It appears to me that the majority of folks in this group are right-wing. Many posts contain comments disparaging liberals and those otherwise described as "woke." Why the animosity? At its core, the definition of a liberal is: a supporter of policies that are socially progressive and promote social welfare. a supporter of a political and social philosophy that promotes individual rights, civil liberties, democracy, and free enterprise. I would say these are commendable goals that any country should aspire to create a harmonious, productive society. Not sure why anyone would disagree with this.
Oh, I don't know about the majority. Besides, most people use the word incorrectly, and that's done so much so that the rest of us sometimes use it just to be understood. There's nothing wrong with classical liberalism, in theory. In practice, however, socially progressive policies designed to promote social welfare discourage individual rights, deprive individuals of liberty, and discourage productivity, leading to the decline of enterprise.
What type of individual rights are discouraged within the parameters I've cited? How are individuals deprived of liberty?
I was referring to real-life practice, not to the parameters, but, even on the face of it, socially progressive policies do not allow for individual rights and liberties.
I remember years ago on the car radio, on my way to work, someone asked Gordon Liddy what was the difference between a liberal and a conservative. I still remember his answer. “A liberal is someone who wants to help other people using someone else’s money. A conservative is someone who just wants to be left the hell alone.” As far as liberal/conservative, theist/atheist, climate change alarmist/climate change denier, prolife/prochoice, all the other yin/yang, I don’t care what someone is as long as they’re not trying to force something on me. Right now, our governments, at all levels, are the worst offenders.
As Ken pointed out, there can often be a lot of difference between what is proposed that sounds good, and how it actually turns out when put into practice. Look at gun laws. Instead of disarming criminals and letting good people protect themselves, they are trying to take the legal weapons away from people, and then only the criminals will have weapons, and we will have no protection if we needed it. An even stranger example might be EBT (food stamps), which are supposed to be additional grocery money so that poor people can eat a healthier diet. However, the social guidelines dictate which foods you can and can’t purchase with your EBT card. You can get a cold rotisserie chicken, but not a hot one. You can buy candy and Coca-Cola, but not vitamins or health drinks. How is that supposed to help anyone eat healthier foods ? We are supposed to accept people who have decided that they want to be the opposite gender, yet they do not have to accept themselves the gender they were born. Then we have the people who are identifying as an animal or bird, and that is now supposed to be acceptable as well ? There is nothing wrong with having more than one way of looking at something, because that is how change happens; but right now, we have to ask ourselves of that change that is happening now is a good thing or a bad thing for humanity and for this world we live on.
Good question, Jaspurr Miller! All my brothers and sister, my immediate family, are liberal. All want the good of all. Thomas Windom gave my feelings about conservative/liberals in his quote. If you feel the need to abort a baby that you conceived, despite being able to go to a corner store to pick up a contraceptive, I guess it is your choice, although to wait until you are nine months along as opposed to 3 or 4, I personally see as a cruel murder. Some see any abortion as such. But why should I be forced to pay for it at all? Going green won't solve anything but change which companies might flourish. I was the first in my area to get solar in the eighties with the government giving 50% rebates--that is taxes someone else paid. It didn't work in my state. The solar company Obama backed went under and so did all the money the government put in,; taxes others paid. Wind and solar will not give us the energy we need. It can't! So destroying pipelines and denying our ability to use fossil fuel is not sensible. And before it, we stopped using our oil but using other countries' oil was more green? The holey border is letting millions of illegals in. Were they all vaccinated and wearing masks? What other diseases and drugs were they carrying?.... The discussion can continue.
The Democrats like to don the cloak of liberalism and feign all that's noble about it, but it's what's in the pockets of that cloak that's the problem like open boarders, gender reassignment, runaway spending etc. to name a few. What matters is the degree of liberalism and even conservatism for that matter too. The Democrats are like the undisciplined children and the Republicans like the adults.
No one disagrees with that. But a hell of a lot of us who worked for a living will "disagree" with the government taking our money and distributing it to losers who crap on the sidewalks and contribute nothing of value to society. We don't want our tax dollars spent on gender reassignment when that money can feed a lot of hungry children. I don't want some 6' tall MAN competing against my 13-year old granddaughter, who hopes to win a college scholarship playing volleyball (with similar sized women).
Thanks, all, for your replies so far. As an outsider reading these comments...and past threads...it appears that you are very dissatisfied with your government. It is sad that you have so much animosity toward your leaders and the decisions they make. I haven't yet read any positive comments here about your country. It's all so negative. Is there not one positive thing your government is doing to make people's lives better?
" But a hell of a lot of us who worked for a living will "disagree" with the government taking our money and distributing it to losers who crap on the sidewalks and contribute nothing of value to society." Wow, that's harsh. So, homeless people should be left to die on the streets? How sad that you have compassion for people who are less fortunate. They are human beings, too.
Ya see, that’s the problem. The “Government” isn’t supposed to make our lives better or worse. The Government is only supposed to protect our rights and borders as stated in the Constitution of the United States….that’s it, nothing more, nothing less. Under liberal leadership, instead of the Government working FOR American citizens, the government insists on making its citizens subservient to the leadership hired by its citizens. Our present gas prices, higher taxes, higher priced food products, higher interest rates, higher priced building materials, and the country trillions of dollars in debt and nearing getting into a major war are all because of a government that is no long for the people but for those IN the government. To date, the average Congress person makes about $174K a year but yet, with that salary they manage to become multi-millionaires. How is that possible?
The United States is a country that was intended to have representatives rather than leaders. Over the years, in part due to a fascination among the American public with a ruling class, as well as apathy and ignorance, we have elected people whose design was to rule over rather than represent the American people. Those with power want more power, and, in recent decades, the goal, it seems, has been to establish worldwide power in the hands of a comparatively small group of people, and this has been aided by those in academia and the media. While there may be some good people among those who view their role as being our leaders, the fact that they view this as their station in life makes this unlikely, and this is a problem that transcends political parties. Our current leadership, at the top, is murky, because few people believe that our current president is even advised of significant decisions made on the part of his administration. His handlers have their hands full just trying to get people to believe that he is capable of reading a teleprompter, recognizing even those people who are closest to him, walking up a short flight of stairs, or avoiding walking into walls. I doubt that even Democrats truly believe that Joe Biden is in charge even of his own bowel movements. Joe Biden is a crudely crafted puppet for those whose names we don't know, and who have not been elected, and far too many of those who were elected to represent the American people in Congress view themselves as a ruling class without responsibilities and are complicit with the shadow government that is in control of the direction of this nation. There are those who are kinder or more optimistic than I am, surely, but I don't believe for one moment that those who are truly in control of our country have the slightest interest in making people's lives better, other than themselves and their own families. There is nothing to suggest otherwise. For one thing, staying the hell out of our lives would be the best way for government to accomplish this goal, if that were the intent of those who now rule over us. Liberalism is a bit like communism in that it might look good to some people, on paper, but, in practice, it does more harm than good.
Many who are homeless have mental issues but then there are those who rely on government and state payouts to maintain their style of freedom. One homeless man who was interviewed said he receives a state check for $620 a month and over $200 in food stamps per month. Now, do tell me, if that same man were to be “cut off” do you not think he might straighten up and find a job? Survival is the first and most primary instinct a person has so I doubt seriously if a person would “die” simply because they are homeless. Added to that, in most cities that I know of, it would be virtually impossible to starve to death because of all the food outlets that are specifically designed to feed the homeless.