Liberal. I Will Wear It As a Badge of Honor.

[B_Nick8]

From the West Wing, admittedly. Still.

Why is 'liberal' a bad word? - YouTube

 

[houtx48]

If Liberal mean that are not buying the the Republican conservative bullshit, I got mine so fuck you, then I am a liberal.

 

[fun21]

Ya... I never really understood the negative connotations of the word 'liberal' in the US, probably because I grew up with the Liberal Party of Canada leading the country.

 

[SR_Dee_Zasther]

You guys clearly haven't watched enough FOX news if you don't understand how "Liberal" and "Progressive" are just leftist code for "Baby-killing weed-smoking straight-marriage-destroying secular pinko Islamo-fascist".

 

[B_Jingoist]

The people associated with a word or symbol tend to give it a bad connotation.

 

[Industrialsize]

I have never referred to myself as a progressive for the exact reason portrayed in the video, I've always been a Liberal.

 

[B_Nick8]

The people associated with a word or symbol tend to give it a bad connotation.

If so, I can't even begin to imagine how many words you've tainted but I'm quite sure 'liberal' isn't one of them.

 

[houtx48]

If so, I can't even begin to imagine how many words you've tainted but I'm quite sure 'liberal' isn't one of them.

ROFLAO...................maybe not ROF just slightly chortling.

 

[SilverTrain]

The people associated with a word or symbol tend to give it a bad connotation.

Really?

So it was black people who gave the word n*gger its offensive connotation?




New depths of douchery plumbed all the time around here.

 

[monel]

Really?

So it was black people who gave the word n*gger its offensive connotation?




New depths of douchery plumbed all the time around here.

This. Thank God there are people of reason on this site lest it become merely a "you show me yours and I'll show you mine" exercise.

 

[englad]

Personally, I really don't like the term "liberal", it has no colour to it and no bite whatsoever. Essentially it's meaningless, it's like saying "I'm not a bigot" and little else, a term like "radical liberal" seems to be a total oxymoron. I quite like progressive, because it implies that you want the status quo to change and move forward.

 

[joyboytoy79]

Nick, this has always been one of my favorite scenes from The West Wing. It makes such a compelling point! If only more liberals were willing to stand up to those who wish to sully the label with nonsense!

 

[SilverTrain]

Personally, I really don't like the term "liberal", it has no colour to it and no bite whatsoever. Essentially it's meaningless, it's like saying "I'm not a bigot" and little else, a term like "radical liberal" seems to be a total oxymoron. I quite like progressive, because it implies that you want the status quo to change and move forward.

Liberalism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[upone]

The people associated with a word or symbol tend to give it a bad connotation.

That's funny. If that were the case "conservative" would be a descriptive adjective for "closeted homosexual bigot".

 

[tamati]

I prefer to use the term compassionate.
"empathy and sympathy (for the suffering of others) are regarded as a part of love itself, and a cornerstone of greater social interconnection and humanism — foundational to the highest principles in philosophy, society, and personhood."


contrasted by the other side of the isle, where i prefer to use, Dogmatic.
" authoritative and not to be disputed, doubted, or diverged from, by the practitioners or believers. "

 

[B_Jingoist]

That's funny. If that were the case "conservative" would be a descriptive adjective for "closeted homosexual bigot".

To many it is.....

 

[dude_007]

Thanks for sharing. Helps to keep this kind of history in mind.

And also the Republican and Democratic parties kinda flip flopped at the turn of the 20th century, if my memory of history serves me correctly. So, people like Condalessa Rice, who joined the Republican party because Lincoln freed the slaves, use that fact but the Republican party was the party of "progressives" back then. Isn't that right, or am I getting this wrong?

 

[upone]

Thanks for sharing. Helps to keep this kind of history in mind.

And also the Republican and Democratic parties kinda flip flopped at the turn of the 20th century, if my memory of history serves me correctly. So, people like Condalessa Rice, who joined the Republican party because Lincoln freed the slaves, use that fact but the Republican party was the party of "progressives" back then. Isn't that right, or am I getting this wrong?

It's more complicated than that. Between 1910 and 1912 the Republican Party expelled the Theodore Roosevelt faction of progressives, who formed a third party that lasted through 3 election cycles. Most gradually rejoined the Republican Party and became its "liberal" wing which lasted until 1980.

The Democratic Party was a basically conservative party until 1930 to 1932 when the FDR Coalition brought together all progressive groups, and lasted until 1968. In the 1968 election, based on the civil rights legislation of the prior 8 years, two groups left the coalition: Racist Northern whites and the racist Southern power structure, which led to the current near-equal balance. Meanwhile, religious fundamentalists decided to throw in with Republicans. Prior to 1980, interestingly, they had largely voted Democratic.

 

[SR_Dee_Zasther]

It's more complicated than that. Between 1910 and 1912 the Republican Party expelled the Theodore Roosevelt faction of progressives, who formed a third party that lasted through 3 election cycles. Most gradually rejoined the Republican Party and became its "liberal" wing which lasted until 1980.

The Democratic Party was a basically conservative party until 1930 to 1932 when the FDR Coalition brought together all progressive groups, and lasted until 1968. In the 1968 election, based on the civil rights legislation of the prior 8 years, two groups left the coalition: Racist Northern whites and the racist Southern power structure, which led to the current near-equal balance. Meanwhile, religious fundamentalists decided to throw in with Republicans. Prior to 1980, interestingly, they had largely voted Democratic.

Ah yes, the infamous Nixon "Southern Strategy", political code for "Let's court the racist vote!"

 

[zephyr808]

The clip from The West Wing becomes very much like this quote, I printed a copy of it and hung it on my wall:

If your workplace is safe; if your children go to school rather than being forced into labor; if you are paid a living wage, including overtime; if you enjoy a forty-hour week and you are allowed to join a union to protect your rights -- you can thank liberals. If your food is not poisoned and your water is drinkable -- you can thank liberals. If your parents are eligible for Medicare and Social Security, so they can grow old in dignity without bankrupting your family -- you can thank liberals. If our rivers are getting cleaner and our air isn't black with pollution; if our wilderness is protected and our countryside is still green -- you can thank liberals. If people of all races can share the same public facilities; if everyone has the right to vote; if couples fall in love and marry regardless of race; if we have finally begun to transcend a segregated society -- you can thank liberals. Progressive innovations like those and so many others were achieved by long, difficult struggles against entrenched power. What defined conservatism, and conservatives, was their opposition to every one of those advances. The country we know and love today was built by those victories for liberalism -- with the support of the American people.

--Joe Conason

I also remember keeping a newspaper article from the 90s, when Pat Schroeder retired from the House of Representatives, where she said she was "proud to be a liberal". Just a few little reassurances I could turn to to remind me that you don't let the opposition define you, you have to do that for yourself.