Convert a Conservative to Liberalism! Tell us what you like about being a liberal!

Liberal political views seem to be more popular now in America than they have for 50 years, judging by election results. So, here is an honest invitation from a rock-ribbed economic Conservative for liberals in this forum to tell us on the Right what you like about being a liberal, and why you would recommend it to the rest of us!

* Please be constructive and positive! Tell us what you feel the positive aspects of Liberalism are -- not what you hate or disapprove of about Conservative philosophies. Seduce us! Tell us what is GOOD about being a liberal! * Fire away....

 

You get free stuff from the government that other people pay for and when they give it to you you get to complain about those other people that made it possible for you to get the free resources anyway. Call them greedy, racist, call them whatever you want. They pay you for goods undelivered, why shouldn't you deride them?

If you work but aren't productive enough to stay in business, we will force people to shop with you or pay more taxes. If you are a worker we will make them keep paying you or you can sue them for years at the labor relations board. All you have to do is pledge your life to the union and the democrat party.

Now just let us invest your retirement for you and you should be totally dependent on us. Well, once we take over the rest of healthcare. Vote democrat and we can all be welfare recipients except that greedy 1%

If you are a parent of a student we have nothing for you except some indoctrination. But if you are a teacher we will protect you no matter how many of your kids are still illiterate. Your an adult, your job security is more important then educating some brats. Plus we get to mandate that tax money goes to unions who give it back to us for more protections. The cycle of taking from others to pay for our politicians must not be broken.

Come join us on the left where you are free to agree with all new programming we come up with and can never question the results of any policy past.

Plus you get to yell racist slurs at blacks that don't toe the party line. We can call them "Toms" because the school system is so bad most people don't know he was the hero of that story. Everyone who isn't black should be called a racist, or an extremist or a terrorist. Obama does t, the AG, surely you can as well.

 

By definition, conservatism preserves the status quo. Unfortunately much of past human activity is by today's standards....questionable. Racism, fusion of religion and government, personal-morality-based law, social morality engineering, etc. In the old days people tended to conform quite well to societal standards, otherwise you were a pariah. These days we're more open in our acceptance of other lifestyles and opinions and such self-righteous, holier-than-thou social conservatism is nothing but discrimination. As such, social liberalism is truly a great thing: acceptance, of not approval, of almost all lifestyles and opinions; freedom of speech, freedom of religion, political freedom, and equality of all citizens before the law. Truly equal treatment.

Now admittedly, I'm fiscally conservative. It's just my nature, I don't like running up debt. But I'm not economically conservative; economic conservatism is far too presumptuous - it applies the same philosophy of social conservatism to economic policy. They don't trust people enough to make their own decisions about how to run their businesses or how to spend their money, so they impose heavy regulation and state intervention into private businesses to "oversee" the economy, so to speak. We can see that this greatly restricts business opportunities, innovation, and reduces the ability for people to make significant wealth through their own actions.

Economic liberalism is by definition capitalist, and as the past 200 years show, capitalism has worked greater wonders in terms of elevating people from poverty, increasing wealth and encouraging faster technological development than ever before. Turns out, we the people can conduct our affairs in terms of buying and selling things to each other far better than a central government can, which isn't a surprise since we know what we want, but the government doesn't know what each of us wants, so inevitably they make decisions that advantage some but disadvantage others. The people that are afraid of capitalism, of letting people manage their own money and their own economic activity, simply don't have any faith in the ability and influence people have. They presume to have greater knowledge about what all of us should want than we do, which is impossible.

Freedom, in any significant sense, has only arisen since the Magna Carta and specifically in the past 200-300 years. It is something we should not be so willing to give up. Liberalism, as the political philosophy of freedom, is therefore a philosphy I can get fully behind.

 

I'd rather convert you to an independent thinker who doesn't taking in labels and supports things because they seem right rather than because they fit some predefined political philosophy.

 

I'd say that not being an out and out first rate idiot is the main advantage.

 

This is why I like Liberalism :

1. Emphasis on individual liberty and the equal right to it.

2. Emphasis on limited government under a constitution with civil liberties protected, checks, and balances.

3. The idea and the commitment to a society where different people can strongly disagree but live together and thrive through tolerance.

