why are you a liberal?

[ulysses]

For those who are, of course.

[sakabatou]

1. I'm not a complete idiot

[flvegan]

2. Because I'm not an idiot.

[Midlodemocrat]

3. Because the snacks are better.

:thumbsup:

[ulysses]

6. I like the "intelligence and better food" theme we have developing...

:D

[dbonds]

4. I think, therefor I am.

[KamaAina]

5. I'm not.

I'm a progressive, dammit!!

[ulysses]

9. ok, why are you a progressive?

:7

[KamaAina]

11. Because liberals think they can fix the system that conservatroids built

we know better. :-)

[rug]

7. Looser women.

[BlooInBloo]

8. (shrug) I think what I think. It just so happens that the the term "liberal" mostly captures it.

[Captain Hilts]

10. I'm willing to see grey, not just B&W. I also know there are structural obstacles to success

in our society and we need government to help people scale them.

[NRaleighLiberal]

12. I believe in science, in progress, in change, and I am not a f*#&ing greedy asshole.

[Merlot]

13. Born this way.

Never made a choice, just agreed in principle with a bunch of ideals that I later found out fell under the heading "liberal."

And, BTW, I think the word "Liberal" is my favorite L-word. As in Liberal Arts, Liberal Education, sprinkle liberally, etc. Good things are liberal!

[ulysses]

15. re: sprinkle liberally. the alternative is "scant", isnt it?

:)

[Stevenmarc]

14. Because if I let my knuckles drag it makes my manicure look like shit.

[ulysses]

16. ROFL! nicely done.

:D

[npk]

67. That deserves a "good job sparky" reply

Made me laugh.

[Wetzelbill]

17. 1. I believe in The Beatitudes

2. I believe in policy that works for everybody.

3. I am from an Indian reservation, both sides of my family believe mostly in the Dem philosophy, most minorities lean that way because Dems are more in tune with our issues. My grandfather was a fairly prominent Montana Democrat, was close friends with Senators Mansfield and Metcalf and also with JFK and RFK. He was Blackfeet Tribal Chairman and later President of the National Congress of American Indians. I grew up wanting to be like him, so I've studied politics all of my life. The party was a natural fit for me and over time I've come to identify strongly with the liberal wing of the party as well. I used to probably be more centrist, but then I paid more attention to issues once Bush got into office and after a few years of watching him destroy everything and some Dems sitting around watching and enabling him, I've come to sit in the more liberal corner of the party. No effing way would I have ever compromised myself enough to sit by and enable the Bush disaster, not if I was in office. If being liberal means being for the people and not sucking up to power as it implodes upon itself, well then hell, I guess I'm a liberal and proud to be one. That's why I'm one.

[OmahaBlueDog]

18. I actually consider myself to be a moderate

Some of the folks on this site consider me to be the next best thing to a FReeper

My Republican friends, OTOH, put me somewhere between Lenin and Mao.

I am what I am out of a sense of commonwealth - the notion that ther is no reason we can't all work together and be prosperous

I vote the way we do because we are the only 1st world, industrialized nation that doesn't have some form of universal health care. At this point, I don't concern myself what it looks like, or whether it's public or private; what I don't want is to blow yet another shot at installing a safety net. $5000 dollar major med would stink, but it'd keep a lot of folks out of bankruptcy court. It'd keep a lot of folks from having chili cook offs and pizza parties to raise money for Mark who had the motorcycle accident or Dave and Jenny who are trying to pay for that surgery for little Ashley.

....but I digress.

I vote the way I do because I am old enough to remember Tricky Dick, Ronnie Raygun, George I, and dubya. (I don't lump Ford in that group).

I vote the way I do because Reagan purged all the liberal Republicans in '80, so this is the only place left where one can be a fiscal conservative and a social liberal. Besides -- which President had the most recent balanced budget.

I vote the way I do because I want the US to get out of the world policing business.

[hfojvt]

48. which would you consider more important?

Would you vote for a fiscal conservative who was socially conservative over a non-fiscal conservative who was socially liberal. And what is fiscally conservative? Is it anti-tax or anti-spending?

