I. Am. A Liberal

[Taverner]

I am a liberal, so get over it.
I believe the net should be free, and that the 1st amendment means exactly what it says. Free speech FOR EVERYONE. To say ANYTHING. Even if it offends me.
I believe a woman has the right to do with her body what she chooses. The same applies to men. An abortion is not murder, it is a procedure. Calling it anything else is fantasy.
I believe that our job is to make "a more perfect union." That means we who benefit the most should do everything we can to help those who benefit the least.
I believe corporations should pay their taxes.
I believe corporations are NOT private citizens, and should not be given the same rights individuals have.
I believe war truly should be a last resort - when diplomacy fails. I also believe war should not be a profitable enterprise.
I believe in worker's rights, including the right to organize. I also believe that any worker who does not do so does so at their own peril.
I believe everyone should have equal rights, and deserves to be treated equal. Not doing so is not a Democratic ideal.

Look up liberal in a dictionary: it means kind, giving, and open. Look up conservative: it means miserly, old fashioned and greedy.


I am a liberal. I am proud of that name.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Amen brother!

or Amen sister! or
Right On! for those who object to "Amen".

[sui generis]

2. you look great in that color!

color me liberal too.

It's funny where I work "liberal" is a dirty word, and yet I never hesitate to call myself a godless heathen and an arch-liberal.

And people are actually shocked. How sad for them.

[salvorhardin]

3. Actually, look up the etymology of 'liberal'

liberal (adj.)
c.1375, from O.Fr. liberal "befitting free men, noble, generous," from L. liberalis "noble, generous," lit. "pertaining to a free man," from liber "free," from PIE base *leudheros (cf. Gk. eleutheros "free"), probably originally "belonging to the people" (though the precise semantic development is obscure), from *leudho- "people" (cf. O.C.S. ljudu, Lith. liaudis, O.E. leod, Ger. Leute "nation, people"). Earliest reference in Eng. is to the liberal arts (L. artes liberales; see art (n.)), the seven attainments directed to intellectual enlargement, not immediate practical purpose, and thus deemed worthy of a free man (the word in this sense was opposed to servile or mechanical). Sense of "free in bestowing" is from 1387. With a meaning "free from restraint in speech or action" (1490) liberal was used 16c.-17c. as a term of reproach. It revived in a positive sense in the Enlightenment, with a meaning "free from prejudice, tolerant," which emerged 1776-88. Purely in ref. to political opinion, "tending in favor of freedom and democracy" it dates from c.1801, from Fr. libéral, originally applied in Eng. by its opponents (often in Fr. form and with suggestions of foreign lawlessness) to the party favorable to individual political freedoms. But also (especially in U.S. politics) tending to mean "favorable to government action to effect social change," which seems at times to draw more from the religious sense of "free from prejudice in favor of traditional opinions and established institutions" (and thus open to new ideas and plans of reform), which dates from 1823.
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=liberal

That's a tradition I'm proud to be part of. Freaky coincidence that you should post this since I was just writing about the demonization of the word 'liberal'.

[CrispyQ]

5. It's interesting that we are

"bringing liberty" to the Iraqis but scorn liberals at home.



A great DU article here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/02/11/23_liberal.html

It's how I found DU. I Googled "when did liberal become a dirty word" & this article was the first selection.

[salvorhardin]

6. Good article

We really do need to do better with education in terms of history, especially where it concerns the principles that informed the Enlightenment and thus the founders.

What I'm finding is that roots of this demonization of the word 'liberal' lies in the anti-modernist populism that came of age in the early part of the 20th Century in the U.S.

[still_one]

4. sounds like a platform the democrats should run on

[mdmc]

7. I am a liberal too.

[hfojvt]

8. I can deal with it

but I guess William Pitt hates you. :o

[mdmc]

9. he is a liberal

too!:)

[Atman]

10. Proud liberal here.

[Vadem]

11. Count me in, too, baby!....n/t