Why am I a liberal?

[CrusaderFrank]

A

Even you can't take it with you, leaving money to them that ain't earned it hurts America, I know as parents we would do it anyway, that's why we need laws, to make America and Americans strong not weak assed Royals.

We don't even need parents! It takes a village, right? We have villages, we have roads we have bridges. Parents are do jejune, so colonial

Hey Frank, that avatar of yours there - is that:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OnpkDWbeJs]Psyco - Lighten up Francis - YouTube[/ame]

So close.

It's Brian Terry who wrote this:

"If today is the day I die, so be it

If you seek to do battle with me this day, you will receive the best that I am capable of giving.

It may not be enough, but it will be everything that I have to give and it will be impressive for I have constantly prepared myself for this day.

I have trained, drilled and rehearsed my actions so that I might have the best chance of defeating you.

I have kept myself in peak physical condition, schooled myself in the martial skills and have become proficient in the applications of combat tactics.

You may defeat me, but I’m willing to die if necessary. I do not fear death for I have been close enough to it on enough occasions that it no longer concerns me.

But, I do fear the loss of my honor and would rather die fighting than to have it said that I was without courage.

So I will fight you, no matter how insurmountable it may seem, to the death if need be, in order that it may never be said of me that I was not a warrior."

He was murdered by criminals armed by Holder and Obama

 

[Shelzin]

A liberal believes that the Constitution is open to unlimited "interpretation". The libertarian believes in strictly adhering to the Constitution as it is written.

Where in the hell did you come up with something that insane?

 

[Mr.Nick]

As a young man in college I was not always the most diligent student. One weekend, near the end of term, was particularly eventful and I found myself on Monday morning sitting, looking at a Dynamics final and no memory of any of the fine formulas we had studied that semester. Then I remembered F=ma. From that kernel I was able to derive all of the formulas I needed and ended up doing pretty well. More importantly, I realized the importance of fundamental concepts; I found that if one has a good understanding of core principles the smaller details are easier to work out. This led me a few years ago to ask myself, aside from the individual policies which align my thinking with “liberals”; why am I a liberal?

After some consideration I arrived on four succinct statements, which I believe also gave me some insight to what motivates the “other” side.

I am a parent.
As a parent I will do anything within my power to advantage my child.
I am a citizen.
As a citizen I believe it is vitally important that we write rules that prevent that.

It is only natural that parents do all they can for their children, however as wealth accumulates this presents a threat to democracy. This is the threat that concerned Jefferson when he spoke of the need for inheritance taxes, not as a form of revenue but a means to protect the democracy from citizens that might become too powerful, and then threaten the will of the people. It is easy to see how this has become the case in America today.

The dangers of inherited wealth to our economy are not unlike monarchy to the health of any nation, when power is derived from birthright rather than one’s labor it is more often foolishly applied. As more and more of our economy becomes “inherited wealth” it becomes more of a target for con men and less a tool for innovators. The world’s financial power has been diverted from improving the human condition into money making schemes designed to enrich those who create them.

I do have some specific suggestions that I feel would be helpful long term:

Public financing for public elections
Flat rate Social Security Tax, first dollar to last all forms of income
Index minimum wage to the average increase in CEO pay for the S&P 500

That’s about it, that shouldn’t be too hard to do, right?

I burned my degree long ago................

Fuck those brainwashing institutions............

 

[Mr.Nick]

A liberal believes that the Constitution is open to unlimited "interpretation". The libertarian believes in strictly adhering to the Constitution as it is written.

Where in the hell did you come up with something that insane?

If you think that was insane it really proves how insane you are...... Rot hit the nail on the head and your dumbass is insulting him?

Of course you will be the first one to argue that the Constitution is a "living" document....

 

[Shelzin]

A liberal believes that the Constitution is open to unlimited "interpretation". The libertarian believes in strictly adhering to the Constitution as it is written.

Where in the hell did you come up with something that insane?

If you think that was insane it really proves how insane you are...... Rot hit the nail on the head and your dumbass is insulting him?

Well... I threw his exact words back at him... So ... If he's insulted. *shrug*

Of course you will be the first one to argue that the Constitution is a "living" document....

What in gods name makes you say that?

 

[Unkotare]

I burned my degree long ago............................

Yeah, yeah, that's what happened...

 

[Unkotare]

Fuck those brainwashing institutions............

I can see why a brainwashing institution would have nothing to offer you. I mean, you'd need something there to wash first...

 

[GreatDay]

We don't even need parents! It takes a village, right? We have villages, we have roads we have bridges. Parents are do jejune, so colonial

so are Kings, made at birth, just like trust fund babies, I think you might be capable of learning Frances

 

[Two Thumbs]

We don't even need parents! It takes a village, right? We have villages, we have roads we have bridges. Parents are do jejune, so colonial

so are Kings, made at birth, just like trust fund babies, I think you might be capable of learning Frances

You do know that the kennedys are trust fund millionaires right?

