LIBERAL
Posted on 08/06/2006 6:01:11 PM PDT by Halls
Tom Sowell, and here I am afraid I am paraphrasing, says that a liberal is someone who believes that all the troubles of the world are due mostly and mainly to the shortcomings of others.
A liberal thinks the two most important things in life are free abortions on demand and that the rich should be taxed until every one is equally poor.
In the words of Jim Quinn: "A liberal is someone who stands on his head and tells the rest of the world it's upside down."
I know some yankee chicks would disagree you know?
but down here....it's a given
Oh, man, you asked for it.....
Liberals believe in taking our money away for the "common good".
Liberals believe in "from each according to his riches, to each according to his needs". You must justify to the government why you should be ables to keep what you have.
Liberals believe Canada is great because they signed Kyoto and George W. Bush is evil because he won't. Even though Canada's CO2 emissions have increased 23% and the United States has increased it emissions 13% during the same time. In fact, countries who have signed the treaty can emit CO2 all they want if they pay money to Brazil, India, Russia or China. See, if you can't stop Global Warming at least redistribute wealth.
Liberals believe George W. Bush instituted tax cuts for the rich. Inconvenient facts don't matter. For example:
Liberals believe if we run away from the terrorists they won't come after us. Lebanon, Somalia, Kenya and 9/11 don't count.
Liberals believe Israel should not fight back. They should sign deals with terrorists and not do anyting when the deals are broken.
Liberals believe in religion - the United Nations is their god. The corruption uncovered in the Oil for Palaces scandal did not really happen. The convictions are mind implants from Karl Rove.
Liberals believe GWB avoided military service by flying a supersonic interceptor. He is therefore ineligible to intiate hostilities with another country. The lying draft-dodger who was President before him doesn't count.
Liberals believe we were wrong to attack Iraq since the UN didn't approve but Bosnia & Kosovo were shining moments in America's defense of freedom.
Liberals believe Iraq had equal rights for women under Saddam because it was in their constitution. The rape rooms and summary executions did not exist because they were used by Republicans as justification to overthrow Saddam.
My operating definition is a Liberal is somebody who desires to be very generous with other people's money.
Accept no substitutes
If you want to be generous, you could call them idealists (they don't like fighting, poverty, etc.), but that misses the fact that idealism requires at least a bit of realism to be worth anything. I don't like fighting either, but that doesn't mean I live in a world where it is unnecessary. I don't like poverty either, but governmental dependence is a terrible thing to inflict on people, especially when it is self-perpetuating the way our welfare system is.
The same could be said for virtually every other liberal social program ever made. They want to accomplish something good (assuming they're telling the truth, that is), but the method they pick is 100% guaranteed to do the exact opposite of what they want. Of course, it is this 100% "success" rate that gives credence to people who use terms rather less kind than "idealist"...
The first thing out of a Conservative's mouth is: "I think". They are very accepting of most possibilities and talk in a linear, problem identification-to-solution approach.
I can tell you what a Liberals DO NOT believe in:
1.) Personal responsibility is a necessity of citizenship
2.) Government has its purposes, but should be minimized
3.) The military is an honorable, and vital profession
4.) National Defense is not just a campaign issue
5.) Peace in and of itself is not victory, the end all, or the be all
6.) Not everyone is equal in capability, both physically and intellectually
7.) Not everyone is going to make the same amout of money, or deserves to
8.) The Judiciary is meant to interpret law, not make it.
9.) Discrimination does not become something else because you call it something else.
10.) Words have meaning, and cannot be endlessly twisted to suit your needs.
11.) Morality may not be completely absolute, but it is closer to being absolute than relative.
Liberals do not understand that a label is only as good as the person or group creating the label. Basically we all know it as the admonition of "Consider the Source" when insulted.
Like Ronald Reagan, most conservatives are comfortable enough in our political "skin" to enunciate in precise terms what it is that we believe in.
Liberals, progressives, socialists, communists or whatever other label they may apply to themselves, cannot do that. Their dogmas and ideologies often require that people NOT know and understand what they are up to. I think Richard Nixon said it best when he spoke of Alger Hiss:
"If the American people understood the real character of Alger Hiss, they would boil him in oil."
The descriptive titles Liberals, Leftists, Progressives, Socialists or Communists may be substituted for "Alger Hiss" and retain complete accuracy.
LIBERAL
lol
ANSWER:
A classical liberal is what most of our founding fathers were, believers in individual freedom, personal liberty and limited government.
A modern liberal continues to think he believes in individual freedom and personal liberty (though limited mostly to things like drug use and free love, but excluding economic issues), but also fervently believes in coercive left wing philosophies derived from socialism, such as political correctness and social engineering by big government.
In short, since a modern liberal professes to believe simultaneously in both individual liberty and totalitarian government, he really has no principles at all. Which is why all the wildly varying, humorous and disparaging descriptions being posted are accurate.
Here is my old answer, based on true life experiences in NYC back in the bad old days of the 1070s: A liberal is a person who will lobby the government to institute bussing to intergrate the public schools, and then send their own children to private school.
I suppose this could be easily updated with a charter school reference. More precisely these people would be called "limosine liberals", but lately it seems like they are all of that ilk. Maybe that phrase needs updating too, Al Gore in an SUV liberals, or something like that.
A person with an overactive imagination, able to dream about a better world, using policies that have been proven, over and over, to produce results different than what the dreamer imagines.
Someone who's able to convince themselves that their intentions are far more important than the disasterous results of their actions, and the ability to distance themselves from those results.
Finally, someone who's extremely generous, as long as it's with other peoples' money. And very strong believers in the NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) principal.
Mark
Bump for later entertainment and memorable quotes.
Funny 'cause it's true!
Not only are the nails unpainted, they're usually gnarly and fungus-infested as well. And their heels are cracked and sandpapery. Yuck!
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