[OmahaBlueDog]

70. I would almost always vote non-fiscal conservative who was socially liberal

I am anti-deficit. I believe that, in ordinary economic circumstances, receipts should balance expenditures. I really dislike debt to meet ordinary expenses, but do not disapprove of bonded debt to make investment grade improvements that benefit all, such as schools, roads, bridges, hospitals, water systems, energy systems, etc.

I believe in a very strong defense -- but defense should be just that. We should not be building a military to play world cop.

I truly believe that we are too smart to have such a costly, inefficient healthcare system.

I don't believe corporations are inherently evil, but just as Grover Norquist wants government small enough to drown in a bathtub, I want government large and muscular enough to beat down corporations with a club. Having said that, I also believe that corporate taxes should be kept low enough to encourage growth and allow for job creation.

As for taxes, I believe that all should pay some, but that those who benefit most from America should give the most back.

I hope that when the current fiscal crisis is over, President Obama can rapidly shrink the deficit and work us back to where we were, financially, under Bill Clinton. If we would then make a concerted effort to pay our national bebt over the next 30 years, we could begin to do truly amazing things and give all Americans a well-deserved tax cut as our interest payments shrink.

[Ghost in the Machine]

19. Because the thought of having a lobotomy to become a freeptard scares the fuck out of me..

[DemoTex]

20. Moi? You answer it, U.!

[ulysses]

22. fair enough. I expected that.

I'm a liberal/progressive (I use the two interchangeably) because:

1. I was born into that kind of a home
2. when the time came to challenge what I knew, I found no reason to deny the basic equality of people, economic and civil. I'm even more liberal than my parents who, for Oklahoma, might as well be Soviet.

[DemoTex]

33. I'm in there with you U.

I was liberal in 1966, when I graduated from high school. Then I went to college .. MEH! Then Viet Nam. Then college again. All the while, I got more and more liberal. Is it possible? I did it. But the big thingy was Viet Nam and Lam Son 719 .. hard to do that and come out 100% whole, if you know what I mean.

[ulysses]

39. I don't know

and don't pretend to know. Your experience well outstrips mine, and I thank you for it. :)

[hfojvt]

46. you don't really flesh out "what I knew"

Is that it, "the basic equality of people, economic and civil". I am not sure what that means exactly.

[ulysses]

50. clarification, I hope.

I believe in:

1) equal civil rights. This is an absolute.

2) the right of every man, woman and child to three squares, essential medical care, and a roof.

These have been self-evident to me since I was a child.

[notheyrejustwrong]

21. Because my parents raised me right:

Show respect for other people, help others when you can, don't be judgmental, don't be mean, don't be GREEDY, work hard, play by the rules (and voice dissent when the "rules" are unjust)and
F^$#*ing DO UNTO OTHERS!
Although there is a lot to be said about looser women

[Coffee and Cake]

23. I know all liberals don't agree with Hayek's liberalism, but

he wrote an excellent short essay on why he is a liberal, call "Why I am not a Conservative".

http://hem.passagen.se/nicb/cons.htm

[Manifestor_of_Light]

62. I did not know Salma Hayek is a philosopher.

:rofl:

[Coffee and Cake]

80. If she was ever my philosophy teacher, I am not sure I would learn anything

I would be too busy wiping the drool away from my chin :P

[Tyler Generation]

24. Because I'm an objective grown up

That's why I love the left. Look at our board compared to Freeperland! Do they ever argue over there? No, they just enable and jerk each other off while they tow the party line.

People over here disagree and stand up for themselves, even when it's not the popular view. That's why I'm liberal.

[1badjedi]

25. They have pie and cake.

So I actually do get a choice. :)

[Dinger]

Self-Delete (Dupe)

[Dinger]

26. Because I Am Pro-Life, And Pro-Equality, In The True Sense That Is

I can be no less.

[MedleyMisty]

27. I don't know that I really identify myself as "a liberal"

But I lean more towards to the left than the right because I was fortunate enough to have a great childhood and a mother who taught me the values of empathy and nonconformity and freedom and a culture in my small hometown (which is actually the town that Mayberry was based on and where Andy Griffith grew up) that accepted me for who I was and didn't try to force anything on me.

