Hey guys, Check out this email a buddy sent me.
yeshua
I used to sit on the fence politically. But thanks to one administration, I hopped off. It was a long drop down.
Liberal. It's not a dirty word anymore... by Rob Agnew
I just wanted to clear up some common fallacies about Liberals to my many Conservative friends. Fallacy- an error in reasoning. However, in some cases, attacks on Liberals are not just fallacies. They are pure intentional distortion of the truth or inaccurate claims. I welcome any response to this thought collection.
Liberal vs Conservative
Being a liberal is promoting maximum individual freedom as well as being open minded and tolerant. A liberal is not afraid to explore and implement new and different ideas even those that may seem strange and unacceptable to the majority. Liberals may have just as strong personal, religious and patriotic feeling as conservatives. We do not all agree on everything. Freedom -that so many have died for -is something that our forefathers endeared, and that is intensely important to Liberals if I may speak for them all. We remember that this great land was sculpted by immigrants and slaves, their children and grandchildren.
Conversely, a conservative is disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change. (taken from dictionary .com)
Just a few of the common misconceptions caused by Conservative news companies such as Fox and emails that are quickly forwarded all over the country and resurface again and again even years later, are that all Liberals believe that marriage is not important, that Liberals are anti-business, that Liberals favor government assistance to anyone who wants it, that liberals are communists, that Liberals want tax increases, liberals like to spend and run up the national debt, that Liberals hate the military, that Liberals want peace at any cost and will appease anyone before going to war, believe in second chances for convicts, that all Liberals hate religion, that Liberals are more concerned with world perception than with self preservation, and that Liberals promote abortion so that we can use the babies for stem cell research.
Craziness. These messages come from fear. Most conservatives are just simply scared of change and understandably so. Human self preservation mechanisms built into our psyche limit us from exploring unknown areas. The same fear that makes you hate your neighbor for getting help with his mortgage is the same fear that makes you think that gay people are out to get you.
For people who have worked their asses off their whole lives and were financially responsible, it is daunting to think that the irresponsible guy next door is going to get your tax money or that a gay couple that has been together for 10 years might get the health benefits from their partner's job like a married couple who beat each other and divorce after two years might get. Why should you pay for someone who screwed up on their house payments? And why does Obama want to reward the lazy who won't get a job while you have worked so hard?
These questions are really insignificant within the big picture. $80 BILLION just went to AIG three months ago and it is GONE. They intend to ask for more. We are spending about $1600.00 a second to support this war. Helping a guy get a lower interest rate compared to government spending in the last 8 years is like throwing a penny in the Grand Canyon. Bush ordered 28 $400,000,000.00 helicopters with kitchens from over seas. They couldn't even give the contract to the American company who had it for the last 30 years. McCain tried to embarrass Obama about accepting them, but it back fired on him and once again made him look grumpy. Obama pulled some laughs from the crowd about never having a helicopter when he was growing up, but there is no doubt that he will try to send these things back though they may have already been produced.
During the great depression, the upper class became such hated targets of the vast numbers of poor that the majority of the country supported gangsters such as Dillinger, Machine Gun Kelley, Bonnie and Clyde, etc. The last thing we want is a class war in our country and if we have learned anything from the Great Depression, it is that if things get worse for Johnny low class, things are going to keep getting worse for you. And if you can honestly answer "yes" to "Are you better off right now than you were 8 years ago?", I applaud you. If you are not better off, it would be logical to look for change. Some of you like to stay on a sinking ship but I guarantee that you will be better off under Obama than you were under Bush or would have been under McCain. Obama will get things done.
Socialism. For Conservatives who like to send emails about, and throw around the dirty word "Socialist" and "Socialist Liberals", "Socialist policy vs. Capitalism", "Socialized government" I have a question. Could you define Socialism without looking it up?
When your done, explain how we have the military, Medicare and Medicaid, Worker's Compensation, Social Security, the Police, the EPA, the public school system, fire department, Agencies to assist children with disabilities, The GI bill, state and Federal Highway system, the FDA, Child Immunization, Libraries, Public Utilities Commission, the Federal Reserve Bank, Unemployment Compensation, the Board of Health, and hundreds and hundreds of other systems that are incorporated into our system of government. Now tell me which one you would do away with and why. They are all forms of classic socialism. Most Liberals in our country would certainly not advocate pure Marxism or Communism, but just know that a purely capitalistic society would not be optimal. Without common ownership, there would be no United States. Each state would have remained it's own country.
Political E-mails- We all love all of the political emails.The funnier the better. I take most of them with a grain of salt anyway. However, the Ad Hominem attacks make me think and research. I research most things to some degree before I believe any email that passes through. I would like to think that most people do before they take it seriously. Regretfully, most just believe whatever they read in an email just because it fits into their current belief system. Many conservatives probably even believe that the Times really didn't know that turning Obama's bill into a monkey cartoon would not be considered racist. I guess they didn't learn from Howard Cosell's monkey comment 30 years ago. I am ashamed that still today, our own president is subjected to racist cartoons in major periodicals almost monthly. Just so you know Mamie, burnt charcoal and water makes the best blackface.
During a recent dispute about the Oliver North trial I cited Snopes.com. A Conservative friend informed me in so many words, that he researches political material as well and then told me that Snopes.com, a debunking tool, was a liberal web site with a liberal agenda. Although I may not subscribe to that idea, I am opened minded enough to consider the possibility and not to depend solely upon it's content. However, it is used by CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC. I can provide the references. My friend did provide another web site for research that is really pretty cool. Check it out. http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20081017/index.htm
Liberal and Conservative -Neither of these definitions are bad until you start moving the boundaries of the definition and exaggerating the meanings. Both have weakness that can be exposed. Unfortunately, power is innately evil and you will find scandal and immoral behavior on both sides of the fence. You will also find people who fight for truth, fairness and American values, however one may define them.
The problem that I have with the corrupt Conservatives is that they run on platforms and profess to champion Family Values. Then what happens. This...
Out of the Closet and into the Stall
Wouldn't it be weird if a Republican Senator from a conservative state pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct, after having been arrested for lewd conduct, i.e. allegedly propositioning an undercover officer in an airport bathroom? And wouldn't it be even weirder if he resigned his Senate seat, then unresigned. And if numerous men kept saying they'd had sex with him? Wouldn't that be weird?
