Most liberals I know are of the Good-Hearted Liberal group.
But things have gotten murky since Obama was elected and dragged the Democratic Party to the Hard Left.
Some of the previously good-hearted liberals that I know have become surly and some have become downright angry.
For example, I was chatting with a Methodist minister at my health club back before Trump was elected and the subject of taxes came up.
I said we needed to cut taxes to stimulate the economy and he disagreed. I asked him why (he actually wanted to raise taxes) and he said "charity."
I raised a couple of points with him at that point.
First, I asked him if he defines charity not as giving from the goodness of your heart, but having money taken from you by the government in the name of "charity."
His back went up a bit.
Next, I asked him if he understood the difference between "tax rates" and "tax revenues raised"?
He was completely lost.
I explained that there was a sweet spot in the "rates of taxation" such that lowering tax rates of citizens and companies had the affect of increasing the amount of taxes taken in.
He was still dumbfounded. He said, that just doesn't make sense.
I explained that it is similar to paying salesmen commissions on how much they sell. It looks like paying the salesmen more money would just reduce profits. But what it actually does is encourage them to work harder and sell more. Same for reduced tax rates. It encourages people and companies to work harder and produce more...hence increasing GDP (he: "what is GDP"?), raising incomes being taxes, and thereby increasing tax revenues.
He heard me but was perplex because I made a tiny crack in his liberal world view.
The next time I saw him, he was noticeable cold toward me.
As an aside, since Trump's election, I have several friends and family members I would call Good-Hearted Liberals who have cut themselves off from Trump supporters.
I'm not sure just how good-hearted they really are.
I suspect they are stewing over the issue of conservatism in general.
It appears that since distinct battle lines have been drawn between liberalism and conservatism by Hard Core Lefties, these folks are in the difficult position of whether to decide to stay with their liberal beliefs (and thereby become useful idiots) or start rethinking their positions re: politics.
As I heard recently, some marriages are even on the rocks over the political divide.
"...Most liberals I know are of the Good-Hearted Liberal group..." That's probably true of most conservatives. We know other Leftists besides the good-hearted ones, but don't interact with them!
"...First, I asked him if he defines charity not as giving from the goodness of your heart, but having money taken from you by the government in the name of "charity." His back went up a bit...." Yes! That is a key distinction and it was quite astute of you to go right for it...there is a large chasm between "charity" and having money taken from you at the point of a gun to finance things that are anathema to you.
"...I explained that there was a sweet spot in the "rates of taxation" such that lowering tax rates of citizens and companies had the affect of increasing the amount of taxes taken in...." Hahaha! Good for you, discussing the Laffer Curve with a Lefty...that is another core thing they cannot seem to comprehend...taxing something too much reduces the amount of tax revenue you can raise from it. That is beyond their ken!
I will say, my brother's family is EXTEMELY leftist...and they raised one of their sons as such. If I didn't know for certain because they don't discuss politics with me (a wise move) it was confirmed when they accidentally included me on an email group they sent out after Trump won the election discussing ways to "Resist"...which by reading, means sabotage, not putting up ideas of your own that would work. We are still on good terms, but I admit I don't feel like visiting often.