The Silence of the Liberals

[CID1990]

Money quote:

"The other arresting response to Obamacare’s troubles is a nonresponse​—​the silence of the liberals. Serious liberals are those for whom the primary purpose of politics is to protect personal liberty and advance social equality. Their liberalism has been the motive force of America’s political history​—​which is the saga of extending legal and political rights, social status, and realized liberty to ever-wider groups, and legislating “welfare state” protections against the social and economic vicissitudes of life. They have been eclipsed in recent decades by those who call themselves “progressives”​—​who borrow the language of liberalism but are in practice devoted to enlarging and valorizing government itself rather than the liberty and equality of citizens. Critically, progressives predominate among Democratic party and interest-group activists whose careers consist of acquiring and deploying state power. But serious liberals are still prominent in intellectual and university life and in the party itself; they may be said to be the party’s conscience."

http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/ ... ?nopager=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Chizzang]

Money quote:

"The other arresting response to Obamacare’s troubles is a nonresponse​—​the silence of the liberals. Serious liberals are those for whom the primary purpose of politics is to protect personal liberty and advance social equality. Their liberalism has been the motive force of America’s political history​—​which is the saga of extending legal and political rights, social status, and realized liberty to ever-wider groups, and legislating “welfare state” protections against the social and economic vicissitudes of life. They have been eclipsed in recent decades by those who call themselves “progressives”​—​who borrow the language of liberalism but are in practice devoted to enlarging and valorizing government itself rather than the liberty and equality of citizens. Critically, progressives predominate among Democratic party and interest-group activists whose careers consist of acquiring and deploying state power. But serious liberals are still prominent in intellectual and university life and in the party itself; they may be said to be the party’s conscience."

http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/ ... ?nopager=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Silent for all the same reasons Conservatives are silent about their party being hog-tied and bound by the Religious Right and their desire to return the dark ages...

I have come to distrust the Democratic party as much as I distrust the Republican party
and I can tell you this whole thing is not comfortable for me anymore because I feel like nobody in our entire congress sees this country the same way I do...

I have no voice and no representation

[TheDancinMonarch]

Money quote:

"The other arresting response to Obamacare’s troubles is a nonresponse​—​the silence of the liberals. Serious liberals are those for whom the primary purpose of politics is to protect personal liberty and advance social equality. Their liberalism has been the motive force of America’s political history​—​which is the saga of extending legal and political rights, social status, and realized liberty to ever-wider groups, and legislating “welfare state” protections against the social and economic vicissitudes of life. They have been eclipsed in recent decades by those who call themselves “progressives”​—​who borrow the language of liberalism but are in practice devoted to enlarging and valorizing government itself rather than the liberty and equality of citizens. Critically, progressives predominate among Democratic party and interest-group activists whose careers consist of acquiring and deploying state power. But serious liberals are still prominent in intellectual and university life and in the party itself; they may be said to be the party’s conscience."

http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/ ... ?nopager=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Silent for all the same reasons Conservatives are silent about their party being hog-tied and bound by the Religious Right and their desire to return the dark ages...

I have come to distrust the Democratic party as much as I distrust the Republican party
and I can tell you this whole thing is not comfortable for me anymore because I feel like nobody in our entire congress sees this country the same way I do...

I have no voice and no representation

Welcome to my club. Sadly there are many seats available at our meetings.

[CID1990]

Money quote:

"The other arresting response to Obamacare’s troubles is a nonresponse​—​the silence of the liberals. Serious liberals are those for whom the primary purpose of politics is to protect personal liberty and advance social equality. Their liberalism has been the motive force of America’s political history​—​which is the saga of extending legal and political rights, social status, and realized liberty to ever-wider groups, and legislating “welfare state” protections against the social and economic vicissitudes of life. They have been eclipsed in recent decades by those who call themselves “progressives”​—​who borrow the language of liberalism but are in practice devoted to enlarging and valorizing government itself rather than the liberty and equality of citizens. Critically, progressives predominate among Democratic party and interest-group activists whose careers consist of acquiring and deploying state power. But serious liberals are still prominent in intellectual and university life and in the party itself; they may be said to be the party’s conscience."

http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/ ... ?nopager=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Silent for all the same reasons Conservatives are silent about their party being hog-tied and bound by the Religious Right and their desire to return the dark ages...

I have come to distrust the Democratic party as much as I distrust the Republican party
and I can tell you this whole thing is not comfortable for me anymore because I feel like nobody in our entire congress sees this country the same way I do...

I have no voice and no representation

Well, that's true.

But there are some of us who aren't silent about it.