The Jesus and Meth Chain
As President of the National Association of Evangelicals, Ted Haggard used to have weekly teleconferences with the man he helped elect in 2004, George W. Bush. The two discussed areas of mutual interest, such as the wonderfulness of Jesus and how to char-grill sodomites properly. These tete-a-tetes ended in 2006, when the lizardy pastor confessed to "sexual immorality." What he actually meant was, "going on crystal meth binges and cornholing my male prostitute/supplier." At last count, Haggard had received counseling and was no longer gay.
"Get a Ruler and Measure It For Me"
Those are the exact words of an instant message sent by Mark Foley (R-Florida) to a sixteen-year-old male congressional page. Foley also sent these messages:
how my favorite young stud doing
good so your getting horny
did you spank it this weekend yourself
well I have a totally stiff wood now
we may need to drink at my house so we dont get busted
Do I make you a little horny?
Here's something else kind of shady about Foley: As chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, he introduced legislation targeting online sexual predators. As he explained to an NPR interviewer in 2002, "Where I have to draw the line is using children for the excitement of those more mature people who should know the difference and know better." Right. The touching thing about the Foley scandal wasn't just that he was a skeeve, but that the entire House Leadership knew he was a skeeve and covered his ass for more than a year. That, my friends, is party unity.
If You Can't Beat Them...Lick a stripper
Congressman Bob Barr of Georgia is a terrific example of just how much Republicans respect the institution of marriage. Barr doesn't just respect marriage. He defends marriage. That's why he introduced the Defense of Marriage Act: to protect marriage from homosexuals who seek to destroy it by, um, getting married. "The flames of hedonism," he warned, "the flames of narcissism, the flames of self-centered morality are licking at the very foundation of our society, the family unit." Trust Barr on the licking thing. He's an expert. He was photographed licking whipped cream off strippers at his inaugural party. His current wife was no doubt upset. But probably not as upset as his first two wives, to whom he failed to pay child support. (To his credit, Barr did pay for his second wife's abortion, though she still suspects he was cheating on her.)
There are several of these examples. And at the same time, Conservatives will knock Bill Clinton for his sex scandal while virtually ignoring other Republican corruption that has far greater damage and may involve no consensual situations.
In my own definition, Liberals just believe that core values are of a personal nature and that each individual must decide for themselves, while respecting the belief and the rights of others. It is frustrating however, that most Americans are just uninformed.
What makes America better than any other country, is that our forefather's had insight into the problems that had occurred within the English government. We have the right to believe what we want without backlash from our government. I may hate the fact that someone is burning a flag because of how much respect I have for it, but I realize that what the flag stands for is what is most important. The idea is the big deal, not a series of threaded cotton and polyester fibers. The right to demonstrate, protest, endorse, speak freely and to make your point without harming others and without fear of persecution. Without this, women would not vote and civil rights would not exist.
In my country you can express your view simply because of our Freedom and our Rights provided in the Constitution. You have the right to hate the country that gives you the right to say so. I take my hat off when the Anthem plays. I get teary eyed before a game as I watch the flag. It's important to me. But if flag burning is what your all about, more power to you. I will cross to the other side of the road when passing but that's your gig. It is not for me to make everyone think the same as I do. Diversity is what makes a nation or an organization strong and most of the time the diversity is positve. The price is having to put up with some radical behavior. Radical behavior similiar to the religious Right radicals who protest at funerals chanting that the dead son or daughter is going to hell because of some ideological difference. I would love to let lions eat these people.
I also realized that things that are taboo in one location or one time period are acceptable in others. Our current traditions in relation the American Flag has not always been the prevailing traditions. The song "It's a grand old flag" was originally called "Grand Old Rag" and our flag was commonly referred to as a rag. Civil war soldiers were particularly proud of a flag that had been through battle, was ripped and tattered.
This whole idea puts a damper on the traditional treatments that we have currently with our Flag. It still makes me ill to see a flag tattered and still flying because of what I was taught when I was young and I often think of visiting it during the night in order to take it down, but I know that what the flag stands for, the idea that it stands for is what people died for. I choose to respect it. My eyes still water during the Anthem at a ball game.
The forementioned Liberal thought process about the flag subscribes to promoting new ideas and new perspectives. Where as many Conservatives believe that their own particular belief (usually how they were raised, where they were raised, or what they were taught at a young age) is the only right belief and everything else is wrong. It seems to me that most Conservatives rarely stray from whatever it is they had come to believe by the time they were a young adult, and thus preserving existing conditions and valuing tradition. I respect that. It's just not my thought process and i don't believe it allows room for intellectual growth.
Liberalism vs stupidity
Let me be clear and differentiate between liberalism and stupidity since most all Conservatives have managed to equate the two.
A couple of examples (there are many, but I will give two that are viewed as Liberal Policy):
1. Keeping the borders open and allowing illegal immigrants in while letting drug dealers, criminals, and potential terrorists enter freely is stupidity (in my opinion), NOT liberalism! NOT liberalism as is defined above. Though many liberal friends will disagree with me on this point.
The Conservative Bush administration is also responsible for this influx more so than any Democrat. The US and Mexican governments over the past 10 administrations have actively enticed illegal immigrants to enter this country and to work illegally for profit-hungry U.S. employers. Poverty-stricken immigrants , who are often desperate to house and feed their families, respond to the financial enticements...and then are blamed by U.S. citizenry for illegally being in the US and depleting our resources. It's OUR policy. WE are responsible for our border policies not the immigrants. Don't blame the illegals, blame our government. And ask yourself, if YOU were a citizen of Mexico, would you not consider crossing the border for your family, (despite leaving everything you know and risking life threatening danger), if you lived under the given circumstances? According to the World Bank, 53% of Mexico's population of 104 million residents live in poverty, which is defined as living on less than $2 a day.
Close to 24% of Mexico's population live in extreme poverty, which means they live on less than $1 a day. The bottom 40% of Mexican households share less than 11% of the country's wealth. Millions live in extreme poverty,and children are compelled to work on the streets in order to help provide food for their families.