Essentially, I grew up in an environment that was ideal for producing an independent thinker with a solid ego who is capable of empathy.

Also, I read all the books about the Holocaust in the local library when I was nine. I think that really left a deep impression on me.

[JI7]

28. freedom and fairness

[Chisox08]

29. 1. Liberals has better weed

2. I believe that we should help those in need
3. I'm not a complete idiot
4. I don't have to be told how to think
5. Did I mention the weed?

[Tangerine LaBamba]

30. Because

I was born to parents who were gung-ho union members - my father a postal clerk, my mother a dress factory seamstress. I was on a picket line with my mother and her co-workers when I was in grade school, and I can still sing the entire "Look For The Union Label."

My grandfather was an anarchist who gave me a picture of Eugene V. Debs in a frame for my fifth birthday and told me all about him and why I should never obey anyone's rules and that the bosses were almost always evil. But he said that writers were good and there was no such thing as god so I shouldn't pay any attention to the priest (who was my grandfather's drinking buddy - all these people were Italian, by the way).

Then my parents sent me to get a good Jesuit education, and the Jesuits pretty much put a shine on me and sent me out into the world to do their dirty work, which involved being a smart and dangerous liberal who knew the rules so well, the other side never saw me coming.

They're all gone now, all those people who never gave me a choice, and I can never do anything but love them for it and be thankful I was born where I was...................................

[ulysses]

35. I think I might like this most of all.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

42. Thanks,

but I became one of those people my grandfather admired, and after a lifetime as a lawyer, I turned into a novelist. So I had a leg up in this one.

Isn't it something, though, how our early lessons are never wasted on us, the good ones and the bad ones?

Your OP was brilliant. Thank you for giving me a reason to think about it. I never did before............

[Dukkha]

31. Because the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few

the few being the top 20% who control 80% of the wealth

[Neoma]

32. Because I love my cup of freedom.

[Bobbie Jo]

34. I'm a big fan of Common Sense.

...that, and I've seen first hand how well-run "social programs" can make a difference in the lives of people who just need a fair shot at something better.

[Neoma]

36. The book?

[Bobbie Jo]

43. sorry...caps were misleading. Actually, yes to the book as well as the concept

[Aristus]

37. I can't tell you why, but I can tell you for how long:

Until I DIE, motherfuckers!!! B-)

[hfojvt]

38. kinda sad that nobody really wants to answer it

I wondered that about some moderate Democrats. Why do they run as Democrats when they seem closer to moderate Republicans.

I think a liberal Democrat should believe in progressive taxes, and support things like social security, the EITC, food stamps, unemployment insurance, etc. They should support schools more than they support either prisons or the military.

It's now associated with things like pro-choice, but that was not always the case, and even now in Kansas when we met to replace a Democratic legislator who resigned, she was anti-choice and the two people running to replace her were anti-choice. This did not seem to bother the three women voting.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

45. No, a lot of people have answered...

This thread has some lovely responses - and some very funny ones, which is also wonderful.

Read them, really. They're excellent, but it's a great question the OP posed.

I have never understood women who are anti-choice (and I commend you on your use of the correct language - one of my personal campaigns, grabbing back that "pro-life" crap the other side commandeered - and we let them). Yes, their religious beliefs, and all that, but, still, the idea of a woman being subject to the whims of the government where her body is concerned - that just baffles me, that women let themselves be swept along like that.

An anti-choice Democrat is, to me, a pure oxymoron. But, in my long life, I've watching my Democratic Party become more and more conservative. And now, I'm watching President Obama very gently start moving things back to where I wish they would go - the time of the Great Society and the development of Medicare, Medicaid, Affirmative Action, Head Start - programs that cared about and for people.

I think Obama's doing it very carefully, very gently, but he's doing it. And, every day, I am cheered.

But, seriously, read the responses to this OP. They're very good.............

[hfojvt]

65. okay there are maybe 5-6 good responses in the first 30

I don't find the whole "non liberals are insane or morons" to be all that funny.