Millions gotten from breaking the law.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

We don't even need parents! It takes a village, right? We have villages, we have roads we have bridges. Parents are do jejune, so colonial

so are Kings, made at birth, just like trust fund babies, I think you might be capable of learning Frances

See, I would reform our educational system so that so that in grade school kids learn how to make money work for them. I'd have a school system that treats intellect and aptitude at least on par with athletic ability, but at minimum everyone would understand how free enterprise and capitalism works

Understanding businesses would a key part of education and if that's not for you, that's OK, at least you understand how it works.

I laugh when Progressives at USMB display their hatred of our economics born from total complete economic ignorance.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

We don't even need parents! It takes a village, right? We have villages, we have roads we have bridges. Parents are do jejune, so colonial

so are Kings, made at birth, just like trust fund babies, I think you might be capable of learning Frances

You do know that the kennedys are trust fund millionaires right?

Millions gotten from breaking the law.

From selling American short and rum running during Prohibition

 

[bripat9643]

Well at least we know where the OP is coming from.

As a citizen I say "Get your filthy paws out of my wallet!"

Translation: "I've got mine - SCREW YOU!"

Tranlsation; "gimmee, gimmee, gimmee." Where did liberals get the idea they are entitled to what other people have earned? Oh yeah . . . now I remember . . . they got it from Karl Marx.

 

[bripat9643]

Might want to begin checking out the histories of the Soviet collapse. Some do not even mention Reagan and as time goes by the few that might mention Reagan in the index may completly drop Reagan as a factor. Gorbie and Breshnev, however get a lot of mention.

Those histories are all written by liberals who all despised Reagan, so that's hardly surprising. You'll also find plenty of Soviet historians who gave no credit to the United States for winning WW II. They claim Mother Russia did it all by herself.

 

[midcan5]

GreatDay, republicans and conservatives today repeat the same tired cliches, you know what they are going to say, that amazes me. I have an old piece on why I am a liberal, but cannot find the link. Anyway here's an interesting article I posted some time ago.

So for all the foes of progress I post this excerpt from the Boston Review, an excellent article on an ideology that from our founders, to Lincoln, FDR, and LBJ contains within it the ideas that move us forward.

"..."the content of a liberal political conception of justice is given by three main features:

1. a specification of basic rights, liberties and opportunities (of a kind familiar from constitutional democratic regimes);

2. an assignment of special priority to those rights, liberties and opportunities, especially with respect of claims of the general good and perfectionist values; and

3. measures assuring to all citizens adequate all-purpose means to make effective use of their liberties and opportunities.

These [three] elements can be understood in different ways, so that there are many variant liberalisms.""

"First, to believe in the equality and priority of basic personal and political liberties; to be skeptical as a corollary about paternalism, moralism, and perfectionism; to embrace an ideal of equality of opportunity and an assurance of adequate resources for all: these mark out a distinctive family of political views. Those three points are not common ground that we political liberals share with fascists; communitarians; traditionalists of various kinds; Stalinists; suffocating, oxygen-depleting moralists; believers in a confessional state (whatever the confession); or adherents to anti-state, anarchist libertarianism. We may be dull, but we are dull from our own distinctive principles." Boston Review — Always at the After Party

Book mentioned in article. [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Rhetoric-Reaction-Perversity-Futility-Jeopardy/dp/067476868X]Amazon.com: The Rhetoric of Reaction: Perversity, Futility, Jeopardy (9780674768680): Albert O. Hirschman: Books[/ame]


Great book on growth of modern conservative thought. "The rise of conservative politics in postwar America is one of the great puzzles of American political history. For much of the period that followed the end of World War II, conservative ideas about the primacy of the free market, and the dangers of too-powerful labor unions, government regulation, and an activist, interventionist state seemed to have been thoroughly rejected by most intellectual and political elites. Scholars and politicians alike dismissed those who adhered to such faiths as a "radical right," for whom to quote the Columbia University historian Richard Hofstadter politics "becomes an arena into which the wildest fancies are projected, the most paranoid suspicions, the most absurd superstitions, the most bizarre apocalyptic fantasies." How, then, did such ideas move from their marginal position in the middle years of the twentieth century to become the reigning politics of the country by the century's end?" Kim Phillips-Fein ('Invisible Hands')

 

[OODA_Loop]

1. a specification of basic rights, liberties and opportunities (of a kind familiar from constitutional democratic regimes);

2. an assignment of special priority to those rights, liberties and opportunities, especially with respect of claims of the general good and perfectionist values; and

3. measures assuring to all citizens adequate all-purpose means to make effective use of their liberties and opportunities.

Marxism.

 

[Moonglow]

That is not being a liberal son, that's just wanting to start at the top like many want, but, Ain't gonna happen. For all the wrong reasons repubs claim that liberals are commines, socialists, really, why group them all together? Just like the dems like to try and put all conservatives in a box, not right.
If you could recognize the individual for what they are you could classify them in the appropriate chart, but here on USMB, it does seems that 99% of posters are too lazy to do that.

