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To: Alberta's Child

Be careful reading too deep into what people self-describe as. Many claim themselves “conservative” or “liberal” yet may have wildly different ideas as to what these labels mean… some of this is due to the fact that conservative/liberal are such semantically mutilated and confused terms in the context of American politics.

If you go back through history not too far, and look at the philosophies underpinning the founding of the United States, it began as a liberal country—when at the time liberal meant an ethos of individual liberty, self-determination, and minimal government. Or what is now termed Libertarian.

The Progressives/Socialists misappropriated “liberal” for themselves at some point; and defenders of classical liberalism proper or libertarianism, became the “conservatives”, a word which usually implied “reactionary and traditionalist”… and it gets even more convoluted from there…

Oh, and as another example of why it’s good idea to be skeptical of what people self-describe as—I read a Gallup poll yesterday which says that 53% of Americans self-describe as pro-life, yet only 20% of Americans say they want abortion banned. And many here would say then that only this 20% are the real pro-lifers.


23 posted on 11/10/2012 4:14:37 PM PST by Utmost Certainty (Our Enemy, the State)
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To: Utmost Certainty; Alberta's Child
If you go back through history not too far, and look at the philosophies underpinning the founding of the United States, it began as a liberal country—when at the time liberal meant an ethos of individual liberty, self-determination, and minimal government. Or what is now termed Libertarian.

No, not Libertarian, because those same patriots lived in states that had already passed laws against sodomy, among other "sins" described in the bible, and you will not find one peep out of any of the writings of the patriots against these type of laws. Something your Libertarians would be dead-set against.
32 posted on 11/10/2012 5:01:49 PM PST by SoConPubbie (Mitt and Obama: They're the same poison, just a different potency.)
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