4. Supported Civil rights for blacks, women, gays, and lesbians.

5. Gave us Social Security

6. Gave us Medicare

7. It advocates laws and regulations to protect consumers, the environment, and workers.

8. Gave us Medicaid and other programs to help the poor.

9. It changes methods and outlook based on different circumstances and increased knowledge.

10. Has made and continues to work towards making us a more perfect union.

 

5, 6 and 8 are socialist, not liberal.

You are describing a lukewarm version of social democracy.

 

This poster has expressed an inability to follow directions.

 

I gotta hand it to you.

This must be the most obvious example of Liberal cluelessness as I have ever seen.

Liberalism is a disease.

Why on Earth would someone CHOOSE to be a Liberal?

You can TRY being a Liberal, but if you aren't wired that way from birth you will always feel like the guy wearing the brown suit at a wedding.

You won't fit in.

Hahahaha!

Ahhhh...

Your premise reminds me of the joke about the guy who goes to hell and must choose the room where he'll spend eternity.

The devil shows him a room of fire, where all the souls are in pain and wailing and gnashing their teeth. Oh it was searing hot and unpleasant all around.

Then el Diablo showed him a room that was 100 degrees below zero and desolate. He could see no other souls there so it was going to be a lonely existence. It was a windy, deathly freezing cold which was painful for even the departed.

Finally, the prince of darkness offered the man the opportunity to spend eternity in a room filled with excrement up to the waist. he looked in and saw attractive men and women in various outfits and states of dress, seated at a bar drinking cocktails and smoking joints.

The man immediately opts for the room filled with excrement.

So, he goes in and wades to the bar. It was smelly and distasteful but far more agreeable than spending the remainder of time suffering fire or ice.

He congratulated himself on making the right choice when Beelzebub came on the intercom and announced, "Ok everyone. Break time is over. Back on your heads!

Choosing to be a Liberal is like choosing the crap filled room!

If you were lucky enough to have been hard wired from birth to be a Conservative, AND you were born an America as well?

Shoot, you can't ask for more in life than that!

Pollycy, you might as well try to sell someone on how nice it is to be petty, persistently ignorant, emotionally inclined as opposed to being rationally inclined, impulsive, more likely to be a criminal, shallow, intellectually blindered, approval craving, caught up with appearances rather than substance or function, vengeful, politically short sighted, manipulative... I could go on but I would have to start looking for stuff. The aforemented qualities were from the top of my head.

Why oh why would someone want to be a Liberal?

Ignorance is blissful.

That's the only thing that I can think to recommend it.

It's like zoning out on some good herb, I guess.

That's about all.

The frat parties are better.

Oh, and the girls are easier.

 

He asked for Liberals to reply, not some ultra-right-winger to jump in and use the request as an excuse to spew their inner feelings, just so ya know.

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Ahh another rightie, that is so confused they thought the thread was directed at them.

 

I was having a Barack Obama moment and over-stepped my boundaries, I guess.

 

You can't judge it by election results because too many people are low information voters. They don't really KNOW what liberal political views are and how they might truly affect things. You may thank the media for that.

In fact, my sense is that more people are agreeing with Conservative political views more and more and more. (And I'm not using ANY election results to come to that conclusion)

 

I agree.

Liberalism is a disease caused by fear, which is caused by not realizing that the universe has an intelligent creator.

If I believed that the universe came about "without an intelligent creator":

I'd be scared too.
And then I'd jump to Liberalism too.
And then I'd seem as if I had replaced the real God with the god called big govt.

 

Being a Liberal is just who I am. I can't convince you of it or convert you. Political beliefs are acquired over a lifetime, it isn't like religion where you can just accept your Christian or a Jew or whatever

Being the USA is a centrist country. Being a Liberal means your voice or views don't always get heard. Dems are winning elections not because they are Liberal but because they have found the center.

 

So in other words, you have no idea why you are a liberal, what it means to be a liberal, or how to define liberal policies and ideas in such a manner as to persuade someone to your way of thinking?

