Anyone here a self-identified liberal?

Originally Posted by theimp98

sound like your not as much as a liberal as you think

Click to expand...

Green Peacers are liberals and they will back hand anyone that gets into their way. Being liberal doesn't mean that you let people roll over you!

now dont get me wrong, i happen to like tress and flowers also
but i dont think i could hug one.

just remember if you want to hug a tree, then practice safe hugging.
and at least be nice to the posion oak.

Originally Posted by theimp98

just remember if you want to hug a tree, then practice safe hugging.
and at least be nice to the posion oak.

Click to expand...

you crack me up!!!

HUMMM what is a liberal???

I am independant ... Ie can think act and do for me

Originally Posted by Momofmany

Green Peacers are liberals and they will back hand anyone that gets into their way. Being liberal doesn't mean that you let people roll over you!

Click to expand...

lol i was in green peace during my college days, along with being in ROTC.
but we wont go into that, i was not impressed with them.

dont confuse being for cleaning up stuff and liking animals as being a liberal thing.

I just got back from a night out, and wow, this thread had certainly grown in my absence. Thank you, all my fellow liberals on TCS (and the odd spoilsport conservative! ), for responding.

@Zissou’s Mom: that teacher of yours sounds frickin’ unbelievable! And much respect to you and others who aren’t ashamed to wear blue in redder-than-red states.

@CarolPetunia: No, thank you for such great, eloquent posts. I couldn’t agree enough. (Although, really, regarding the political correctness thing - I can’t say I have much sympathy for Don Imus. )

@Siggav: While I don’t agree that the Democratic Party is in any way or form right-wing, I understand where you’re coming from. Some of the recently-elected “Democrat” senators, like Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, are really Republicans in sheep’s clothing, IMO. I also know that the political system in Scandinavian countries is more socialist-democratic than here in the States.

@SwampWitch: Both.

@Bonnie1965: Yay, another feminist! (Speaking of, ahem, “dirty words” that need to be reclaimed…)

@RobSluts’Mommy: I bet your family reunions are...interesting. I think I’m also going to stay clear of IMO from now on, because I don’t want to be banned for cursing up a blue streak.

@lionnessrampant: ROFL.

@Momofmany: In my opinion, the world can do with a lot more “bare-foot tie-dyed old hippy liberals that believe in civil rights, animal rights and women's rights” like you.

@CatsareBetter: I have great respect for the work that union workers do. One of the things that saddens me about America (which I’ve grown to love since coming over here from Canada) is the slow, painful death of organized labour. And yes, just because we are liberals doesn’t mean we are spineless pushovers.


Oh, and finally, at Imp98: Disco, out of style? SHUT your mouth, man!

(Whew, that was long. Off to bed now. G'night everyone - no matter what your political affiliation.)

Originally Posted by CarolPetunia

Yes, I am a liberal. But like the vast majority of liberals, I do not conform to the extreme stereotype plastered onto us by the political opposition.

For example, I don't think a drug test constitutes an invasion of privacy if your job affects the safety of others, and I don't worry overmuch about whether prisoners have gym equipment and big-screen TVs.

Like nearly all other liberals, I respect the spiritual beliefs of others, so long as they don't try to force their religious principles on me through the political process. This includes the prejudices of those religions that think God has told them to discriminate against certain kinds of people. We liberals have a bumper sticker for them: "Hate is not a family value."

Despite traditional rightwing rhetoric, I do not want "big government," and I don't know any liberal who does. We proved this during the Clinton administration, when we actually balanced the budget and created a surplus.

What most liberals actually want is a government that recognizes our responsibility, as a rich and fortunate nation, to treat our own citizens humanely. Again, contrary to popular rhetoric, this does not mean "using our tax money to support people who are too lazy to work." It means supporting those who cannot find work, who are physically unable to work, or who suffer such mental incapacity as to be unfit for work. (The mentally ill, by the way, should be treated -- not allowed to become homeless, criminal, and/or dangerous.)

Treating Americans humanely also means ensuring that anyone who works full-time in America, however humble the job, will be paid enough to live a reasonably safe and decent life that includes reliable daycare for their children. We liberals don't think that's too much to ask... and we also think it would go a long, long way in reducing crime.

Another thing: I don't know any liberals who actually want to fling open the borders and invite the whole world in to receive welfare and food stamps and Medicaid. But neither do we want to treat our fellow man inhumanely just because he is not an American citizen. There is a happy medium, and we need to establish it.

Although conservatives like to pretend that being liberal means chaining yourself to a tree in defense of some rare species of nematode, the truth is that the great majority of liberals support the wisely-managed use of renewable natural resources, and a phased move away from those that are not renewable. The past several years make it obvious that this is the only intelligent course of action -- even Republicans are starting to accept it.

So yes, I am a liberal -- but that label doesn't mean what most "conservatives" seem to think it does. That's one of the problems with a two-party system... it tends to polarize, and all the truths that reside in the shades of grey get distorted.

