Accomplishments of Liberalism

[jillian]

Republicans weren't CONSERVATIVE then. Republican is not synonomous with conservatism... they had LIBERAL ideals then which is why they were able to do good.

The founding fathers certainly weren't "REPUBLICAN"...

I do like the changing terminology to try to salvage your argument, though, regardless of how little sense it makes.

 

[ReillyT]

The Republican party was founded to give abolitionists their own party.
Lincoln was a Republican. The Abolitionists were Republicans. They emancipated the blacks and the civil war began because of it.

But I've said that before. It's the selective hearing y'all have when something intrudes upon your alternate reality.

Just like when I tried to explain to you that you should stop using the term "colored" to refer to black people, please believe me now that you should just listen to Jillian. You are making a fool of yourself.

 

[AllieBaba]

Prove it.
BTW, CNN used the term "colored" last night.

 

[jillian]

Colored? Or "people of color"?

Colored is an offensive term. I can assure you it wasn't used on CNN.

 

[ReillyT]

Prove it.
BTW, CNN used the term "colored" last night.

Prove... that you are making a fool of yourself...????

Seriously Allie, you shouldn't use that term. I know you didn't realize it, but it really isn't appropriate.

 

[AllieBaba]

Spare me.

 

[jillian]

Archie Bunker lives

 

[Ravi]

Archie Bunker lives

Jillian, I'm shocked that you would insult Archie Bunker like that.

 

[jillian]

Jillian, I'm shocked that you would insult Archie Bunker like that.

I'm sorry. Forgive me.

 

[Zoomie1980]

Ours is a liberal country, most here respect each other, and respect change, they respect rights, and they respect that government operates for the people and not the corporation. It grows tiring listening to the propaganda that comes from conservatives today as I cannot think of a single thing they have done for this country. I mean that. Tell me and I want proof.

Liberals founded this nation and all that follows.

This is maybe the goofiest thread yet from this koolaide drinker....

Interstate Highway System -- a 50 year project started by EISENHOWER. A payoff to suburban sprawl and outlet malls and yes...McDonolds and Burger King

GI Bill -- at one time a good deal but GUTTED by liberals in the Carter years and has yet to reach it's level from its glory years

Labor Laws -- a mostly anti-competitive collection of idiocy to protect useless unions.

Marshall Plan -- Designed more to keep the Soviet Union out of Western Europe. Germany fixed itself with free market reforms. Marshall plan was just seed money. Probably should have let the Russians have all of Europe, since they have proven to have learned NOTHING from WWII.


Environmental Laws -- again, another anti-competative collection of nonsense where snail darters are more important than renewable energy like hydro-electric damns.

Food safety laws -- trial lawyers income program.

Workplace safety laws -- more trial lawyer career opportunities. How that champion of the poor, John Edwards, affords his $450 haircuts

Social Security -- a bankrupt income redistribution program that would have done 100X as much good had it been a privately run system.

Economic Growth -- what "program" is that? Not anything a democrat has ever stood for.

Space Program -- Thank to private enterprise for developing the technology and now using it. Funny thing how forbidding private launches for so long kept private industry from doing their own thing here.

Peace corps -- what has this done for anyone....except throw a little money down the black hole that is sub-saharan Africa.

Civil rights movement -- Yea, Barry Goldwater had a good idea there.

The fight against Totalitarianism -- huh??? All I remember was the anti-nukie kooks that want UNILATERAL disarmament. We won the cold war because we engaged the Evil Empire in an arms race that broke their back.

The Internet -- all those 'liberals' in the DOD????

The Tennessee Valley project -- Until it ran afoul of the those great environmental laws to protect snail darters....

Women's right to vote -- Harding a "liberal"?

Universal Public Education -- yea, that's why were something like 45th in education, ranking somewhere behind Ghana....

National Weather Service -- Another Eisenhower program....at least prodded to get on its feet during his tenure

Scientific Research -- I guess there's no research in private industry.....

Product Labeling/Truth in Advertising Laws -- more income earning potential for trial lawyers.

Public Health -- more income for those lawyers....

Morrill Land Grant Act -- all that PRIVATE land ownership.....what a "liberal concept...

Rural Electrification -- ok

Public Universities -- that cost as much as a private institution did 10 short years ago?

Bank Deposit Insurance -- so banks can misbehave and get bailed out?

Earned Income Tax Credit -- wow, libs give us income taxes then brag about a tax credit???

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- more fodder for lawyer income.