A couple weeks ago I was at my homecoming at The Citadel and had the unique opportunity to give a piece of my mind to an "assistant" of a classmate of mine who is primary-ing Lindsey Graham (there are actually 2 El Cid grads in this race; Nancy Mace is the other). I advised him in no uncertain terms that if this guy keeps pandering to the religious right that he isn't getting my vote, regardless of how I feel about Graham. I'm not alone in this either- a large number of my classmates there agreed. No, we aren't a representative slice of Republican voters (and I'm not a Repub anyway), but if one of these cats ever actually proposed theocratic legislation they'd be out on their asses and they know it. That's why it is nothing more than pandering.

Here's the difference between progressives and the religious right though:

The religious nuts will never, ever be able to build enough consensus to take us back to those dark ages you like to allude to. The religious right is a minority. A vocal one, but still a minority. They are also shrinking, and have been doing so for over 50 years. With the rollbacks of what this country has been prior to 1950, I don't see how any thinking person can view the religious right as a growing threat. They are quite the opposite. Progressives are a majority within the Democratic Party and they are growing. That is your biggest difference.

Abortion will never be outlawed. It might be constrained as a method of elective birth control after 20 weeks, but I'm not religious and I support that.

Gays will never be returned to the closet, and the cat is out of the bag on same sex marriage. This will never go away.

Those are your two platform issues for the religious right. That's it. Name me any other legislation that the bible thumpers would like to see that would actually have a prayer of passing. There isn't any.

Progressives, on the other hand, have a whole sack full of things that they would like to change about our government, and these are all things they could accomplish with simple majorities. They have already proven this. I could go through the laundry list but I don't have to.

I don't like the bible thumpers any more than you do, but your fear of them is irrational. It's like Klean elevating the Klan to something other than the few hundred powerless rednecks they really are.

[kalm]

Money quote:

"The other arresting response to Obamacare’s troubles is a nonresponse​—​the silence of the liberals. Serious liberals are those for whom the primary purpose of politics is to protect personal liberty and advance social equality. Their liberalism has been the motive force of America’s political history​—​which is the saga of extending legal and political rights, social status, and realized liberty to ever-wider groups, and legislating “welfare state” protections against the social and economic vicissitudes of life. They have been eclipsed in recent decades by those who call themselves “progressives”​—​who borrow the language of liberalism but are in practice devoted to enlarging and valorizing government itself rather than the liberty and equality of citizens. Critically, progressives predominate among Democratic party and interest-group activists whose careers consist of acquiring and deploying state power. But serious liberals are still prominent in intellectual and university life and in the party itself; they may be said to be the party’s conscience."

http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/ ... ?nopager=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Silent for all the same reasons Conservatives are silent about their party being hog-tied and bound by the Religious Right and their desire to return the dark ages...

I have come to distrust the Democratic party as much as I distrust the Republican party
and I can tell you this whole thing is not comfortable for me anymore because I feel like nobody in our entire congress sees this country the same way I do...

I have no voice and no representation

You should incorporate and have more money if you want a voice. That's how Obamacare got passed.

That was one hell of a thought provoking article by JSO you posted their CID. Quite a bit of less than subtle demagoguery which was unnecessary but provocative none the less.

I think he has some solid perspectives on liberals or progressives or whatever the pejorative du jour is, dropping the ball on monopolies and protecting liberty. And he also acknowledges the need by the right to support some form of subsidy to help the poor with insurance.

In the grander scheme, both sides betray their values for the sake of cash. This won't change unless campaign finance is changed.

[Chizzang]

I don't like the bible thumpers any more than you do, but your fear of them is irrational. It's like Klean elevating the Klan to something other than the few hundred powerless rednecks they really are.

I don't necessarily "fear" them...
I'm ashamed of them
For avidly disregarding our Constitution on one hand
Then beating everybody over the head with it in the other hand

Side Note:
I also don't subscribe to corporate welfare being more important than subduing the poor with welfare



And...
Southeast LA is even more over rated than Montana (imagine that)

[CID1990]

I don't like the bible thumpers any more than you do, but your fear of them is irrational. It's like Klean elevating the Klan to something other than the few hundred powerless rednecks they really are.

I don't necessarily "fear" them...
I'm ashamed of them
For avidly disregarding our Constitution on one hand
Then beating everybody over the head with it in the other hand

Side Note:
I also don't subscribe to corporate welfare being more important than subduing the poor with welfare



And...
Southeast LA is even more over rated than Montana (imagine that)

Ok bad use of words on my part

how's this-

You give them too much credit