Conservatives didn't make "liberal" a dirty word (Limbaugh, Iraq, middle east)

[Johnbiggs]

At various times in my life, I've heard people assert that liberal has become "a dirty word", and that right-wing pundits have made people afraid to identify as such. While I tend to lean to the left politically, I myself hesitate to describe myself as "a liberal". So I thought about why this might be so.

* I believe that gays should be allowed to marry, as I can't see how it would hurt society, and think it could improve their lives. I believe they should be allowed the same opportunities as straight people. I do NOT believe that everyone who opposes same-sex marriage "hates gays"; I am willing to acknowledge that most people may oppose it on the belief that marriage is first and foremost a religious sacrament, and while I disagree, I don't think "hatred" is the overriding motive. I do NOT believe that straight men are inherently macho, homophobic apes, and that gays are more evolved and civilized. I do NOT believe that heterosexual sex is just another way for men to dominate women, while lesbian relationships are more emotionally gratifying.

* I believe that corporations frequently act unethically, and should not be allowed to run roughshod over the country. I do NOT believe that corporations are inherently evil, constantly conspire to "hold the common man down", and need to be effectively castrated for the sake of public welfare.

* I am fairly skeptical of the war in the Middle East, and of American foreign policy in general. I do NOT believe that Bush is up there with Stalin and Pol Pot, and that US soldiers are on par with contract killers.

* I am black. I believe that there is still a lot of racism today, and that society can sometimes be unfair to black people. I do NOT believe that it is the government's responsibility to pump resources into "pro-black" causes and pass pro-black legislation at the expense of society in general.

* I am nominally religious. I may or may not believe in God. I don't believe religious doctrine to be a sole legitimate reason for decisions in public policy. I do NOT hate religion. I don't believe that religion is evil, is just a tool to control the multitudes, or that religious people are intellectually inferior- I know far too many highly educated, successful people who are decidedly more religious than I. I think Fallwell and Robertson are awful people, and it bothers me that they have any influence in society; I also think Richard Dawkins is a hateful, condescending zealot who presents his own biased views on religion as though they were some sort of consensus of every rational person.

I'm not trying to say that my views are the only legitimate views; in fact, I'm never really sure of their merit myself. What I am trying to illustrate is how the modern American left manages to alienate people who are potentially sympathetic to their causes. I am black, a college student, and come from a left-leaning area- I should be a lock to vote "D" every candidate, every election. But I while I did vote Democrat last year, I refuse to register with them, and this year I think I'm going for one GOP candidate.

You may be saying "Of course you don't think those things, those are just stereotypes". Problem is, I have indeed encountered far too many "open minded" liberals who think just like that. "Communist" and "Socialist" have sort of become a cheap epithet hurled at liberals, but I really do think that a lot of the rhetoric coming from the left these days is too heavily rooted in Marxist social conflict theory to appeal to much of America. The far left-leaning minority influences a majority of the public discourse, and it turns away potential sympathizers. Michael Moore does more to turn people away from the left than Limbaugh, O'Reilly or Beck. Sean Penn makes more people want to rally behind our foreign policy than denounce it. Al Sharpton turns more white people off of black issues than the KKK. Bill Maher's movie, 90 minutes of cheap shots at religion, gives the religious right ammunition more than it weakens their influence. Sadly, today the most outspoken liberals are no more open-minded and just as eager to tell people what to think and why they suck as the conservatives from which they allegedly want to save us.

In conclusion: from where I stand, conservative pundits didn't make "liberal" a dirty word- fringe leftists did.

[AONE]

While I agree with many of your points, Im not one to accept the conclusions. It is true people will dislike many outspoken people but I think too often it isn't based on their position on a topic but their personality.

We have very few people that stand up and say to the conservatives they are wrong, the Michael Moore's are too few and far between and as such we have been forced into a war on lies and deception. Once a country stood against a war once they found it was not such a righteous cause.

Now people just can't be outraged enough to say NO MORE! They lost their right to vote in 2000, and they said nothing, They were not protected by those in power with knowledge of impending danger in 2001 and again they said nothing, They were lied to about WMD's in order to go to war and still they said nothing. They saw the Patriot Act signed and their Constitution was undermined and they said nothing. Now we have our soliders in harms way more than a million Iraqis have been sacrificed, and for what?... Nothing that will wae the populace to say ENOUGH!

We have a debt of $13T and climbing, and we allow the Federal Reserve to steal our money to the tune for $700,B annually, and we allow a military budget of $the same size which is making us less safe and more of a police state, and yet the people say NOTHING!.

Both parties lie, they make backroom deals at the expense of the people, they profiteer from war like never before, they viol;ate laws and still nothing is done.

Liberal isn't the dirty word, APATHY is. and both parties are good at keeping the masses apathetic while they plunder the resources.

[scarlet_ohara]

Originally Posted by Johnbiggs

In conclusion: from where I stand, conservative pundits didn't make "liberal" a dirty word- fringe leftists did.

Are there more like you?

All I ever hear from is the "fringe" - so much so, "fringe" ideology seems to have become left mainstream ideology.

Which is exactly why I'm an ex-Democrat.

[UpNort]

I believe many said alot, the general public was never shown it. Believe it or not, alot of the same people are still screaming. People are waking up to more and more. The media is at fault, they prop up what feels good to them, they are to be the people's watch dog at all times--no matter who is in power.

Progressives(left) stole the label "liberal" to cover-up their Marxist-Communist agenda. They figured the public would except their agenda under a better name.

Apathy was instilled thru out the years by believing and trusting the government. Behind the scences, more and more rights were being taken away and people felt helpless, You can't fight city hall syndrome.

Now the people are totally fed up with the over reaching federal government and they have 2 things to fight---progressive-communist mentality that was taught under our nose to our children and the progressive government.