 

[Skull Pilot]

As a young man in college I was not always the most diligent student. One weekend, near the end of term, was particularly eventful and I found myself on Monday morning sitting, looking at a Dynamics final and no memory of any of the fine formulas we had studied that semester. Then I remembered F=ma. From that kernel I was able to derive all of the formulas I needed and ended up doing pretty well. More importantly, I realized the importance of fundamental concepts; I found that if one has a good understanding of core principles the smaller details are easier to work out. This led me a few years ago to ask myself, aside from the individual policies which align my thinking with “liberals”; why am I a liberal?

After some consideration I arrived on four succinct statements, which I believe also gave me some insight to what motivates the “other” side.

I am a parent.
As a parent I will do anything within my power to advantage my child.
I am a citizen.
As a citizen I believe it is vitally important that we write rules that prevent that.

It is only natural that parents do all they can for their children, however as wealth accumulates this presents a threat to democracy. This is the threat that concerned Jefferson when he spoke of the need for inheritance taxes, not as a form of revenue but a means to protect the democracy from citizens that might become too powerful, and then threaten the will of the people. It is easy to see how this has become the case in America today.

The dangers of inherited wealth to our economy are not unlike monarchy to the health of any nation, when power is derived from birthright rather than one’s labor it is more often foolishly applied. As more and more of our economy becomes “inherited wealth” it becomes more of a target for con men and less a tool for innovators. The world’s financial power has been diverted from improving the human condition into money making schemes designed to enrich those who create them.

I do have some specific suggestions that I feel would be helpful long term:

Public financing for public elections
Flat rate Social Security Tax, first dollar to last all forms of income
Index minimum wage to the average increase in CEO pay for the S&P 500

That’s about it, that shouldn’t be too hard to do, right?

So you think everyone should be graded on a curve huh?

 

[J3ffr3y]

What I find sad is that you think I am a republican. Not now,never have been. I'm a registered libertarian atheist conservative. A "don't tread on me" type of conservative.

A swing and a miss...ohhh so sorry.

Now how about you try making an actual point hmmm?


Jeffrey

My badd. You are right I made a assumption that I shouldn't have. I just ... Found it odd that you would look down on a liberal without knowing you are one, unless you were drinking the republican cool-aid.

If you are a libertarian, you are a liberal. So... Why the hate on them?

Where in the hell did you come up with something that insane? A libertarian is as far to the right as you can get before you get to anarchist (no government at all). A liberal is as far to the left as you can get (goverment control over everything and everyone).

A liberal believes that the Constitution is open to unlimited "interpretation". The libertarian believes in strictly adhering to the Constitution as it is written.

...because he is referring to classical liberalism. He thought he was being clever.


Jeffrey

 

[GreatDay]

So you think everyone should be graded on a curve huh?

quite the opposite I think all should earn their place even those with successful parents...

 

[Oldstyle]

As a young man in college I was not always the most diligent student. One weekend, near the end of term, was particularly eventful and I found myself on Monday morning sitting, looking at a Dynamics final and no memory of any of the fine formulas we had studied that semester. Then I remembered F=ma. From that kernel I was able to derive all of the formulas I needed and ended up doing pretty well. More importantly, I realized the importance of fundamental concepts; I found that if one has a good understanding of core principles the smaller details are easier to work out. This led me a few years ago to ask myself, aside from the individual policies which align my thinking with “liberals”; why am I a liberal?

After some consideration I arrived on four succinct statements, which I believe also gave me some insight to what motivates the “other” side.

I am a parent.
As a parent I will do anything within my power to advantage my child.
I am a citizen.
As a citizen I believe it is vitally important that we write rules that prevent that.

It is only natural that parents do all they can for their children, however as wealth accumulates this presents a threat to democracy. This is the threat that concerned Jefferson when he spoke of the need for inheritance taxes, not as a form of revenue but a means to protect the democracy from citizens that might become too powerful, and then threaten the will of the people. It is easy to see how this has become the case in America today.

The dangers of inherited wealth to our economy are not unlike monarchy to the health of any nation, when power is derived from birthright rather than one’s labor it is more often foolishly applied. As more and more of our economy becomes “inherited wealth” it becomes more of a target for con men and less a tool for innovators. The world’s financial power has been diverted from improving the human condition into money making schemes designed to enrich those who create them.

I do have some specific suggestions that I feel would be helpful long term:

Public financing for public elections
Flat rate Social Security Tax, first dollar to last all forms of income
Index minimum wage to the average increase in CEO pay for the S&P 500

That’s about it, that shouldn’t be too hard to do, right?

I'm curious...as a liberal progressive parent don't you feel some responsibility for placing an enormous debt burden on your kids...a burden that is going to crush their economic world? You don't mention dealing with the debt at all.

I'm guessing that your stand on inheritance taxes stems from your not having a large inheritance to pass on? Just why is it that you think the government has the right to take huge chunks of something other people have worked a lifetime for with the intent of taking care of their kids? Money that they've paid taxes on their entire life? A high inheritance tax is nothing more than "theft" by our government. It's the stealing of something that doesn't belong to them. Something that someone else has spent a lifetime building.