Posted on 07/18/2014 8:10:48 AM PDT by cotton1706
Liberals just aren't very liberal these days. The word "liberal" comes from the Latin word meaning freedom, and in the 19th century, liberals in this country and abroad stood for free speech, free exercise of religion, free markets, free trade -- for minimal state interference in people's lives.
In the 20th-century, New Dealers revised this definition by arguing that people had a right not only to free speech and freedom of religion but also, as Franklin Roosevelt said in his 1941 Four Freedoms speech, freedom from fear and from want.
Freedom from want meant, for Roosevelt, government provision of jobs, housing, health care and food. And so government would have to be much larger, more expensive and more intrusive than ever before.
That's what liberalism has come to mean in America (in Europe it still has the old meaning), and much of the Obama Democrats' agenda are logical outgrowths -- Obamacare, the vast expansion of food stamps, attempted assistance to underwater homeowners.
But in some respects the Obama Democrats want to go further -- and are complaining that they're having a hard time getting there. Their form of liberalism is in danger of standing for something like the very opposite of freedom, for government coercion of those who refuse to behave the way they'd like.
Example one is the constitutional amendment, sponsored by 43 of the 55 Democratic U.S. senators, which would cut back on the First Amendment and authorize Congress and state legislatures to restrict political speech.
(Excerpt) Read more at rasmussenreports.com ...
Tell me when Modern Liberalism hasn’t been an Instrument of Coercion. All ObaMao is doing is peeling off the mask.
Great title to the article.
I was going to post that he is only REVEALING it to be so.
Progressive = Repressive
True, and good distinction by indicating Modern Liberalism — a form of Leftism with fewer calories.
Yes, there is strong totalitarian streak in liberalism.
We can think of examples. Such as coercion or lawsuits used against people who have said the “N” word, people who believe marriage is a man and a woman who happen to run a fast food company, beauty pageant contestants who say they believe marriage is a man and a woman, lawsuits to compel people to render services to homosexual weddings against their beliefs, campaigns against those who don’t buy into global warming, campaigns against companies which don’t buy into abortifacient “birth control” being provided in company health plans, etc.
I cannot think of any examples of conservative coercion to compel compliance with conservative views. If anybody has examples of that coming from the conservative side, I would like to be fair and balanced.
“Liberals” never WERE liberal!
The fascists of the 30’s, known as “progressives” of the time, became associated with the Nazis, because they sympathized with them.
They changed their label to “liberals” in order to escape that association. Then they became associated with communists, and now want to be called “progressives” again.
The funny thing is, the “progressives” today are, once again, more fascist than they are communist.
There is nothing liberal about liberalism and nothing progressive about progressivism.
Modern liberals have stolen the word “liberal” from the classical liberals. Homosexuals have stolen the word “gay” from the happy people. Hippies are trying to steal the word “love” from the Christians. The Left’s word-stealing agenda is furthered by the cynical losers who have nothing better to do than update dictionaries.
Also, anarcho-syndicalists and environmentalists have stolen the word “progressive” from people in the science and technology industries.
I call them the Left, Socialists, Collectivists, Fabian Progressives, Marxist, and sometimes tyrants.
Whatever else the Left is, it is certainly not "liberal" - lovers of freedom.
WRT the word “love”, the Greek language had it right, better than English.
We have one word that means the same whether you mean
you “love” chocolate,
you “love” your children,
or you “love” your spouse.
The left, in accordance with their founding (Gen 3), have conflated and twisted the word so that when they use the context of
agape love - wanting the absolute best for someone
to justify
eros love - fleshly desire,
they give more weight and credence to the latter.
Oh, they’ll tell you they’re for “freedom”. I think it was FDR that redefined “freedom” from “not being interfered with” to “having everything provided for you”.
Modern “liberalism”, now often called “progressivism” was NEVER “liberal” as classically defined. In fact what is now called “liberalism” has ALWAYS been coercive in nature.
Classical liberal philosophy is now more seen in what is called “libertarian”.
It’s Marxist-Leninist corruption of the language.
Amen! “Tell me when Modern Liberalism hasn’t been an Instrument of Coercion. All ObaMao is doing is peeling off the mask.”
How to tell a Republican from a left wing progressive DemocRat:
If a Republican doesn’t like guns, he doesn’t buy one. If a Democrat doesn’t like guns, he wants all guns outlawed.
Republican is a vegetarian, he doesn’t eat meat. If a Democrat is a vegetarian, he wants all meat products banned for everyone.
If a Republican is homosexual, he quietly leads his life. If a Democrat is ahomosexual, he demands legislated respect.
If a Republican is down-and-out, he thinks about how to better his situation. If a Democrat is down-and-out he wonders who is going to take care of him.
If a Republican doesn’t like a talk show host, he switches channels. A Democrat demands that those they don’t like be shut down.
If a Republican is a non-believer, he doesn’t go to church. A Democrat non-believer wants any mention of God and religion silenced.
If a Republican decides he needs health care, he goes about shopping for it, or may choose a job that provides it. If a Democrat decides he needs health care, he demands that
the rest of us pay for his health care.
If a Republican reads this, he’ll forward it so his friends can have a good laugh.
A Democrat will delete it because he’s “offended”.
Thank you. You saved me from stating what should be but apparently isn't both obvious and common knowledge. Liberalism is just the leading edge of a path that inevitably leads to tyranny.
So true! That can’t be posted often enough.
No matter which label they choose, they are all control freaks.
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