The Democratic Party used to be more conservative on abortion. Al Gore and others used to be anti-choice too, until the Democratic Party became the pro-choice party in the 1980s.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

73. You have higher standards than I do -

I didn't judge them, and I would never characterize them, but then, I'm always taken by what DUers do with provocative and smart questions.

Mostly, I'm taken by folks who make inane pronouncements about the quality of the responses when they've not even read them.

And you found them wanting.............

[theoldman]

40. Because Jesus was a liberal and I want to be like him.

[PurityOfEssence]

41. A few points

We are not what we think we are, nor what storybooks teach us. We are a mixed bag as people, and it is to our advantage to have everyone as healthy, productive and valued as possible. People make mistakes and horrible mishaps occur; we need to have mechanisms to help people back on their feet and feeling a part of the great shared endeavor of society.

Things change, and we need to constantly tinker with things to adjust the imperfection of life on its merry way.

Being fairly fit and the beneficiary of a loving--if wacky--upbringing in the solid professional class, I feel responsible to pay back into a world that has helped me mightily, and I think this is our duty as people. Also having luckily found my way into a calling and life that suits me and benefits me, I consider it a duty to be a part of it all and help nudge things the right way.

On the fly here, but that's more or less the gist of it.

Communism and Socialism don't work because too many people are too lazy to pitch in and be productive if everything's totally guaranteed, and pure Capitalism is feudal servitude or tyranny, depending on which shoes one happens to wear. The world lives in the vibrant, modified and communal middle, and that's why I'm vocal about it.

I'm also (obviously) a contrarian and am disgusted by how the right has successfully cowed people into running from the proud, honorable and noble term "liberal".

[Ohio Joe]

44. Lots of reasons

Many have already been stated in this thread. Mostly though because I'm not batshit insane.

[SnoopDog]

47. Because, humans evolved and survived, based on...

liberalism, cooperation, ethics, and morality.

I am only what my ancestors before me were...

[lumberjack_jeff]

49. Because government should promote the general welfare. That... and the free pony they gave me. n/t

[ulysses]

52. can we take the pony as sarcasm?

[lumberjack_jeff]

59. Um, you didn't get?... Uh, yeah. Sarcasm.

That's the ticket.

(psst... ixnay on the ony-pay. Apparently Ulysses didn't get one. Shhh.)

[ulysses]

61. it's a fairly simple thing.

I get the pony thing. I just wanted to know if you were using sarcastically or sincerely. I suppose I have my answer.

[lumberjack_jeff]

66. I guess I fail at humor.

Sigh.

I think that government is our tool. It should shamelessly be used to vigorously and zealously represent the interests of their constituents, particularly the most vulnerable ones.

The economy is only relevant as it pertains to mission #1.

War is a tool of last resort, only to be used if the human costs of action are outweighed by the tangible human costs of inaction.

Science and logic trump belief, but they operate in the service of principles and ethics.

We are a nation of laws, not men.

Because I've begun to believe that "They Live" was a documentary.

[deaniac21]

51. Because I love people.

[Kazak]

53. The only thing tangible I can point to is education.

:shrug:

Also, and not necessarily a good reason in itself, I was raised by liberals and have always preferred to be around liberals.

[Speck Tater]

54. My I.Q. turned out to be 3 digits so they kicked me out of the Republican party.

And I had nowhere else to go.

[TahitiNut]

55. Because the chicks are hotter.

:hide:

More seriously, it'd take a whole book to give the reasons. Happily, that book was written by John Rawls. It's called "A Theory Of Justice." MORE people should read it ... particularly those who posture and proclaim themselves 'moderates' or 'centrists' or other weasel words.

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rawls/
http://www.iep.utm.edu/r/rawls.htm

[ulysses]

56. no need to hide.

They *are* hotter! :)

[peace13]

57. Because I have empathy and compassion for others.

And understand that lifting others up improves the quality of my life.

[handmade34]

58. what a grand word- Liberal

I am a liberal/socialist/progressive because:

I used to climb trees every chance I got and I want all kids to experience the same

I believe with all my heart that we are here to take care of each other

I want healthy food for me and everyone else

When I was 12 it became the law of the land that you could not go into a store barefoot and I resented it. About the same time, I went to an event with my older brother at the Lansing Civic Center and got caught up in a racial brawl and got stones thrown at me and I wanted to understand.