Thank you, Nausicaa, for giving me a post that I absolutely had to respond to this morning. Last night, I was so upset about another exchange I'd had that I was going to just stop posting altogether and become a lurker... but this has shown me that if I'm going to be here on TCS at all, I'm going to have to participate.

Click to expand...

Absolutely fantastic post! I wish I would have written it, as this is how I feel. I posted last night in the IMO forum.....despite being a "liberal" the ILLEGAl immigration thing really gets me going. Don't know what my opinion on that would be labeled as, but the ILLEGAL part makes me insane. Legal immigration I am all for.

Originally Posted by theimp98

i think he is making up words

Click to expand...

Tsk- you know me better than that
I mispelt it- should have written anarchosyndacalist

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarcho-syndicalists

I'm a union member considering striking over pay and yes I do hug trees

Originally Posted by theimp98

dont confuse being for cleaning up stuff and liking animals as being a liberal thing.

Click to expand...

OK, you got me on that one!

Well, somewhere online there was a test... and it was basically to determine where you sat on the "map" of politics... after they charted me, I was left and south of Ghandi and MLK (more liberal).

But, here's where I stand.. I do have some conservative beliefs or I'm neutral on some things like gun control, and I'm not anti-war, or anti-military but I am MOST certainly, most avidly, marching against being in Iraq. I spent a few days jumping up and down with signs in front of the white house or thereabouts too.. one of them was on the Mall...

Pro-choice in everything... abortion, sexual preference, gay/lesbian marriage, freedom from religion so that there can *be* freedom of religion, pro-environment, and pro animal rights, pro immigrant/illegal immigrant (NOTE: that does not say pro illegal immigration), pro humanitarian, anti death penalty (only because the way it's set up currently does kill the innocent), anti-patriot act.. anti wire tapping, anti racial profiling, anti any and all religion on money, in schools or in anything that represents all of the USA...pro-union (mostly, there are a few exceptions)... although I'm not particularly involved in the feminist movement.. other than being prochoice.

Originally Posted by Momofmany

And Heather, just noticed your siggie: “For myself, I hold no preference among flowers, so long as they are wild, free, spontaneous. –Edward Abbey, in Desert Solitaire (1968)

I love Edward Abbey and own all of his books. Didn't he also say "Once you've seen one Grand Canyon, you've seen them all?" My DH and I have tried to retrace some of his steps out in the canyon country he so loved.

Oops.....my tree loving spirit is showing. And I will add "bleeding-heart liberal" to my list of attributes.

Click to expand...

I actually didn't read any of his works, I just loved the quote. Perhaps I'll go pick that up on the next round of book buying and read it... was it good reading? I'm about to change my sig again anyway, and put up a new quote.. sister found one that I really like.

CP, thanks!

Imp, sorry, man!.. I'm still that liberal but at least it gives you someone to avidly argue with

by the only George W fan proud enough to admit it.

No, I'm not a tree hugger, I don't wear patchouli and I don't have dreads, but I believe in giving back what you take from the Earth, being nice to everyone and I definitely believe in a lot of new age things. I feel strongly about Karma and Dharma. But, I personally feel that we look very ignorant protesting and going against everything the government does? So what if you don't agree?!?! I think we look stronger and more united by standing behind our country and backing our leaders. And the troops who fight for us. I thank them and feel very proud there are a few people like me that believe in what America stands for and from which it came. And they believe enough that they will fight for it--for us, for our freedom to protest. I just wish we could unite under a common interest instead of being so quick to go against the grain just "because".

@Taurus77:Okay, posting that picture here (my eyes, they burn!) takes some guts.
Still, I give you this quote by Eisenhower:

"Here in America we are descended in blood and in spirit from revolutionists and rebels - men and women who dare to dissent from accepted doctrine. As their heirs, may we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion. "

And this one by former Senator Fulbright:

"Dissent is the highest form of patriotism."

I'm calling time out on this before it gets out of hand and before I have to pull out the Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly quotes in my defense.

Originally Posted by Taurus77

I'm calling time out on this before it gets out of hand

and before I have to pull out the Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly quotes in my defense.

Click to expand...

Thank you. I like this thread so far because of the original question. Last thing I want to see is anything by Limbaugh or O'Reilly. That is for the IMO forum, please please please.

Originally Posted by Taurus77

...I personally feel that we look very ignorant protesting and going against everything the government does?

So what if you don't agree?!?! I think we look stronger and more united by standing behind our country and backing our leaders.

Click to expand...

First of all, it is an exaggeration to say that we're "going against everything our government does," because there have actually been perhaps one or two decisions by this administration that I did not feel were based on fraud, powermongering, or plain old-fashioned greed.

Second -- you're concerned about looking ignorant? In whose eyes? The rest of the world isn't dumb -- they see what Bush is, more clearly than many Americans do, in fact. And we don't look "stronger and more united" when we let our democracy be corrupted and our foreign relations gutted by this self-appointed dictatorship. We look, in fact, like a mindless flock of sheep!

WE THE PEOPLE are supposed to be in charge. The government is supposed to represent US. When our government is wrong, it's wrong, and we had darn well better oppose it with everything we've got. That's one of the fundamental principles this country was founded on.