Unemployment in Mexico is realistically estimated near 40%, and there are no government unemployment benefits. There are also virtually no welfare benefits to provide the basics for poverty-stricken, often-starving women, children and families. Again, who can realistically blame the immigrants? I would say no one who went to the grocery this week to buy food for their family and came home to their cable television. Our government just needs to stop the enticement and provide assistance to our neighbor as we have been.
Bear-Stearns investment firm analysts claim that the US illegal immigrant population "may be as high as 20 million people."now. Time Magazine stated in 2004 that illegal immigration accelerated under the Bush Administration, with the US gaining 3 million additional illegal immigrant residents in 2004. After more than 100 years in existence, President Bush dissolved the US Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS)in March 2003 and absorbed it into the new Homeland Security Department, along with FEMA and dozens of other federal agencies.
The massive US intelligence agencies overhaul passed by Congress and signed by President Bush in January 2005 required Homeland Security to hire 10,000 more Border Patrol agents, 2,000 per year starting immediately. The Border Patrol currently employs 9,500 agents who patrol 8,000 miles of border.
But the Bush Administration ignored the law mandating the hiring of new agents. Said Congressman John Culberson (R-TX) to CNN's Lou Dobbs, "Unfortunately, the White House ignored the law, and only asked us for 200 more agents. That's unacceptable." Culberson was referring to the federal budget for 2006 in which President Bush provided funds for only 210 new agents, not 2,000 additional agents.
Both houses of Congress worked together twice in 2005 to bypass the White House, and hire 1,500 new Border Patrol agents......500 shy of that required by law, but far surpassing the mere 210 planned by President Bush.
The US-Mexico border remains significantly under-patrolled. On October 7, 2005, 80 members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to President Bush, calling on him to enforce immigration laws, and deferring consideration of the White House's proposed guest-worker immigration program. "History has shown that enforcement provisions are ignored and underfunded..." said the Congressional letter.
Meanwhile, Congressman Culberson told CNN's Lou Dobbs on October 7, 2005, "We've got a full-scale war going on our southern border. You don't need to go to Iraq to see a war. We've got widespread lawlessness...We need boots on the ground...ASAP."
I guess we needed to cut back in order to pay for the war in Iraq.
2. Refusing to drill for oil and rid ourselves of Middle Eastern dependence is stupidity. NOT Liberalism as defined. However, if conservatives would look below the surface ($$$), they would see the problems with our long term dependence despite where we are getting it. I just know that the Arabs have there thumbs on us and we have done almost nothing to rid ourselves of this dependence. If it was a 1960's space race with Russia, and had an agency such as NASA to solve the problem that was funded, and had no Big Oil conglomerates scratching the backs of our politicians, we wouldn't be in this position and neither would our kids.
Liberalism vs. Conservatism
This is sometimes defined by Democrats vs. Republicans. It is generally true that each party is defined as such but there are many different factions of each party. The Democratic party was founded by Thomas Jefferson who's Liberal ideas helped shape early government and policy vs. the elitists. We also claim FDR. It was founded as the party of the common man.
Let's take a look closer at our most recent Conservatism and the last eight years vs. Liberalism. Here contains some Conservative attributes.
Military. Jimmy Carter, Mike Dukakis, Walter Mondale, Al Gore, John Kerry. Many fence sitters such as myself were against or voted against all of them. I don't regret it. Well, I do regret now not voting for Gore or Kerry, not because I liked them but because I had no idea that I was voting on one of the worst presidents since Warren Harding ( who also appointed all of his incompetent crooked buddies to cabinet positions) and the sad thing is, I didn't learn the first time. I am ashamed of that.
Many Liberals believe in a strong well funded military. Many Democratic leaders unfortunately, don't subscribe. I was always one who was able to see what Carter and Clinton did to decimate our military and never agreed with it. This is the main reason why I voted Republican. The young men who serve our country are our best and they are the life blood of our country. It took WWII for us to become a strong military power and up until then, we had little threat to us as a nation and were basically isolationists. Churchill all but gave up on us as Hitler bombed the snot out of Britain. But once you become a power, you become rsponsible to help others as we did against Germany and Japan. It is also critical to our survival in this violent time to maintain strong military power because we are such a consumer of raw materials and products in order to maintain our way of life. That also makes us a target. That belief that a strong military is important is not limited to Conservatives believe it or not. Remember that Truman was Democrat, and you know what he did? However, even under the Clinton administration, we were twice the military power the next strongest power on the planet (still Russia). Clinton's main objective was maintaining current levels of funding (without additional funding) while reduce our deficit that the Republicans had run up so high. In addition, since the demise of the USSR, military cuts and base closures have been going on despite which party is in power. But as of late, I concede that it has been refreshing to the military to have Republican leadership.
Big Oil. As a Liberal, I will never support Americans losing out in the name of a cyclical "Environmental warming" or protecting 1% of a 4300 square mile wild life area or sea floor when the oil is drilled for with minimal disturbance. But if you look deep, you will see big oil business at work and this disgusts me.
Republicans have always loved to support big oil in the name of Capitalism and "trickle down economics". Exxons $40.6 billion profit in 2007 is roughly equal to $77,245 per minute in 2007thats more money generated per minute than 70 percent of Americans earned all year, according to the Census Bureau. How much of that goes to CEO's and how much goes to producing oil refineries as a reinvestment?
Republicans say that regulations just hurt the rights of companies to make a profit and the oil companies have several years of poor profits that off set the high profits. I ask you, how many billions are a bad year? When is too much too much, when all Americans are addicted and dependent upon a commodity in order to go to work?