 

I know why I believe what I believe, but changing your beliefs to mine is a different kettle of fish. Some beliefs are evidence based some are not. But being a Liberal is not like changing your clothes. I am atheist, do you think I can convince a religious person to give up God? I am pro choice, do you honestly believe I can change the views of someone who sees abortion as murder. Pro choice is not pro abortion, it is just the idea that you have to make the personal choice of what you want to do.

Those are just two examples. I can come up with more, but those are two more black/white or Yes/No issues.

 

I disagree with you and I suspect you are a classical liberal or libertarian. The fact is our means tested welfare state including Medicaid is nothing on the level of social democracy like they have in Western Europe. What I described is modern, center left, liberalism. If would be glad to discuss or debate this with you in another thread.

 

Sorry, but you can't be spoonfed enlightenment. You have to come to the truth yourself.

 

Just because it feels good to stand up to the rich and powerful and let them know we aren't going to just accept the crap they they'll toss at us and we'll damand and fight for more. Rather than being a conservative, taking it up the asss and worshipping your tormentor.

 

The first rate idiots would agree with you but they're in another thread arguing why Obamacare is a good thing.

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Of course not.

You could only convince total morons that the National Monuments were actually open in that infamous thread of yours.



That said... I agree with your attitude in that arguing online thinking you;re going to change someone's mind is a complete waste of time.

 

We can rehash the whole National Mall issue, but the reality was the NPS was allowing the veterans and the immigration groups access to the grounds. Now was the title a bit much, yeah probably, but the story linked explained how the vets were not being turned away or treated badly as
some were saying.

 

What do I like about being Liberal?

1. My politicians don't fake religion to get votes, or cater to the religious right exclusively.

2. My politicians aren't trying to get laws into the bedroom.

3. My politicians care about social welfare.

4. My fellows are willing to call me out if I start generalizing and placing blame with a broad brush.

5. Most of my fellows actually went to college.

6. Some of my fellows actually care about critical thinking skills, and science.

7. I'm confident that the next, up and coming, generation of Liberals are ready to make the tough calls on the moral and ethical decisions that are going to appear in the not too distant future because of where our technology, biology, and science are taking us.

8. And, the answer to #7 isn't going to be let's hide under our beds, same as always, for the next few centuries.

9. I'm confident that the next, up and coming, generation of Liberals are forward thinkers, and they will know how to make a long term plan, and they will know how to wait for it.

10. But, with #9, they won't be so stuck up that they'll pass up a better plan if one comes along.

 

How is that working out?

 

Obama does. Pelosi does.

2. My politicians aren't trying to get laws into the bedroom.

And also have the states with the lowest sentencing for child molesters.

3. My politicians care about social welfare.

Not fixing it, but getting more and more people on it.

4. My fellows are willing to call me out if I start generalizing and placing blame with a broad brush.

Unless we are blaming bush for everything or the free market or "greedy" people or calling half the country racist.

5. Most of my fellows actually went to college.

And majored in sociology.

6. Some of my fellows actually care about critical thinking skills, and science.

But none of them are in the environmental movement and nine of my fellows care about economics.

7. I'm confident that the next, up and coming, generation of Liberals are ready to make the tough calls on the moral and ethical decisions that are going to appear in the not too distant future because of where our technology, biology, and science are taking us.

So the occupy kids will start throwing feces again and complaining on their iPhones about corporations. Like their parents did.

8. And, the answer to #7 isn't going to be let's hide under our beds, same as always, for the next few centuries.

Why not? Isn't that where monsters are supposed to hang out?

9. I'm confident that the next, up and coming, generation of Liberals are forward thinkers, and they will know how to make a long term plan, and they will know how to wait for it.

Long term social spending plans.. This the same generation you are saddling with 20 trillion in debt and massive entitlement expenses?


10. But, with #9, they won't be so stuck up that they'll pass up a better plan if one comes along.

Oh great, so they will be republicans. I was scared there for a minute.

 

College my butt. Most of your fellows were at wal mart the other day filling up 20 shopping carts on their EBT card glitches. Also strikingly missing from your 10 points was any reference to any fiscal responsibility. Freudian Slip perhaps?