On 24/10/2011 12:15 PM, iBoaterer wrote:
In ,
says...
On Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:39:00 -0400, wrote:
I know by their postings that many conservatives here don't have a clue
what true liberalism is about. Harry doesn't have a clue, neither. So,
to clear things up, from Wiki:
Liberalism (from the Latin liberalis, "of freedom")[1] is the belief in
the importance of liberty and equal rights.[2] Liberals espouse a wide
array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but
generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal
democracy, free and fair elections, human rights, capitalism, and
freedom of religion.[3][4][5][6][7] These ideas are widely accepted,
even by political groups that do not openly profess a liberal
ideological orientation. Liberalism encompasses several intellectual
trends and traditions, but the dominant variants are classical
liberalism, which became popular in the eighteenth century, and social
liberalism, which became popular in the twentieth century.
In the 20th century "liberalism" has become everything but freedom.
For that you need to be libertarian.
"Liberals" want to tell you what kind of car to drive, (preferably
none at all), what to set your thermostat to, whether you wear a
helmet or not, who can have a gun, who gets to spend your money, which
wars we need to get into and what speech is acceptable, particularly
religious speech. I understand conservatives may be worse on many
freedom related things (sex, drugs and Rock&roll) but they don't call
themselves "liberal".
I agree, not many today know what the true meaning of liberalism is. I
am a little left of center. I don't want more and bigger government, and
I don't want them dictating what I drive, up to a point. I don't think
we should be able to pollute the environment and put our heads in the
sand like it will do no harm, for one.
In the liberty sense, I too would be a liberal. But liberal or
libertarian are two different things. Todays people that call them
selves "liberals" or "liberal-socialists" are not much about integrity,
freedom, personal liberty or any of that. For example personal liberty
also comes with personal responsibility. I don't see todays liberals
taking any responsibility at all. Just whine, envy and greed of others.
--
Eat the rich, screw the companies and wonder why there are no jobs. But
we have big huge government we can't afford...
-- Obama and the lefty fleabagger attitude