Posted on 09/30/2004 8:33:17 AM PDT by housewife101
Last week I asked readers to help me define the term "liberal."
The response was terrific and I greatly appreciate the time many of you took. The definitions varied greatly and for space reasons I can't print all of them.
Some who responded defined "liberal" as it related to someone's view of government.
Paul Wuerl of Crystal Lake wrote that a liberal is "a person with a socialist philosophy, who desires to dictate virtually every aspect of the lives of others, primarily through government mandate."
Joe Lampinen of McHenry took a lighter approach: "A liberal is someone who laughs at Rush Limbaugh while a conservative is someone who laughs with Rush Limbaugh."
Others, however, viewed "liberal" in strictly moral terms.
Huntley resident Norma Thompson wrote, "Liberals are people who decide for themselves what they want to believe and who don't take a stand on the principles found in God's Word, the Bible."
An e-mailer who asked to remain anonymous wrote that liberals "think slaughtering [their] own child and calling it a 'choice' is right." The same e-mailer wrote that the No. 1 indicator someone is a liberal is they "think the Northwest Herald is a 'fair and balanced' newspaper."
Now, that's not very nice. But there were positive definitions, too.
"Liberals are the people who have brought you the 40-hour work week, health insurance and overtime pay," said Huntley resident Bill Wiederkehr.
Vicki Dow of Crystal Lake wrote, "A conservative cares about 'me.' A liberal cares about 'us.' It's a selfish vs. magnanimous view of the world."
Many of the e-mailers pointed out just how blurry the political stage has become. Pragmatically, many people are "conservative" on some issues and "liberal" on others.
Yet in its current usage within the partisan media, I think "liberal" is most often used to dismiss someone. The truth is that most people don't really think about what the word means any more, they just fit it into their own definition.
If I said I thought the tax cuts should be repealed I would be classified a liberal. But what if I said we needed the money to pay for the war, support the troops and reduce the deficit? Isn't that conservative?
Is it really too much to ask people to pay more in taxes when others are being asked to sacrifice their lives?
Such positions are neither conservative nor liberal.
The terms have become meaningless.
Makes sense in a way... A liberal defines a "we" vs. "they" world and they care about "us" so long as you're a member of the "we" group.
That's funny, I didn't see anything that read, "lacking conviction in national identity" or "unwilling to invest the defense of one's country." I think those would be applicable, what about you? Oh yeah, and don't forget, "fiscally irresponsible person who has no understanding of what personal accountability is."
Yep, agree with all that...and they don't know what the meaning of the word "is" is.
If I recall correctly, employer provided health insurance began as a response to Democratic-imposed wage controls. Business owners (mostly Republican I would think) offered health insurance as additional compensation to get around those wage controls.
Well, you know that the "liberals" are the only ones who care about the "working class.":-) It was also CONSERVATIVES that voted for and helped the civil rights movement in congress, but one NEVER hears that from the press or in our wonderful public education system.
You are right about the wage controls. It is strange (or maybe not?) that liberals would correct problems stemming from failed economic policies of the past with those very same policies, by imposing price controls on health care.
In my case I'm a conservative who opposes the death penalty and supports sensible marijuana laws. I think the ten commandments monument should have remained in the Alabama courthouse and that abortion should be limited to the most dire medical circumstances. I think both evolution and creationism should be taught in our schools.
Sure my ideals conflict at times, but I deal with those conflics as best I can. I believe liberals have conflicting ideals but choose to supress them in an attempt to get their way.
Exactly.
I fear that many people have become too lazy to think for themselves and rely on the MSM, public education, and opinions of others to tell them what to think.
(They have long forgotten how to think.)
Some of my synonyms for liberal:
progressive, liar, fear monger, appeaser, slacker, cheater, cry baby…
Liberal means, in the literal sense, generous. In political terms, it once meant supporting individual rights (liberty and liberal have the same root). Modern-day liberals have hijacked the word to cover the truth of their socialist-marxist agenda. In so doing, they have taken a word, which once denoted something good, and mangled its meaning to the point that it denotes something immoral and destructive.
In response to this hijacking of the term "liberal," I have formed my own definition of the word: the political equivalent of gay.
I said it before, and I will say it again:
The people who post on Free Republic are some of
the most insightful, intelligent I've ever seen.
very well said
"Last week I asked readers to help me define the term "liberal." "
Back then, Liberal = Socialist
In todays America, Liberal = Marxist
A liberal is someone who doesn't care what you DO, as long as he can control what you THINK.
If you think back over numerous examples of the double standards that liberals engage in, this definition makes sense.
(One example: compare Bill Clinton's sexual shenanigans and the liberal defense of him, to the allegations against Bob Packwood and the reaction to him. And so on and so on -- there are tons more examples.)
Liberalism defines a person's foreign policy, too. If the Soviet Union wins, it advances liberalism, so the libs were traitors during the cold war. If Osama causes chaos and harms the economy such that people might be willing to vote for liberals, then he advances the liberal cause and they don't want extremist Islam destroyed just yet.
"A conservative is a liberal that's been mugged.
A liberal is a conservative that's been arrested."
Uh Uh - liberals have become meaningless, but the term is full of meaning...
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