Originally Posted by Taurus77

And the troops who fight for us. I thank them and feel very proud there are a few people like me that believe in what America stands for and from which it came. And they believe enough that they will fight for it--for us, for our freedom to protest. I just wish we could unite under a common interest instead of being so quick to go against the grain just "because".

Click to expand...

DO NOT make the unbelievably common mistake of confusing opposition to this war with failure to appreciate the troops who are fighting it. I'm the daughter of a career Army officer and the cousin of a Lieutenant who will, God help him, be going to Iraq this fall -- my heart is with every single one of the troops over there, both those who think they're fighting a meaningful battle and those who recognize that their lives are being risked for absolutely nothing of value whatsoever. The troops and the war are two separate issues.

And please recognize that going to war doesn't necessarily have anything at all to do with "what America stands for and from which it came." Some wars are righteous and necessary -- like World War II. Others are huge, unwinnable mistakes -- like Vietnam. And others are driven by personal ego, political haymaking, and corporate graft -- like Iraq.

This administration, more than any other in history, has wreaked havoc with the principles America is supposed to stand for. Our civil rights, personal privacy, and freedom of choice have all been systematically undermined by our grand and glorious King George.

Worst of all, we no longer have any reason to trust that our votes have any meaning whatsoever. America used to be the nation that sent observers to other countries to ensure that their elections were fair and honest; now we need some observers from overseas to come protect us from rampant election fraud.

I'm not sure what you mean by "just because." Do you mean that you think we liberals are opposing this administration's actions "just because" we're liberals and they're conservatives? No, no... few, if any, liberals are that petty. We are far more concerned with getting the right thing done for the country than with the party affiliation of the people doing it.

Believe me, when Bush entered office, I literally got down on my knees and prayed that he would prove me wrong, that he would not be a disaster to this nation. Instead, he has proved me more tragically right than I ever imagined I would be... a disaster not only to the nation, but to the world as a whole. And I take no absolutely no pleasure in that.

In fact, it breaks my heart... because unlike a lot of people who blindly fall into step behind anyone who cloaks himself in the mantle of patriotism ("The last refuge of a scoundrel," someone called it), I actually do understand the fundamental principles on which America was founded, and they are precious to me. I love the ideals this country stands for... and that's why I leap to my feet in vehement protest when I see those ideals corrupted, as they have been under Bush.

For heaven's sake -- even his own home state is ashamed of him now! The Texas legislature agreed the other day that, when Bush leaves office, they will immediately remove from our "Welcome to Texas" signs the line, "Proud to be the home of President George W. Bush."

You've got to be pretty darn low if even Texas politicians don't want to claim you.

Sheesh. See why I'm afraid to visit the IMO forum?

I'm going to go take some tranquilizers now...

LOL, CP. Go snuggle the kitties!

Originally Posted by Essayons89

I have to admit that I don't what "political label" could be slapped on me. My dad is a republican and my mom votes democrat. Me? I try to vote for whichever sleazeball I think will screw us over the least.

Let me tell you some of things I believe or don't believe in and maybe the good people here can help me out.
- I don't believe in big government, it's already too big for its britches.
- I don't believe in a national health care system.
- I don't believe in handing out checks to people who have no desire to better their lot in life by getting a job.
- I'm not a tree hugger but I do respect and care about the environment.
- Political correctness makes me want to throw up.
- I believe in a strong, professional (no draft) military.
- I don't believe in amnesty for illegal aliens.
- If I were President I would do whatever it takes to repeal NAFTA.
- If I were President I would do my best to look after the people and interests of our own country, with foreign affairs coming second.

Those are just a few off of the top of my head.

Click to expand...

All that makes you a great American, Bryan. Nice post.

Originally Posted by silentNate

Tsk- you know me better than that

I mispelt it- should have written anarchosyndacalist

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarcho-syndicalists

Click to expand...

I knew you didn't know what that big word was...

Originally Posted by Taurus77

by the only George W fan proud enough to admit it.

No, I'm not a tree hugger, I don't wear patchouli and I don't have dreads, but I believe in giving back what you take from the Earth, being nice to everyone and I definitely believe in a lot of new age things. I feel strongly about Karma and Dharma. But, I personally feel that we look very ignorant protesting and going against everything the government does?

So what if you don't agree?!?! I think we look stronger and more united by standing behind our country and backing our leaders. And the troops who fight for us.

I thank them and feel very proud there are a few people like me that believe in what America stands for and from which it came. And they believe enough that they will fight for it--for us, for our freedom to protest. I just wish we could unite under a common interest instead of being so quick to go against the grain just "because".

Click to expand...

I'm a W fan too!!!!

Proud to be:
Liberal.
Femminist.
Progressive.
Mostly Secular.
Appreciative that this country was not made by religious freaks for religious freaks. (no, the funding fathers were NOT puritans.)
Value education and knowledge.
Not hugged many tree but like them them anyway. Love the sea.
I have my library card memorized.
"My pet goat" is not my kinda book.