Orthodox Liberals

2006-9-18 14:06:00

Joe M writes:

Whoa! As a liberal I am extremely offended that you would say that the liberal motto is "ask what your country can do for you"

First let me make something clear. This (from my point of view) is not a liberal vs. conservative argument because I am mostly liberal myself. Libertarian would be the most accurate label to put on me. A Libertarian is much more liberal than the typical Democrat. Today's Democrats have become more conservative than Republicans in many ways.

That said we need to not look at these things through Republican or Democratic filters but just ask ourselves what the truth of the situation is.

The truth is that the current Democrats have somewhat mistakenly been identified with being liberal and those so identified attempt to win elections by telling the people what government will do for them.

The government will give you more money for this and more for that. Now the Republicans do this too, but the Democrats do it much more. In doing this they are going after the votes of the people who are asking "what can the government do for me?"

Will it increase my wages? Will it give me healthcare? Will it increase my Social security? Will it subsidize my crops? Will it help pay for my kids education? Will it stick it to those evil oil companies? Will it pay me money because I have a dyslexic kid? Is my government job secure? Will it pay for my Viagra?

I'm sorry if the truth hurts, but the calling card of today's orthodox liberal is "Here's what the government will do for you if I am elected. Vote for me!"

The government was designed to provide us with security as a nation so we could help ourselves and that was about it as far as the Founding Fathers were concerned. Kennedy had the right idea when he gave his famous quote. He set the example by taking only one dollar a year in salary. We citizens should be strong enough so we can jump in and help our country rather than expecting the government to use other people's money to help us.

Joe M:

That is a stereotype and could not be further from the truth. I have to say that I am a liberal, my family is liberal, my town is liberal, and I live in the most liberal state, Vermont. If anyone has a grasp on the liberal point of view, it is me. What you said is the same thing as saying that the conservative motto is "kill anyone you don't like"

That is not comparable at all. A candidate saying, "Vote for me and I will give you this." is much different than murder. You are making an extreme comparison there. This is much more insulting than what I said.

Joe M:

No liberal wants a hand out.

Then why do they campaign on platforms of giving handouts? Why is this a winning campaign program for them?

Liberals are truly liberal in one way. They want to liberally give away other people's money.

Now, not all liberals may want a handout but most of them either want to give away other people's money or receive it.

Joe M:

We believe in hard work just as much if not more than conservatives do.

No one said that liberals do not work hard.

Joe M:

We just believe that if someone is in a bad situation and they need help that help should be given to them.

From my observation conservatives believe this just as much as liberals do. The red states give much more of their income to charity per capita than do the blue states.

Joe M:

That is a philosophy that Jesus himself had. He didn't criticize the poor and the sick, or force them to work; he just helped them because they needed to be helped.

But the liberal does not follow the example of Jesus. The liberal wants to force us to give to Caesar so Caesar can dole the money out as he sees fit.

Jesus told us to give the money directly to the poor, not to Caesar. The Republicans give much more money directly to the poor through charities than do the Democrats. I only say this because you unjustly accuse them of not following the advice of Jesus.

As it is, we pay close to half of our income to Caesar today and it is a miracle that any is left over for charities at all. We are taxed today about the equivalent of a Roman slave who operated a business for his master.

Joe M:

Conservatives only want to help certain people, people who fit their standards.

I'm not sure what you mean by this but I think both liberals and conservatives are equally guilty of this as far as money goes. There aren't many liberals who want to help Bush or his supporters today - that's for sure.

Joe M:

It also seems that in your view every great President was really a conservative.

You'll never judge me right if you place me in a black and white spectrum. I see most great presidents as more liberal than conservative.

Presidents I admire in approximate order of greatness are:

Lincoln
Washington
Jefferson
Reagan
Kennedy
FDR
Teddy Roosevelt

At the top of my list is Lincoln who was famous for conservative action as well as liberal. He fought the war to "conserve" the union and in the process freed the slaves - a true liberal or progressive act.

It's too bad that he was not able to serve through his second term. I think the whole world would have been better off for it, but our planetary karma did not warrant it.

He was the only president in our history who was hated more than Bush.

Sen. Hillary Clinton this morning blasted the producers of a new film depicting the assassination of Pres. George W. Bush.
"I think it's despicable," Clinton said of 'Death of a President,' a fictional film that features a staged assassination of the president in 2007. "I think it's absolutely outrageous. That anyone would even attempt to profit on such a horrible scenario makes me sick."
The Journal News - September 16, 2006)