The WAR. Over the past 8 years, many Independents such as myself, shifted their dislike of Nancy Pelosi, Michael Moore, and Al Franken to hate of George Bush for being an idiot in most aspects of his job, for scores of reasons but primarily starting an incredibly expensive occupation of a country with little to no plan before it's execution and for lying about the reason for the war to include rewarding Italy with military contracts for forging WMD documentation. George Bush told the entire country and all of his military personnel, that Saddam Hussein was the most dangerous man in the world, that he had weapons of mass destruction and that he aided Osama Bin laden and al Qaeda in the attack on New York and Pennsylvania. Liberal Democrats rallied and trusted the Bush Administration and supported the invasion based on the information that they were given by GW, despite the fact that we would have to scale back our efforts in Afghanistan and our search for Obama Bin laden. I could have accepted that we were going in to stop tyranny and genocide, but then again, we do nothing in any other part of the world to stop genocide. This war is not only expensive for the loss of American life in which our soldiers did not even have proper armor or equipment, but to a lesser degree for the devastation that the financial expense put upon our economy. The cost of the war is now somewhere around $600,000,000,000.00 and increases roughly about $100,000.00 every thirty seconds. Check out the up to date running total at this link
http://www.nationalpriorities.org/costofwar_home .
Conservatives, as you support the McCain agenda of escalation, please don't cry to me about helping your fellow Americans with their mortgages because they have fallen on hard times just because you were fortunate enough and blessed with the ability to make all of your payments on time. Be proud of yourselves because you worked hard to do that, but why wish harm on your fellow American because you don't want to reward his or her financial incompetence? Many of these people have been laid off or fallen on hard times after a lifetime of good credit. You feel that we have to teach people responsibility and show them the consequences, and to be like the responsible person that you are. Do you not realize that if a house forecloses on your street, it hurts the value of your home. Do you not understand that one person going down or losing a job creates a domino effect that eventually impacts EVERYONE?
The WAR. Desert Storm had two years of planning, Desert Shield was less than two months in the making before the invasion. The personal vendetta from George Bush against Saddam, and his hairy sons was evident. He needed to finish the job that Daddy didn't in order to prove his self worth.
In addition to George, I have shifted my hate of liberals to my hate for Rumsfeld and for Dick Cheney for being as evil as Charles Montgomery Burns and a war criminals for the slick and underhanded deceitful crap they pulled to start a war that they had been itching for, for 20 years and for policy on the death and torturing of countless dirt farmers who just happened to be guilty of being a male between the age of 18 and 32 and wrap a cloth on their heads. These hundreds and hundreds of young men were the bread winners for their families which consisted a family structure in the home of aunts, uncles, mothers fathers children and grandparents who all suffered because of American occupation and the rounding up of non militants. Prison without a trial was their common destination and torture and sexual exploitation was just an added plus for some. Can Conservatives please stop implying that every Iraqi citizen is a terrorist?
Countless Pentagon workers, military personnel have now come forward (see the documentary "No End in Sight") after the administration change to confess the pressures that were put upon them in order... to get the invasion going, to cover up information, to release information that was violation of National Security laws in order to discredit critics (Valerie Plame), to water board torture people which is against Geneva Convention (that America agreed to and to which Americans hold up as a standard that we would like our prisoner's to be afforded), torturing people who had done nothing and for the knowledge that went all the way up the ladder at Abu Grab but was blamed on the privates and Sgt.s (see the documentary "Taxi to the Dark Side') Cheney was investigated by the FBI for treason as head of Haliburton for secret deals with Libya and Iran, both terrorist enemies of the United States of America while those nations were under US sanctions for direct involvement in the deaths of US military personnel and civilians. Put profit over patriotic duty to his country. There were no less than 20 scandals involved with Halliburton and US policy and National Security.
I understand that most Conservatives believe that there are necessary evils that must take place in order for us to advance as a Nation and in order for us to protect ourselves. But people who were involved first hand in these activities are coming out of the woodwork to say that it was wrong. Aren't we supposed to be the good guys. Are we no better than the terrorists that we are fighting? And don't say that Liberals are ashamed of our country, that is the farthest thing from the truth. We are ashamed of our leadership. They made horrible decisions and much of it is just now starting to come out. Historical discussion on Watergate will pale in shadows of this past corruption.
According to British newspaper "The Guardian", America's most senior general was "hoodwinked" by top Bush administration officials determined to push through aggressive interrogation techniques of terror suspects held at Guantnamo Bay, leading to the US military abandoning its age-old ban on the cruel and inhumane treatment of prisoners.
General Richard Myers, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff from 2001 to 2005, wrongly believed that inmates at Guantnamo and other prisons were protected by the Geneva conventions and from abuse tantamount to torture.
The way he was duped by senior officials in Washington, who believed the Geneva conventions and other traditional safeguards were out of date, is disclosed in a devastating account of their role, extracts of which appear in today's Guardian.
In his new book, Torture Team, Philippe Sands QC, professor of law at University College London, reveals that: Senior Bush administration figures pushed through previously outlawed measures with the aid of inexperienced military officials at Guantnamo.
Myers believes he was a victim of "intrigue" by top lawyers at the department of justice, the office of vice-president Dick Cheney, and at Donald Rumsfeld's defence department.
The Guantnamo lawyers charged with devising interrogation techniques were inspired by the exploits of Jack Bauer in the American TV series 24.
Myers wrongly believed interrogation techniques had been taken from the army's field manual.
The lawyers, all political appointees, who pushed through the interrogation techniques were Alberto Gonzales, David Addington and William Haynes. Also involved were Doug Feith, Rumsfeld's under-secretary for policy, and Jay Bybee and John Yoo, two assistant attorney generals.
By the way, Liberals are equally patriotic for love of Country despite the claim to the contrary by Conservatives. We want to stop the occupation of Iraq ( not because we are hippy protesters or because we are week on terrorism) but so that American kids quit getting killed in the name of war profiteering. We see through the pro war propaganda such as fighting them in their back yard (all while Afganistan is loading with al Qaeda).
In Summary. Liberals want change so that our children have a better future. The Liberals that I know actually read and research rather than just believe whatever they get in an email. Most liberals that I know are more educated on the current and historical issues than anyone else I know. And have read the the Declaration of Independence and parts of the Constitution with it's ammendments. Some liberals I know have read the entire Bible. I don't even know many Conservatives that have. The liberals that I now do not agree on everything, but all appreciate the tremendous sacrifice that the American soldier has given for our freedoms and want to protect those freedoms. They also appreciate the fact that America has prospered because we have assilimilated into one (E Pluribus Unim) from many origins, religions, philosohies, backgrounds, financial classes, education and political views. We are all American.
