombieHorde provided additional content by

identifying specific parts of the Original Message. I would like people who respond to my posts to similarly identify some particular part or parts of my message that they want to ask about or comment on, rather than making vague overall responses.

[ZombieHorde]

8. Some questions are not meant to provide content,

some questions are meant to acquire answers.

Here is a common example: "How are you?"

Some questions are also accusations.

Here is a common example: (asked with a worried tone) "How are you?"

The worried tone may imply the person who asked the question believes the target of the question is not OK. Some may argue the worried tone provides some content, others may not.

[freshwest]

9. Agreed with all except the judgment on the majority.

The voice of the majority is not on the news, so it is unheard and unheeded, by design. We live under manufactured consent.

The newest example would be the fact that the majority of people do NOT want to balance the deficit on the poor, elderly, vulnerable and middle class. That fact is being ignored.

Another fact is that the majority DO want to tax those who made great wealth off of others to reduce the deficits.

Those who accuse liberals of being out to get the wealthy people's money are not liberals or progressives, or else have fallen under the media spell.

The media spins a deceptive tale that somehow the very wealthy made their way from their bootstraps, with every advantage denied them, or because of their inherent moral or intellectual qualities. This is not the case.

To claim that liberals see the only solution to a just society is taxing the wealth also belies the fact that their wealth was not created in a vacuum. That it came from the interaction of all the people in society and all the resources of nature and large groups of people expending their efforts and intellectual to make something of value.

The reason for the accumulation of vast sums is that those who have them, wrote the tax codes, property, criminal and civil laws to continue to funnel the efforts of the many into the hands of the few are unfair. Their tools are monopoly, price fixing, bribery and coercion. The more it happens, the more power they gain by dishonest methods. The corruption builds until the ones who truly worked will lose everything because they did not have the luxury of controlling those factors in their own financial matters.

The system is set against working people, even professionals. If anyone doubts that, read 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad.' It is an instruction book on financial Independence that shows how good people were in a losing game.

It also shows respect for those rich who actually did make their money honestly. But their heirs cannot claim the same. Take a look at the Koch brothers and others who are never satisfied, and those international and global sovereign wealth who regard nations and people as little more than pawns on a chessboard. One they made and never suffer from the games. The pawns have a right to be heard, if you truly believe in equality.

And somehow the Founders' wisdom, shown in Thomas Paine's Agrarian Justice has been lost. The majority of people in this world have been dispossessed of the natural means of creating wealth, and those resources have been locked up by oligarchs for centuries and no one says a word. There is no vacuum of wealth. There is a cause for wealth and for poverty, two sides of the same coin.

Many of the rich that some would cry over being taxed, made their money from shady businesses, from wars and increasingly, just games with paper. These folks are not worthy of the sacrifice of millions of lives here and abroad just for someone to say that they need to be treated equally. They don't behave as if they believe in any sort of equality or justice.

As far as evidence that the majority approved or is unwilling to be inconvenienced or crimes in high places, please consider this. The majority have been unable to summon the wealth and power to challenge those who have unfairly gamed our country, who have in many clever ways robbed many.

The majority who have fought and lost for these things have shifted their efforts to lower levels than Cheney, etc. They are still liberals. But liberals are going to have to do a lot of grassroots organizing to overcome sufficient barriers to participate meaningfully in the political process. Homeless people, unemployed people, or those on the verge of either are unable to take on large targets.

I'm a liberal, a progressive, have fought all of these things and am still challenged beyond my abilities, as most people I know, to change what was done in D.C. during the Bush administration.

Because the battle is not just there; it's in every district, city, county and state fighting the regressives who have put a shooting target on the back of every progressive, liberal and Democrat.

It will take time. We don't need to shoot each other first.


:dem: