So, how EXACTLY did "liberalism" "fail?"

[Cats Against Frist]

First, the anecdotal evidence. Most of the liberals I know are doing OK. Sure, they're not shoveling down QPs in a giant car on their way home to a treeless cul-de-sac, but they're doing OK. Most of my graduate school liberal friends do drugs only occasionaly, have no abandoned children, pay their taxes, make great art, are politically aware, eat whole foods, travel, recycle and most of them are very inspiring teachers of aspiring undergraduate poets and fiction writers.

My Seattle liberal friends are something of another story -- but imagine that the grad school friends, transplanted back into their urban environments, live in much the same way: mid-range, simple apartments in old buildings, lots of plants, social worker, sandwich maker or copy editor. They go see live music on the weekends, eat lots of Hummos and Asian food. Some of them are functioning alcoholics and drug addicts, but even only one or two of them have children that they didn't support -- most are single guys that eek out their days playing pool, getting drunk -- working as fishermen, yacht detailers, unskilled laborers, cooks. They might be "dandies," but they don't steal anything, they pay for their liquor, they don't drive drunk and they are generally non-agressive people that stay out of the way of those consumers who are busying themselves about climbing the social ladder and acquiring material possessions.

Though there are assholes here and there -- someone who ditched a friend, someone who cut out on his girlfriend, did all twelve of the "12 Shots of Christmas," and puked on my purse -- again, one or two that left struggling families -- their transgressions are no more worse than many of the conservatives -- and even CHRISTIAN conservatives that populated the town in which I was raised, and several of my extended family members, and the long-distance family members of my liberal friends. There were divorces, lots of cheating, some embezzlement, a suicide, several "out-of-wedlock" births, some unnecessary surgery, mental illness, child abuse -- even more.

We've read about how those Godless Heathens in "Taxechussets" have one of the highest marriage success rates in the country, and how some of the red states are a Judge Judy divorce court on meth. The eight fattest cities in the nation are in TEXAS, and the best-ranked cities according to health are, you guessed it: Seattle, San Fran, Boston, Portland, OR, Portland, ME -- all those coastal areas where it's a genital coctail 24/7 and we liberals do nothing but collect our welfare checks. Best place to raise a child AND the most advanced degrees per capita, in the nation? Why, right here in the most liberal county in Iowa -- what the right-wingers call "The People's Republic of Johnson County." From the best restaurants to the best museums to the best universities, it seems that the blue states have it.

So, where exactly did liberalism fail? If you listen to conservatives, you'd think that liberalism and all that is associated with it has gone the way of the Nordic Track -- though it is still practiced in many successful countries around the world who have average incomes, life expectacies, literacy rates and infant survival rates much higher than our own -- apparently it did so poorly that Moral Indignation and the Money God of the Conservative Social Institution had to come and bail it out.

Now I look at it as a yin and a yang. No matter how people would like their "way" to be perfect and give us all a robot housekeeper who'll orally pleasure us and cook a taquito in two seconds -- it's not going to happen, and I personally think that (even though I am a libertarian socialist) that the next best thing to the perfect egalitarian libertarian consumer, is a careful balance of capitalism and the welfare state.

So if we've put a man on the moon, made a real-life mouse with a snout and we're all so fat that we're going to have to be rolled into our Hummers -- where did this godless, secular liberalism that we've had to fight for the last 30 years to eradicate steer us wrong?

Maybe without the liberals we'd all have that metal housekeeper and be flying around with jet packs on our back? Is that what they're trying to tell me? That without the liberals, the doctor's daughter who was prom queen and poster girl for the Free Methodist Church wouldn't have gotten knocked up at 18, in her first year at Taylor Extra-Christian University? Or that the other doctor in town, (the pious Presbyterian) wouldn't have been banging a flower delivery girl in the coat closet of the hospital, while his wife sat at home decorating their house in faux country bullshit, and drowning herself in Merlot?

I mean, I'm a godless liberal -- one of the worst, in fact -- a POSTMODERN LIBERAL -- and my nose is clean, I'm not doing drugs or leaving a string of abandoned children behind me. I'm not on welfare.

Can anyone tell me what else they want from me? Since being my liberal self, in my housecoat, is apparently ruining society?

Or is it not just me? It's just the "others" like the prom queen and the doctor who need to be spared from the "temptations" that the liberal society dangles in front of them?

Is it just that they need help from Conservatives to "clean up" society? Where have I heard that "social engineering, before?"

[c1dem]

1. Censorship and failing

I've been blogging a lot on ABC news.com and it's really creepy. They don't censor you about curse words or being too nasty. They censor when I speak about freedom of speech protection, I was censored when I spoke about Jesus' teachings about love (you see, you never hear the right talking about Jesus' actual teachings because if they did, they wouldn't be voting for Bush). You are censored if you try and bring people together and talk about good ideas. The main Media markets are helping the Bush Administration polarize our nation and what went wrong is that we need to bring people together and stop knocking people down.

[lancdem]

3. Nice post

Welcome to DU! :hi:

[Cats Against Frist]

4. It's almost like they're amused

I think the media has always thought that if the GOP has a chance to drive the car off the cliff, it'll be "one hell of a ride," which would explain why so many so-called Democratic journalists don't call them on their shit. That, and the corporate thing. And that and those covert operatives from the Pat Robertson school of propaganda who are posing as journalists.

Fascism is good ink, I guess.