Family and Medical Leave Act -- more anti-competitive lunacy...

Consumer Product Safety Commission -- more lawyer income generation nonsense.

Public Broadcasting -- three shows worth watching, that would survive fine on their own in a commerical environment. The rest? No one watches.

Americans With Disabilities Act -- and the best for last, the biggest income boon of them all for lawyers...

Basically most of these serve no purpose except to allow a lot of lawyers to earn a hefty income....

 

[Zoomie1980]

That's a 100% unadulterated, steaming pile of Artardbaba bull shit.

More ridiculous even than your artard insistence that JC would condemn welfare.

Actually that's dead on. States rights, a very hard right concept today, was of primary importance to the founding fathers. A very weak and extremely LIMITED federal government was a founding principal. About the only one of the group that might be considered even remotely "liberal" today would be Hamilton. Most all of the power in the origins of our government resided at the local and state level. The federal government mostly just raised an army and a navy and formed a central bank and that was about it.

 

[mattskramer]

Can’t we put aside this partisan extremist divisive petty rhetoric and simply acknowledge that liberals and liberalism did some good in America and that conservatives and conservatism did some good in America. They are simply two regions of the political spectrum – each keeping the other in check. If America swings too far to the left, we will elect a relatively conservative leader. If we swing too far to the right, then we will elect a relatively liberal leader. It is as simple as that.

 

[Zoomie1980]

Can’t we put aside this partisan extremist divisive petty rhetoric and simply acknowledge that liberals and liberalism did some good in America and that conservatives and conservatism did some good in America. They are simply two regions of the political spectrum – each keeping the other in check. If America swings too far to the left, we will elect a relatively conservative leader. If we swing too far to the right, then we will elect a relatively liberal leader. It is as simple as that.

America has historically been a pragmatic, not ideological country. It's one reason we've never fallen for a demagogue for a leader. Americans, on an individual level, simply want to be left alone to pursue their own thing. It's really only in the past 30 years or so that much of that has begun to change.

 

[midcan5]

This is maybe the goofiest thread yet from this koolaide drinker....

Those things support people, society not the wealthy and not the corporations, you can look at the donut or the hole. I prefer the donut to your negativity. I am still waiting for some accomplishment like social security, voting rights, individual actions that would be considered a conservative accomplishment. You can hide in nowhere land but except for war, deficits, rich getting richer, the incursion of church into state, corporate worship, and increases in poverty, no good things I know of grow out of conservative thought - nothing that moves us forward. Standing still is boring, we would still be in that cave if we were all conservatives.

 

[midcan5]

America has historically been a pragmatic, not ideological country. It's one reason we've never fallen for a demagogue for a leader. Americans, on an individual level, simply want to be left alone to pursue their own thing. It's really only in the past 30 years or so that much of that has begun to change.

We agree on something and that thing is conservatism and the negativity it brings and its attempt to control individual lives to the advantage of political gain through religion and financial gain through corporate welfare. It has been that way since Reagan who started this ideological nonsense and began the destruction of the middle class.

 

[BaronVonBigmeat]

Part of the problem here is, many of the politicians and the two parties didn't split along the ideological lines we see today. Also you have to separate what a grassroots liberal or conservative professes, and what elected liberals/conservatives vote for--they are often not the same thing.

Jefferson viewed the states as independent nations, as most people did back then. This would put him in the radically conservative camp today. But he was an agnostic, and he opposed entangling alliances and a big military. Was he a conservative, or liberal?

Lincoln was against slavery, so he's a liberal, right? But he was perfectly willing to sign an amendment keeping it legal forever, if the southern states would stay. Hmm, he must have been a conservative, for his day. He was also against it in order to protect white labor (liberal?), and to keep new states free of blacks (conservative?). In fact, he was obsessed with shipping the blacks back to africa.

He supported a state bank issuing fiat currency, government railroads, big spending internal improvement programs of all sorts. Ah ha, he's a liberal. But he was also a railroad lawyer, a big-business merchantilist like Hamilton and Henry Clay, and wanted protectionist tariffs. Liberal? Conservative? Proto-fascist?

Woodrow Wilson signed the income tax. Yay, liberal! He also signed the Federal Reserve act. Yep, he's a liberal, looking to prevent banking panics. Err wait, the legislation was written by the wealthiest men in the world, in secret, on Jekyll Island, Georgia. Hmm, maybe he is a conservative...conservative politicians would support that, but the grassroots wouldn't...He villified minorities, so yeah. But many progressives did that, and supported eugenics. Hmm.