Well. That's all I have to say about that.
yeshua
I used to sit on the fence politically. But thanks to one administration, I hopped off. It was a long drop down.
Liberal. It's not a dirty word anymore... by Rob Agnew
I just wanted to clear up some common fallacies about Liberals to my many Conservative friends. Fallacy- an error in reasoning. However, in some cases, attacks on Liberals are not just fallacies. They are pure intentional distortion of the truth or inaccurate claims. I welcome any response to this thought collection.
Liberal vs Conservative
Being a liberal is promoting maximum individual freedom as well as being open minded and tolerant. A liberal is not afraid to explore and implement new and different ideas even those that may seem strange and unacceptable to the majority. Liberals may have just as strong personal, religious and patriotic feeling as conservatives. We do not all agree on everything. Freedom -that so many have died for -is something that our forefathers endeared, and that is intensely important to Liberals if I may speak for them all. We remember that this great land was sculpted by immigrants and slaves, their children and grandchildren.
Conversely, a conservative is disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change. (taken from dictionary .com)
Just a few of the common misconceptions caused by Conservative news companies such as Fox and emails that are quickly forwarded all over the country and resurface again and again even years later, are that all Liberals believe that marriage is not important, that Liberals are anti-business, that Liberals favor government assistance to anyone who wants it, that liberals are communists, that Liberals want tax increases, liberals like to spend and run up the national debt, that Liberals hate the military, that Liberals want peace at any cost and will appease anyone before going to war, believe in second chances for convicts, that all Liberals hate religion, that Liberals are more concerned with world perception than with self preservation, and that Liberals promote abortion so that we can use the babies for stem cell research.
Craziness. These messages come from fear. Most conservatives are just simply scared of change and understandably so. Human self preservation mechanisms built into our psyche limit us from exploring unknown areas. The same fear that makes you hate your neighbor for getting help with his mortgage is the same fear that makes you think that gay people are out to get you.
For people who have worked their asses off their whole lives and were financially responsible, it is daunting to think that the irresponsible guy next door is going to get your tax money or that a gay couple that has been together for 10 years might get the health benefits from their partner's job like a married couple who beat each other and divorce after two years might get. Why should you pay for someone who screwed up on their house payments? And why does Obama want to reward the lazy who won't get a job while you have worked so hard?
These questions are really insignificant within the big picture. $80 BILLION just went to AIG three months ago and it is GONE. They intend to ask for more. We are spending about $1600.00 a second to support this war. Helping a guy get a lower interest rate compared to government spending in the last 8 years is like throwing a penny in the Grand Canyon. Bush ordered 28 $400,000,000.00 helicopters with kitchens from over seas. They couldn't even give the contract to the American company who had it for the last 30 years. McCain tried to embarrass Obama about accepting them, but it back fired on him and once again made him look grumpy. Obama pulled some laughs from the crowd about never having a helicopter when he was growing up, but there is no doubt that he will try to send these things back though they may have already been produced.
During the great depression, the upper class became such hated targets of the vast numbers of poor that the majority of the country supported gangsters such as Dillinger, Machine Gun Kelley, Bonnie and Clyde, etc. The last thing we want is a class war in our country and if we have learned anything from the Great Depression, it is that if things get worse for Johnny low class, things are going to keep getting worse for you. And if you can honestly answer "yes" to "Are you better off right now than you were 8 years ago?", I applaud you. If you are not better off, it would be logical to look for change. Some of you like to stay on a sinking ship but I guarantee that you will be better off under Obama than you were under Bush or would have been under McCain. Obama will get things done.
Socialism. For Conservatives who like to send emails about, and throw around the dirty word "Socialist" and "Socialist Liberals", "Socialist policy vs. Capitalism", "Socialized government" I have a question. Could you define Socialism without looking it up?
When your done, explain how we have the military, Medicare and Medicaid, Worker's Compensation, Social Security, the Police, the EPA, the public school system, fire department, Agencies to assist children with disabilities, The GI bill, state and Federal Highway system, the FDA, Child Immunization, Libraries, Public Utilities Commission, the Federal Reserve Bank, Unemployment Compensation, the Board of Health, and hundreds and hundreds of other systems that are incorporated into our system of government. Now tell me which one you would do away with and why. They are all forms of classic socialism. Most Liberals in our country would certainly not advocate pure Marxism or Communism, but just know that a purely capitalistic society would not be optimal. Without common ownership, there would be no United States. Each state would have remained it's own country.
Political E-mails- We all love all of the political emails.The funnier the better. I take most of them with a grain of salt anyway. However, the Ad Hominem attacks make me think and research. I research most things to some degree before I believe any email that passes through. I would like to think that most people do before they take it seriously. Regretfully, most just believe whatever they read in an email just because it fits into their current belief system. Many conservatives probably even believe that the Times really didn't know that turning Obama's bill into a monkey cartoon would not be considered racist. I guess they didn't learn from Howard Cosell's monkey comment 30 years ago. I am ashamed that still today, our own president is subjected to racist cartoons in major periodicals almost monthly. Just so you know Mamie, burnt charcoal and water makes the best blackface.
During a recent dispute about the Oliver North trial I cited Snopes.com. A Conservative friend informed me in so many words, that he researches political material as well and then told me that Snopes.com, a debunking tool, was a liberal web site with a liberal agenda. Although I may not subscribe to that idea, I am opened minded enough to consider the possibility and not to depend solely upon it's content. However, it is used by CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC. I can provide the references. My friend did provide another web site for research that is really pretty cool. Check it out. http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20081017/index.htm
Liberal and Conservative -Neither of these definitions are bad until you start moving the boundaries of the definition and exaggerating the meanings. Both have weakness that can be exposed. Unfortunately, power is innately evil and you will find scandal and immoral behavior on both sides of the fence. You will also find people who fight for truth, fairness and American values, however one may define them.
The problem that I have with the corrupt Conservatives is that they run on platforms and profess to champion Family Values. Then what happens. This...
Out of the Closet and into the Stall
Wouldn't it be weird if a Republican Senator from a conservative state pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct, after having been arrested for lewd conduct, i.e. allegedly propositioning an undercover officer in an airport bathroom? And wouldn't it be even weirder if he resigned his Senate seat, then unresigned. And if numerous men kept saying they'd had sex with him? Wouldn't that be weird?
