President John F. Kennedy's Definition of a Liberal. (sorry Right Wing World, you lose)
I know many kooks and cons keep saying that JFK would not be a Democrat or a Liberal today. But kooks and cons have warped memories if they truly believe this bullcrap. I suggest they know right well JFK would be a liberal Democrat today. How do I know this? JFK in his own words:
"What do our opponents mean when they apply to us the label, "Liberal"...if by a "Liberal," they mean...someone who cares about the welfare of the people - their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties...if that is what they mean by a "Liberal," then I'm proud to say that I'm a "Liberal." "[Applause.]
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Address of John F. Kennedy upon Accepting the Liberal Party Nomination for President, New York, New York, September 14, 1960 - John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum
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"Tonight we salute George Meany as a symbol of that struggle and as a reminder that the fight to eliminate poverty and human exploitation is a fight that goes on in our day...And tonight we salute Adlai Stevenson as an eloquent spokesman..."
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A Liberal Definition by JFK
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as you can see, the kooks and cons would have you believe they think a conservative would salute those two fine gentlemen JFK saluted.
What conservative politician today ran on or dares to admit wanting to care about the people's "...health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties." as a politician?
They kept telling us for decades now that it is not the government's or a politician's business.
If they cared they'd have to do something about it. You can't do something when you say the government has no role.
Actually, JFK's quote reveals that he was rhetorically asking if that's what conservatives meant by the use of the term "liberal."
And it was a horseshit definition employed by JFK, anyway.
LOTS of people can be concerned with and concerned about "the welfare of the people - their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties."
That's never been the actual question. The question, the thing that has separated libs from conservatives, historically, is the one involving HOW to address those concerns and problems.
An amorphous term like the "welfare" of the people is too ill-defined a concept to have much meaning of use in the discussion.
Concern for the health of the "people," as we see when we look at that hideous monstrosity we laughingly call "Obamacare" is expressed in a ridiculous and irrational fashion by the liberals who support that absurdity. If THAT'S your daffynition of "liberal," then you can be a liberal. I'm not interested. I am concerned with the public health and access to health-care, too. But my expression of that concern would NEVER be found in creating a Federal Government bureaucracy like the depraved joke called "Obamacare."
Caring for the housing of the people, likewise, can be expressed by libs in having the Fed government act like everyone's nanny at the expense of all wealth earners and producers. Or it can be expressed in less cumbersome and less socialist ways. Mandating that everyone who applies for a mortgage is required to by God GET one from a bank on pain of Federal prosecution of the bank or on pain of the denial to the Bank of certain needed bank access to Federal monetary management tools -- as we have seen -- is destined not only to fail, but to cause massive disruptions that could have and should have been utterly avoidable.
The difference between libs and conservatives is NOT found in the false dichotomy that only libs "care" about the people. This is now and always was bullshit. The real difference is found in HOW the problems are seen as being properly addressed, if at all, by the Federal Government, and upon what principles.
That's point one.
Point two is simpler. JFK would NOT be considered liberal ENOUGH in today's world, much like the clearly liberal Lieberman is seen as not nearly liberal enough by the liberal kooks in the Democrat parody. For there is a great deal more to being a "true liberal," in today's world, than merely advocating for the intrusive involvement of the central government in matters of social concern.