Empathy for our fellow woman/man is the best example of morality.

[Union Yes]

Ending homelessness, providing shelter for all is moral.

Affordable access to healthcare for all is moral.

Treating the national silent epidemic of mental illness is moral.

A real Living Wage is moral.

Fair pay for a days work is moral.

Collective Bargaining is moral.

The best poverty-buster known to man, access for all to a quality education, is moral.

Peace is moral.

Avoiding war at all cost is moral.

De-funding a war doctrine is moral.

........................................................................................

Money changers are immoral.

Serfdom/slavery are immoral.

The military industrial complex is immoral.

Regressive taxation is immoral.

Tax cuts for the wealthy are immoral.

Shifting the burden of taxation from the rich to the middle class and poor is immoral.

For profit 'Health' Care is immoral.

Unaffordable housing is immoral.

Imperialist foreign policy is immoral.

Banning choice, taking a woman's right to her own health care decisions, taking her independence, taking her right to plan her own future by banning choice, is immoral.

Second-class citizenship is immoral.

Denial of fundamental human rights to anyone is immoral.

Inequality and intolerance are immoral.

Right Wing Christian fundies bashing on the LGBT community is immoral.

Right Wing Christian fundies turning their backs on the weak, the sick, the poor is immoral.

For profit everything is immoral.

Those on the Right who usually preach their twisted version of morality are usually the most blatant violators of what morality really is.

Would they still worship Jesus if they knew the truth, if they found out he was a PROGRESSIVE?

I'm not religious, but if PROGRESS is good enough for ole JC, it's good enough for me.

PROGRESS is moral.

[Jim__]

1. I don't agree that "Avoiding war at all cost is moral."

My standard of morality is what ultimately leads to survival (of "our" civilization). Avoiding war at all costs could lead to immediate death for our whole civilization. I believe it is immoral to allow that to happen.

That said, I do believe we should avoid war; it's just that I believe there is a limit to what we have to do to avoid it.

[Yurovsky]

2. Yep, we could've surrendered to the Nazis ...

and Imperial Japan if we felt we had to avoid war at all cost in 1941. Sometimes you HAVE to fight, although such instances are rare. Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Bosnia, Grenada, Vietnam, et al... plenty of unnecessary wars since WW2.

[patrice]

9. To enshrine a civilization in order to justify killing is fascism no matter who does it.

I hope we killed the Nazis and the Japanese because they did bad things and hurt and destroyed others.

A civilization can only justify itself if it embodies the Freedom necessary to make killing for it un-necessary.

[Union Yes]

3. That's fair. I agree.

I only support war as a last resort and only with support of the international community. And I mean broad international support and contribution.

Your reply is very reasonable and I agree!

:fistbump:

[anonymous171]

5. Be careful. Consequentialist morality can lead to strange places. nt

[Posteritatis]

15. Likewise its absolutist neighbor. You need to be careful with both. (nt)

[patrice]

8. While I want appropriate National Defense, I believe it is im-moral to assume "our" civilization is

worth the death of one innocent person.

"Our" whole civilization is NOT good, some of it is, some of it isn't.

[paulsby]

11. thanks

i was going to jump on that one too

[FLDCVADem]

13. I agree 100% n/t

[proteus_lives]

24. +1

[Heidi]

4. In discussion of morality, I overwhelmingly favor ethics.

One can achieve a moral objective by entirely unethical means. Progress can be achieved by entirely unethical means, and that's not good enough ole Heidi.

[dana_b]

6. you are on a roll today! k&r!

:applause:

[Odin2005]

7. K&R!

:yourock:

[patrice]

10. You are right. Empathy is essence - cial to what it means to be Human.

[timeforpeace]

12. Surely this doesn't include empathy for the repukes also?

[patrice]

14. Why not? Are they all going to just disappear, so we won't have to deal with them? Empathy doesn't

mean that you agree, necessarily, it means that you understand well enough to recognize someone's feelings, why and how they feel and think as they do (often in-spite of the lies they are telling themselves and others) and, in the case of Republicans or much other opposition for that matter, that CAN give one a strategic advantage of either operating way ahead of where they are or boxing them in, genuinely for their own good and, possibly, in the long run, even MAKING them like it.

[timeforpeace]

16. Help me here then, why and how do they feel and think as they do?

[Union Yes]

19. I feel pity for middle class and poor that vote for Rethugs and vote against their own interests.

Pity rather than empathy.

[timeforpeace]

22. Correct. And my question still has not been answered.

[onestepforward]

17. I agree.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/george-lakoff/empathy-sotomayor-and-dem_b_209406.html

In George Lakoff's words:

-snip
"Empathy is at the heart of progressive thought. It is the capacity to put oneself in the shoes of others -- not just individuals, but whole categories of people: one's countrymen, those in other countries, other living beings, especially those who are in some way oppressed, threatened, or harmed. Empathy is the capacity to care, to feel what others feel, to understand what others are facing and what their lives are like. Empathy extends well beyond feeling to understanding, and it extends beyond individuals to groups, communities, peoples, even species. Empathy is at the heart of real rationality, because it goes to the heart of our values, which are the basis of our sense of justice.

Progressives care about others as well as themselves. They have a moral obligation to act on their empathy -- a social responsibility in addition to personal responsibility, a responsibility to make the world better by making themselves better. This leads to a view of a government that cares about its citizens and has a moral obligation to protect and empower them. Protection includes worker, consumer, and environmental protection as well as safety nets and health care. Empowerment includes what is in the president's stimulus plan: infrastructure, education, communication, energy, the availability of credit from banks, a stock market that works. No one can earn anything at all in this country without protection and empowerment by the government. All progressive legislation is made on this basis."

Conservatives trying to reframe "empathy" during the Sotomayor confirmation:

"Empathy in this sense is a threat to conservatism, which features individual, not social, responsibility and a strict, punitive form of "justice." It is no surprise that empathy would be a major conservative target in the Sotomayor evaluation."

[Union Yes]

18. self delete. wrong reply.

[Union Yes]

21. Thanks for adding that! nt

[TexasObserver]

20. Recommend

[flvegan]

23. I wouldn't consider limiting it to fellow humans.

Empathy for all living beings is the best example of this morality of which you speak.