The Jesus and Meth Chain
As President of the National Association of Evangelicals, Ted Haggard used to have weekly teleconferences with the man he helped elect in 2004, George W. Bush. The two discussed areas of mutual interest, such as the wonderfulness of Jesus and how to char-grill sodomites properly. These tete-a-tetes ended in 2006, when the lizardy pastor confessed to "sexual immorality." What he actually meant was, "going on crystal meth binges and cornholing my male prostitute/supplier." At last count, Haggard had received counseling and was no longer gay.
"Get a Ruler and Measure It For Me"
Those are the exact words of an instant message sent by Mark Foley (R-Florida) to a sixteen-year-old male congressional page. Foley also sent these messages:
how my favorite young stud doing
good so your getting horny
did you spank it this weekend yourself
well I have a totally stiff wood now
we may need to drink at my house so we dont get busted
Do I make you a little horny?
Here's something else kind of shady about Foley: As chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, he introduced legislation targeting online sexual predators. As he explained to an NPR interviewer in 2002, "Where I have to draw the line is using children for the excitement of those more mature people who should know the difference and know better." Right. The touching thing about the Foley scandal wasn't just that he was a skeeve, but that the entire House Leadership knew he was a skeeve and covered his ass for more than a year. That, my friends, is party unity.
If You Can't Beat Them...Lick a stripper
Congressman Bob Barr of Georgia is a terrific example of just how much Republicans respect the institution of marriage. Barr doesn't just respect marriage. He defends marriage. That's why he introduced the Defense of Marriage Act: to protect marriage from homosexuals who seek to destroy it by, um, getting married. "The flames of hedonism," he warned, "the flames of narcissism, the flames of self-centered morality are licking at the very foundation of our society, the family unit." Trust Barr on the licking thing. He's an expert. He was photographed licking whipped cream off strippers at his inaugural party. His current wife was no doubt upset. But probably not as upset as his first two wives, to whom he failed to pay child support. (To his credit, Barr did pay for his second wife's abortion, though she still suspects he was cheating on her.)
There are several of these examples. And at the same time, Conservatives will knock Bill Clinton for his sex scandal while virtually ignoring other Republican corruption that has far greater damage and may involve no consensual situations.
In my own definition, Liberals just believe that core values are of a personal nature and that each individual must decide for themselves, while respecting the belief and the rights of others. It is frustrating however, that most Americans are just uninformed.
What makes America better than any other country, is that our forefather's had insight into the problems that had occurred within the English government. We have the right to believe what we want without backlash from our government. I may hate the fact that someone is burning a flag because of how much respect I have for it, but I realize that what the flag stands for is what is most important. The idea is the big deal, not a series of threaded cotton and polyester fibers. The right to demonstrate, protest, endorse, speak freely and to make your point without harming others and without fear of persecution. Without this, women would not vote and civil rights would not exist.
In my country you can express your view simply because of our Freedom and our Rights provided in the Constitution. You have the right to hate the country that gives you the right to say so. I take my hat off when the Anthem plays. I get teary eyed before a game as I watch the flag. It's important to me. But if flag burning is what your all about, more power to you. I will cross to the other side of the road when passing but that's your gig. It is not for me to make everyone think the same as I do. Diversity is what makes a nation or an organization strong and most of the time the diversity is positve. The price is having to put up with some radical behavior. Radical behavior similiar to the religious Right radicals who protest at funerals chanting that the dead son or daughter is going to hell because of some ideological difference. I would love to let lions eat these people.
I also realized that things that are taboo in one location or one time period are acceptable in others. Our current traditions in relation the American Flag has not always been the prevailing traditions. The song "It's a grand old flag" was originally called "Grand Old Rag" and our flag was commonly referred to as a rag. Civil war soldiers were particularly proud of a flag that had been through battle, was ripped and tattered.
This whole idea puts a damper on the traditional treatments that we have currently with our Flag. It still makes me ill to see a flag tattered and still flying because of what I was taught when I was young and I often think of visiting it during the night in order to take it down, but I know that what the flag stands for, the idea that it stands for is what people died for. I choose to respect it. My eyes still water during the Anthem at a ball game.
The forementioned Liberal thought process about the flag subscribes to promoting new ideas and new perspectives. Where as many Conservatives believe that their own particular belief (usually how they were raised, where they were raised, or what they were taught at a young age) is the only right belief and everything else is wrong. It seems to me that most Conservatives rarely stray from whatever it is they had come to believe by the time they were a young adult, and thus preserving existing conditions and valuing tradition. I respect that. It's just not my thought process and i don't believe it allows room for intellectual growth.
Liberalism vs stupidity
Let me be clear and differentiate between liberalism and stupidity since most all Conservatives have managed to equate the two.
A couple of examples (there are many, but I will give two that are viewed as Liberal Policy):
1. Keeping the borders open and allowing illegal immigrants in while letting drug dealers, criminals, and potential terrorists enter freely is stupidity (in my opinion), NOT liberalism! NOT liberalism as is defined above. Though many liberal friends will disagree with me on this point.
The Conservative Bush administration is also responsible for this influx more so than any Democrat. The US and Mexican governments over the past 10 administrations have actively enticed illegal immigrants to enter this country and to work illegally for profit-hungry U.S. employers. Poverty-stricken immigrants , who are often desperate to house and feed their families, respond to the financial enticements...and then are blamed by U.S. citizenry for illegally being in the US and depleting our resources. It's OUR policy. WE are responsible for our border policies not the immigrants. Don't blame the illegals, blame our government. And ask yourself, if YOU were a citizen of Mexico, would you not consider crossing the border for your family, (despite leaving everything you know and risking life threatening danger), if you lived under the given circumstances? According to the World Bank, 53% of Mexico's population of 104 million residents live in poverty, which is defined as living on less than $2 a day.
Close to 24% of Mexico's population live in extreme poverty, which means they live on less than $1 a day. The bottom 40% of Mexican households share less than 11% of the country's wealth. Millions live in extreme poverty,and children are compelled to work on the streets in order to help provide food for their families.