[satori]

6. Ads and slogans are very important to the Repugs

Think of the Repug party and the media they control as a large advertising agency. The majority of people are sheeple; that do not want to think. They simply want a slogan an ad to explain to them what the meaning of life is, so that the sheeple can then just repeat the same slogan or ad infomercial to others.

When someone has a contrary idea to the slogan of the Repugs media giants, you’re attempting to dispel the slogans and ads that they have defined are the primary cultural values that make up our society.

In short they do not want people thinking in our society, they would much rather have sheeple, because they are easier to control in the marketplace and in politics.

[Dulcinea]

13. If people think for themselves....

...they might not buy what corporate America wants to sell them, too.

[seaj11]

14. Yes.

"They simply want a slogan an ad to explain to them what the meaning of life is."

Exactly right. Unfortunately, it's so much easier to propagate these slogans and ads with TV, radio, Internet, magazines, newspapers, etc. The number of media outlets has increased exponentially in the past century.

[GAspnes]

2. you've got me

I always thought Minnesota was a stellar success under liberal policies. The message "things are bad and getting worse" is so contrary to the observable facts that it must take a daily double-dose of Cognitive Dissonance <tm> to be able to say it out loud, let alone in front of people.

[forgethell]

5. If you really want to know

how conservatives think, this is not the place to find out. We really don't understand them any better than they understand us. Go lurk over at FreeRepublic, if you can stand it, or course, and read their posts. There are a number of morons over there, but they also have some intelligent, if mistaken, commentary.

[seaj11]

12. Some definitely have brainpower

but they may be misinformed and sometimes illogical.

[forgethell]

15. But so can we.

It h elps to listen to all sides, even if your mind is already made up. Just so you know what the talking points are and can rebut them.

[finecraft]

7. Conservatives have to blame something

Because their happiness, sadness, success (or lack thereof) is a result of something or someone else. They live in the dream world of "if everyone would just leave me alone", "if the government would quit taking my money", "if it wasn't for affirmative action", "If it wasn't for the liberals, I wouldn't have to put up with other people's crap that I find offensive", and I would be happy, successful and rich....if, if, if, if, if!!!! I think two words sum up their thinking....selfish and delusional.

[Guaranteed]

8. I think the PC movement killed it.

That, and we gave some people a little money and a little education, and they betrayed us.

And the right-wing takeover of the media, pushed by corporatism.

[forgethell]

16. Who did we give

a little money and a little education to?? I think you lost me there.

[Guaranteed]

17. Blue collar folks...

We helped get union folks better wages and benefits, and put strong emphasis on public education...

Now they're voting for Bush.

[Debs]

22. This is

One Union folk who would sooner get a vasectomy by a street vendor than vote for any republican

[Kazak]

9. The toleration of intolerance.

That's how.

[two gun sid]

10. Liberalism did not fail

and unless these atavistic bastards destroy the world in the next 4 yrs. it will prevail. Liberalism my friend is the wave of the future.

[seaj11]

11. Great post.

You're absolutely right. Many conservatives live in a state of denial. They make the liberals out to be what they fear most; but they are that themselves.

[DaedelusNemo]

18. Liberalism is not dead, just has a brand-name perception problem

Something to remember is that Americans are in fact overwhelmingly liberal - and don't know it. When surveyed about their positions on issues, solid majorities are for such liberal positions as guaranteeing social security benefits, guaranteeing affordable access to health care, spending more money on public education and so forth. When asked about the word 'liberal', though, they react negatively. This fact is the fruit of a long-standing effort by the conservative media network (since the 70's) to discredit the word 'liberal'. The constant demonizing of liberal individuals via stereotyping is part of that effort, since it's easier to arouse hatred of people than it is to arouse hatred of ideas, and that hatred can be transferred.

It's part of a general confusion about the issues and facts so dominant as to render our democracy unrepresentative. - For example, most Bush voters believed that he was in favor of the Kyoto treaty, the Land Mine treaty, the Comprehensive Test Ban treaty, and the International Criminal Court, just as those voters were; they were, of course, mistaken in that belief. In fact the American voters overwhelmingly agreed with Kerry's positions on most issues, but were largely wrong about which issues were supported by which candidate. (It is worth noting that Bush voters were significantly more likely to be wrong about who supported what issue.)

In the face of this sort of general condition of misinformation, it is a mistake to to be head-faked by rhetoric that obscures reality. Liberalism as a brand name has been trashed for decades, but is still overwhelmingly popular as a concept and as a philosophy. Even the worst of the republicans generally try to cloak their actions behind professions of liberal principles - they just make sure not to call them 'liberal'.

America was explicitly founded on liberal principles, its history is largely one of increasing liberalism, and those liberal principles continue to be popular, even among 'conservatives'. Keep reminding yourselves...

[serryjw]

19. It's not about conservatism BUT

consumerism. They drink the koolaid, they climb the corporate ladder, they & BUY BUY BUY! They is the measurement of success.
I have posted this many times. When I survived Breast cancer, I had to sell my condo to start repaying bills and get a life back on a smaller scale. I said many times " I cant afford to do X" and someone would say to me ( thug) why don't you just liquidate some investments! It never occurred to them that I didn't have any.

[shraby]

20. It's not about liberalism

it's about those damn machines and long lines at the polls plus any other cheating that was done like tearing up registrations, 58,000 missing absentee ballots that were "sent out". I could go on and on but liberalism isn't the problem.

[Brundle_Fly]

21. FOX NEWS

[rman]

23. we got stooped by the (neo) con men

-