He got us into a war with the loftiest of ideals, seeking to spread freedom and democracy and bring down monarchy. Is that liberal or conservative, I can't remember. He was also a JP Morgan man, who was facing bankrupcy if the allies lost and defaulted on their war loans.

 

[Gunny]

Ours is a liberal country, most here respect each other, and respect change, they respect rights, and they respect that government operates for the people and not the corporation. It grows tiring listening to the propaganda that comes from conservatives today as I cannot think of a single thing they have done for this country. I mean that. Tell me and I want proof.

Liberals founded this nation and all that follows.

Interstate Highway System
GI Bill
Labor Laws
Marshall Plan
Environmental Laws
Food safety laws
Workplace safety laws
Social Security
Economic Growth
Space Program
Peace corps
Civil rights movement
The fight against Totalitarianism
The Internet
The Tennessee Valley project
Women's right to vote
Universal Public Education
National Weather Service
Scientific Research
Product Labeling/Truth in Advertising Laws
Public Health
Morrill Land Grant Act
Rural Electrification
Public Universities
Bank Deposit Insurance
Earned Income Tax Credit
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Family and Medical Leave Act
Consumer Product Safety Commission
Public Broadcasting
Americans With Disabilities Act

http://www.turnleft.com/libgood.html

The Founding Fathers would call today's liberals circus freaks and wonder how the Hell what they did caused YOU.

 

[jreeves]

How many times have you posted this crap now? Three times?



The founders were not liberals in any modern sense of the word. The word changed meaning sometime in the 1930's, for americans at least.

Interstate Highway System--a gigantic unintended subsidy to corporate retail/housing development, suburban sprawl, and the car-centric strip-mall model of building

Marshall Plan--was never more than 2~3% of Germany's economy. Ludwig Erhard's free-market reforms are responsible for the German miracle

Social Security--gigantic pyramid scheme which devours hundreds of billions which could have gone towards private retirement accounts

Economic Growth--you've got to be shitting me

Space Program--private companies can (and will) do it, but when there is a publicly subsidized alternative and restrictions on launches and rocket tech, we can't be surprised that it's taking so long

Peace corps--government aid to africa has made the problem worse, by putting farmers and textile mills out of business, and by empowering corrupt african regimes

Civil rights movement--companies are forced to a politically correct workforce, regardless of qualifications

The fight against Totalitarianism--thanks for reminding us that liberals are not necessarily anti-war by any means

The Internet--private industry went from hand-soldered computers to today's incredible machines in only 30 years, and also created the telephone communications system. Thus, it is inconceivable that they could have combined the two in the abscence of heavy government telecom regulations?

The Tennessee Valley project--Sorry, you don't have a god-given right to electricity.

Universal Public Education--people were more literate before rich industrialists funded the promotion of the Prussian school model

Scientific Research--private industry doesn't research anything, nope

Bank Deposit Insurance--enables banks to behave badly. If their gamble pays off, they outgrow the more cautious competition; if their gamble doesn't pay off, FDIC bails them out (or the Fed prints them out, if it's a big bank). Google "moral hazard".

Earned Income Tax Credit--You gave us the income tax in the first place, now you're proud of a tax credit?

Family and Medical Leave Act--ultimately, paid for by workers

Public Broadcasting--all of their good shows could easily make it on private cable channels

Americans With Disabilities Act--has increased unemployment numbers for the disabled, iirc

Amen...thanks for the systematic destruction of failed programs.

 

[jreeves]

Those things support people, society not the wealthy and not the corporations, you can look at the donut or the hole. I prefer the donut to your negativity. I am still waiting for some accomplishment like social security, voting rights, individual actions that would be considered a conservative accomplishment. You can hide in nowhere land but except for war, deficits, rich getting richer, the incursion of church into state, corporate worship, and increases in poverty, no good things I know of grow out of conservative thought - nothing that moves us forward. Standing still is boring, we would still be in that cave if we were all conservatives.

You can call Social Securtity as an accomplishment of liberals....and most educated people will laugh at you! Defecits are caused by over 50% of federal government spending going to liberal social programs. Yes the liberals are great.

 

[Gunny]

You can call Social Securtity as an accomplishment of liberals....and most educated people will laugh at you! Defecits are caused by over 50% of federal government spending going to liberal social programs. Yes the liberals are great.

Social security? Try half the list.