Unemployment in Mexico is realistically estimated near 40%, and there are no government unemployment benefits. There are also virtually no welfare benefits to provide the basics for poverty-stricken, often-starving women, children and families. Again, who can realistically blame the immigrants? I would say no one who went to the grocery this week to buy food for their family and came home to their cable television. Our government just needs to stop the enticement and provide assistance to our neighbor as we have been.
Bear-Stearns investment firm analysts claim that the US illegal immigrant population "may be as high as 20 million people."now. Time Magazine stated in 2004 that illegal immigration accelerated under the Bush Administration, with the US gaining 3 million additional illegal immigrant residents in 2004. After more than 100 years in existence, President Bush dissolved the US Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS)in March 2003 and absorbed it into the new Homeland Security Department, along with FEMA and dozens of other federal agencies.
The massive US intelligence agencies overhaul passed by Congress and signed by President Bush in January 2005 required Homeland Security to hire 10,000 more Border Patrol agents, 2,000 per year starting immediately. The Border Patrol currently employs 9,500 agents who patrol 8,000 miles of border.
But the Bush Administration ignored the law mandating the hiring of new agents. Said Congressman John Culberson (R-TX) to CNN's Lou Dobbs, "Unfortunately, the White House ignored the law, and only asked us for 200 more agents. That's unacceptable." Culberson was referring to the federal budget for 2006 in which President Bush provided funds for only 210 new agents, not 2,000 additional agents.
Both houses of Congress worked together twice in 2005 to bypass the White House, and hire 1,500 new Border Patrol agents......500 shy of that required by law, but far surpassing the mere 210 planned by President Bush.
The US-Mexico border remains significantly under-patrolled. On October 7, 2005, 80 members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to President Bush, calling on him to enforce immigration laws, and deferring consideration of the White House's proposed guest-worker immigration program. "History has shown that enforcement provisions are ignored and underfunded..." said the Congressional letter.
Meanwhile, Congressman Culberson told CNN's Lou Dobbs on October 7, 2005, "We've got a full-scale war going on our southern border. You don't need to go to Iraq to see a war. We've got widespread lawlessness...We need boots on the ground...ASAP."
I guess we needed to cut back in order to pay for the war in Iraq.
2. Refusing to drill for oil and rid ourselves of Middle Eastern dependence is stupidity. NOT Liberalism as defined. However, if conservatives would look below the surface ($$$), they would see the problems with our long term dependence despite where we are getting it. I just know that the Arabs have there thumbs on us and we have done almost nothing to rid ourselves of this dependence. If it was a 1960's space race with Russia, and had an agency such as NASA to solve the problem that was funded, and had no Big Oil conglomerates scratching the backs of our politicians, we wouldn't be in this position and neither would our kids.
Liberalism vs. Conservatism
This is sometimes defined by Democrats vs. Republicans. It is generally true that each party is defined as such but there are many different factions of each party. The Democratic party was founded by Thomas Jefferson who's Liberal ideas helped shape early government and policy vs. the elitists. We also claim FDR. It was founded as the party of the common man.
Let's take a look closer at our most recent Conservatism and the last eight years vs. Liberalism. Here contains some Conservative attributes.
Military. Jimmy Carter, Mike Dukakis, Walter Mondale, Al Gore, John Kerry. Many fence sitters such as myself were against or voted against all of them. I don't regret it. Well, I do regret now not voting for Gore or Kerry, not because I liked them but because I had no idea that I was voting on one of the worst presidents since Warren Harding ( who also appointed all of his incompetent crooked buddies to cabinet positions) and the sad thing is, I didn't learn the first time. I am ashamed of that.
Many Liberals believe in a strong well funded military. Many Democratic leaders unfortunately, don't subscribe. I was always one who was able to see what Carter and Clinton did to decimate our military and never agreed with it. This is the main reason why I voted Republican. The young men who serve our country are our best and they are the life blood of our country. It took WWII for us to become a strong military power and up until then, we had little threat to us as a nation and were basically isolationists. Churchill all but gave up on us as Hitler bombed the snot out of Britain. But once you become a power, you become rsponsible to help others as we did against Germany and Japan. It is also critical to our survival in this violent time to maintain strong military power because we are such a consumer of raw materials and products in order to maintain our way of life. That also makes us a target. That belief that a strong military is important is not limited to Conservatives believe it or not. Remember that Truman was Democrat, and you know what he did? However, even under the Clinton administration, we were twice the military power the next strongest power on the planet (still Russia). Clinton's main objective was maintaining current levels of funding (without additional funding) while reduce our deficit that the Republicans had run up so high. In addition, since the demise of the USSR, military cuts and base closures have been going on despite which party is in power. But as of late, I concede that it has been refreshing to the military to have Republican leadership.
Big Oil. As a Liberal, I will never support Americans losing out in the name of a cyclical "Environmental warming" or protecting 1% of a 4300 square mile wild life area or sea floor when the oil is drilled for with minimal disturbance. But if you look deep, you will see big oil business at work and this disgusts me.
Republicans have always loved to support big oil in the name of Capitalism and "trickle down economics". Exxons $40.6 billion profit in 2007 is roughly equal to $77,245 per minute in 2007thats more money generated per minute than 70 percent of Americans earned all year, according to the Census Bureau. How much of that goes to CEO's and how much goes to producing oil refineries as a reinvestment?
Republicans say that regulations just hurt the rights of companies to make a profit and the oil companies have several years of poor profits that off set the high profits. I ask you, how many billions are a bad year? When is too much too much, when all Americans are addicted and dependent upon a commodity in order to go to work?