I really like fun people

I had a fantastic HS history teacher that gave me a copy of “The Prophet” and I read it.

I am curious and I like curious people.

I have seen more than my share of poverty, pain, sorrow, hurt, mean-spiritedness, violence, etc…

I met my brother at a anti-war rally at the capital the day he skipped out on his meeting before the CO Board in 1969 and my partner was a medic during the Vietnam War and I listen to his stories

and for all my life

[Elwood P Dowd]

60. I was somewhat conservative until I was drafted

back in the day. Next thing you know I'm stationed in Washington, DC and sneaking down to the anti-war demonstrations.

[Joe the Liberal]

63. Because I'm not a fucking moron..............

and because conservatives are usually unreasonable, irrational, mean spirited, hateful, ugly (inside and out) people that I would prefer not to be around or associate with, not all of them but most (FreeRepublic is a prime example of this). I'm liberal for a whole plethora of other reasons, most of which have already been posted throughout this thread.

[tabbycat31]

64. I was raised to be a Democrat

My parents consider themselves liberal (although they're more conservative than me)and my lifetime has only made me more liberal because I saw what 3 Republican presidents (Reagan and two Bushes, although I really don't remember Reagan and Bush Sr) have done to this country, and i want it to stop NOW.

[dysfunctional press]

68. because i was raised as a christian, and some of it stuck.

mostly the value system and the 'golden rule' stuff.
even though i've evolved into an atheist deity-wise., i still don't understand how someone could be a christian AND a republican. i have always felt that the two seem to be diametrically opposed to each other, even during the mock election campaign we had between nixon and mcgovern at our lutheran grade school.

[DailyGrind51]

69. Because I have a capacity for empathy and the belief that we are not

merely a loose assembly of 310 million self-interested individuals but the United States of America.:patriot:

[aikoaiko]

71. I like people.

[libodem]

72. I was born a liberal

My dad's father was a Wobbly and even though he was LDS he was a Union man. He said he would not allow any Church to tell him how to vote or dictate whether or not he could belong to a union. He fought for the rights of rail road men not to used like machines. He was even shot over it. My mom's folks were liberal too. Her dad was a rail roader, a boot legger, and even a Magistrate Judge.

[alfredo]

74. Being a Hubbard Mellon or a quart of brake fluid, just didn't suit me.

[yurbud]

75. Reagan on college financial aid & Exxon Valdez on the beach

I was pretty conservative in high school and my first couple of years of college.

I was attending entirely on financial aid because my family wasn't in a position to help me.

I was reading the paper one day and read that Reagan wanted to shift the mix of student financial aid toward loans and away from grants--he wanted me to go more into debt to go to college. I couldn't believe that the guy I voted for was screwing me. That got me about halfway there.

The other half was the Exxon Valdez oil spill. I was supposed to be working as a commercial fisherman on the back side of Kodiak that summer, but when I got up there, we ended up cleaning oil off the beaches.

One day, a helicopter landed and a Coast Guard captain and a greasy punk who looked like one of Bush's less reputable frat brothers got out. He was an Exxon exec.

I had been in the Civil Air Patrol all through high school, and briefly in the Navy, and had (and still mostly have) great respect for the military.

So I was mortified when I saw that captain deferring to the greasy punk. The Exxon exec got to decide when the beach was clean, and the captain was his waterboy.

It was such an insult to me that a company could commit a crime on such an epic scale and then get to decide when they had done enough restitution that I decided I'd never vote for the business party again.

That's how I got to be a liberal.

Bush pushed me all the way over to socialist/anarchist.

[Rincewind]

76. Because

I have a brain and a heart.

[tekisui]

77. I developed a belief that we can create a better society.

I was born with compassion. I learned that I am a liberal. I believe that we can create, build, adapt and change the status quo to open society to all. Equality and opportunity are possible for all, but not without conscious action.

[Marr]

78. Because I'm neither a wealthy corporate executive nor stupid enough to be fooled by their

propaganda.

[Juche]

79. Morals

I value freedom, egalitarianism, dignity and compassion.