2010 Gubernatorial Race. MD GOP dead?

[westsideboy]

Hey Keyser, a friend of mine basically receited your exact position to me completely unsoliticited. He said that Maryland wasn't "liberal" because the government wishes to regulate and control both economic and social matters. A true "liberal" mindset would favor things like civil liberties, drug legalization, etc. He used the term "leftist" rather than "liberal" to describe the state. I tend to think you guys are right. Sometimes we get too caught up in "conservative" vs. "liberal" dualilty and forget their many other places on the spectrum.

[KeyserSoze]

Thank you, westside. I normally don't get involved in political sparring matches, but I just felt that I had to address some of the things discussed. You are right in saying that there's more to the political spectrum than just "red" and "blue", liberal or conservative, black and white, so on and so forth.

[cpterp]

Originally Posted by westsideboy

Hey Keyser, a friend of mine basically receited your exact position to me completely unsoliticited. He said that Maryland wasn't "liberal" because the government wishes to regulate and control both economic and social matters. A true "liberal" mindset would favor things like civil liberties, drug legalization, etc. He used the term "leftist" rather than "liberal" to describe the state. I tend to think you guys are right. Sometimes we get too caught up in "conservative" vs. "liberal" dualilty and forget their many other places on the spectrum.

Well, I don't know about "leftist" which seems to me to be a somewhat disparaging term, like "People's Republic of Merryland." But, you are right about liberalism. When you look at it, fundamentally the Democratic Party wouldn't be the most liberal, that would probably be the Libetarian party. The biggest differences would be less regulation, less taxation, and preservation of civil liberties--things that are more likely to be found in "conservative" states. States considered "liberal" are heavily taxed, have strict restrictions on guns and alchohol among other things. The conservative think tank Mercatus Institute ranked these states as the "least free" of the 50 states based on regulatory policy, fiscal policy, "economic freedom," and "personal freedom":

[LEFT]40. Vermont -0.217
41. Connecticut -0.225
42. Illinois -0.238
43. Massachusetts -0.242
44. Washington -0.275
45. Hawaii -0.304
46. Maryland -0.405
47. California -0.413
48. Rhode Island -0.430
49. New Jersey -0.457[/LEFT]
50. New York -0.784
[SIZE=1][SIZE=1][SIZE=1][/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE]
Putting aside liberal/conservative all of these states are blue (overall). The thing is the media, and most of the general public have a mindset that liberal=Democrat, and conservative=Republican. Admittedly, my usage of "liberal" and "conservative" holds to those definitions most times since that's what most people are used to and for simplicity's sake in having discussions.

I think a better description for the Democratic party is "Progressive" instead of "liberal." With priorities like environmental concerns, seperation of church and state, equality, recognition of gay marriage/unions, abolishment of death penalties etc. "progressive" would probably be a more appropriate term.

[cpterp]

[Misses this post]

Originally Posted by KeyserSoze

Never said that Maryland wasn't liberal.

suuure, you didn't.

Originally Posted by KeyserSoze

you who uses their political affiliation as a crutch to claim your moral superiority over conservatives while simultaneously taking childish unwarranted cheap shots

I don't know which of my posts you're reading but I don't criticize anybody, without warrant. I try to keep my posts as unbiased as possible, but it's clear that you have something against liberals and somehow it seems that most of your posts are negative especially in response to mine...

Originally Posted by KeyserSoze

And for your information, one -- excluding New England, there are liberal AREAS, not liberal states. I'd say these places would be in the Pacific Northwest, in the Portland or Seattle whereabouts -- much more socially liberal than anything folks in Maryland could ever dream of being

Yeah, I agree that Portland and Seattle (and San Fran.) are liberal and Maryland does not have that type of "hippie" liberalism, but again you are probably alone in your opinion that there are no liberal states. You might be right in terms of the "true" definition of "liberalism," but not how it is used by the general public today. Oh yeah, I'm sure every liberal Marylander constantly "dreams" of one day becoming like Portland.

Originally Posted by KeyserSoze

And two, I still don't believe isolated, snotty, homogenized New England is all that "liberal". Until they have actual issues, and/or if there is a rise in the "ethnic" population, like I said, we'll see just how "liberal" the New England "utopia" is. At least they've approved of gay marriage though -- something that "liberal/socialist" Maryland has yet to do. Civil union isn't the same thing.

Yep, no bias here.