The WAR. Over the past 8 years, many Independents such as myself, shifted their dislike of Nancy Pelosi, Michael Moore, and Al Franken to hate of George Bush for being an idiot in most aspects of his job, for scores of reasons but primarily starting an incredibly expensive occupation of a country with little to no plan before it's execution and for lying about the reason for the war to include rewarding Italy with military contracts for forging WMD documentation. George Bush told the entire country and all of his military personnel, that Saddam Hussein was the most dangerous man in the world, that he had weapons of mass destruction and that he aided Osama Bin laden and al Qaeda in the attack on New York and Pennsylvania. Liberal Democrats rallied and trusted the Bush Administration and supported the invasion based on the information that they were given by GW, despite the fact that we would have to scale back our efforts in Afghanistan and our search for Obama Bin laden. I could have accepted that we were going in to stop tyranny and genocide, but then again, we do nothing in any other part of the world to stop genocide. This war is not only expensive for the loss of American life in which our soldiers did not even have proper armor or equipment, but to a lesser degree for the devastation that the financial expense put upon our economy. The cost of the war is now somewhere around $600,000,000,000.00 and increases roughly about $100,000.00 every thirty seconds. Check out the up to date running total at this link
http://www.nationalpriorities.org/costofwar_home .
Conservatives, as you support the McCain agenda of escalation, please don't cry to me about helping your fellow Americans with their mortgages because they have fallen on hard times just because you were fortunate enough and blessed with the ability to make all of your payments on time. Be proud of yourselves because you worked hard to do that, but why wish harm on your fellow American because you don't want to reward his or her financial incompetence? Many of these people have been laid off or fallen on hard times after a lifetime of good credit. You feel that we have to teach people responsibility and show them the consequences, and to be like the responsible person that you are. Do you not realize that if a house forecloses on your street, it hurts the value of your home. Do you not understand that one person going down or losing a job creates a domino effect that eventually impacts EVERYONE?
The WAR. Desert Storm had two years of planning, Desert Shield was less than two months in the making before the invasion. The personal vendetta from George Bush against Saddam, and his hairy sons was evident. He needed to finish the job that Daddy didn't in order to prove his self worth.
In addition to George, I have shifted my hate of liberals to my hate for Rumsfeld and for Dick Cheney for being as evil as Charles Montgomery Burns and a war criminals for the slick and underhanded deceitful crap they pulled to start a war that they had been itching for, for 20 years and for policy on the death and torturing of countless dirt farmers who just happened to be guilty of being a male between the age of 18 and 32 and wrap a cloth on their heads. These hundreds and hundreds of young men were the bread winners for their families which consisted a family structure in the home of aunts, uncles, mothers fathers children and grandparents who all suffered because of American occupation and the rounding up of non militants. Prison without a trial was their common destination and torture and sexual exploitation was just an added plus for some. Can Conservatives please stop implying that every Iraqi citizen is a terrorist?
Countless Pentagon workers, military personnel have now come forward (see the documentary "No End in Sight") after the administration change to confess the pressures that were put upon them in order... to get the invasion going, to cover up information, to release information that was violation of National Security laws in order to discredit critics (Valerie Plame), to water board torture people which is against Geneva Convention (that America agreed to and to which Americans hold up as a standard that we would like our prisoner's to be afforded), torturing people who had done nothing and for the knowledge that went all the way up the ladder at Abu Grab but was blamed on the privates and Sgt.s (see the documentary "Taxi to the Dark Side') Cheney was investigated by the FBI for treason as head of Haliburton for secret deals with Libya and Iran, both terrorist enemies of the United States of America while those nations were under US sanctions for direct involvement in the deaths of US military personnel and civilians. Put profit over patriotic duty to his country. There were no less than 20 scandals involved with Halliburton and US policy and National Security.
I understand that most Conservatives believe that there are necessary evils that must take place in order for us to advance as a Nation and in order for us to protect ourselves. But people who were involved first hand in these activities are coming out of the woodwork to say that it was wrong. Aren't we supposed to be the good guys. Are we no better than the terrorists that we are fighting? And don't say that Liberals are ashamed of our country, that is the farthest thing from the truth. We are ashamed of our leadership. They made horrible decisions and much of it is just now starting to come out. Historical discussion on Watergate will pale in shadows of this past corruption.
According to British newspaper "The Guardian", America's most senior general was "hoodwinked" by top Bush administration officials determined to push through aggressive interrogation techniques of terror suspects held at Guantnamo Bay, leading to the US military abandoning its age-old ban on the cruel and inhumane treatment of prisoners.
General Richard Myers, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff from 2001 to 2005, wrongly believed that inmates at Guantnamo and other prisons were protected by the Geneva conventions and from abuse tantamount to torture.
The way he was duped by senior officials in Washington, who believed the Geneva conventions and other traditional safeguards were out of date, is disclosed in a devastating account of their role, extracts of which appear in today's Guardian.
In his new book, Torture Team, Philippe Sands QC, professor of law at University College London, reveals that: Senior Bush administration figures pushed through previously outlawed measures with the aid of inexperienced military officials at Guantnamo.
Myers believes he was a victim of "intrigue" by top lawyers at the department of justice, the office of vice-president Dick Cheney, and at Donald Rumsfeld's defence department.
The Guantnamo lawyers charged with devising interrogation techniques were inspired by the exploits of Jack Bauer in the American TV series 24.
Myers wrongly believed interrogation techniques had been taken from the army's field manual.
The lawyers, all political appointees, who pushed through the interrogation techniques were Alberto Gonzales, David Addington and William Haynes. Also involved were Doug Feith, Rumsfeld's under-secretary for policy, and Jay Bybee and John Yoo, two assistant attorney generals.
By the way, Liberals are equally patriotic for love of Country despite the claim to the contrary by Conservatives. We want to stop the occupation of Iraq ( not because we are hippy protesters or because we are week on terrorism) but so that American kids quit getting killed in the name of war profiteering. We see through the pro war propaganda such as fighting them in their back yard (all while Afganistan is loading with al Qaeda).
In Summary. Liberals want change so that our children have a better future. The Liberals that I know actually read and research rather than just believe whatever they get in an email. Most liberals that I know are more educated on the current and historical issues than anyone else I know. And have read the the Declaration of Independence and parts of the Constitution with it's ammendments. Some liberals I know have read the entire Bible. I don't even know many Conservatives that have. The liberals that I now do not agree on everything, but all appreciate the tremendous sacrifice that the American soldier has given for our freedoms and want to protect those freedoms. They also appreciate the fact that America has prospered because we have assilimilated into one (E Pluribus Unim) from many origins, religions, philosohies, backgrounds, financial classes, education and political views. We are all American.
Well. That's all I have to say about that.