what is a liberal and which historical leaders were liberals?

[regent]

The definition of liberalism usually begins with people. Man is a social animal, he likes to interact with other people, hence we group. The group is how man survived. Liberals tend to believe man is basically good, those not, are the exceptions. Man has an obligation to his fellow man's well being. Because man is basically good, he can be given liberty and freedom, and liberalism obtained its name because of that liberty and freedom.
If one looks at the programs the liberals have pushed, just in our own history, they generally are programs giving people a better life, more freedom and reducing some of the American people's problems. True, liberal programs are not programs that help the elites that much, they usually need less help than the rank and file Americans.
Both liberals and conservatives want to control government, government is the most valuable tool for carrying out liberal and conservative programs, so I say it is not the size of government that is so important, but rather how the government is used.

 

[GuyPinestra]

A very good point

Each generation faces its own challenges. Those challenges are faced from either a liberal or conservative philosophy. Liberals seek a fundamental change in the way we address life while conservatives cling to the status quo

Our founding fathers are a good example. They were the ultimate liberals of their era supporting the rights of the individual over the power of the chosen few. They stood up against the concept of monarchy and the royal birthright of the crown.
Conservatives of the era were Torries and supported the crown

It's to bad that the Libs of today, have moved toward the collective rather than the individual rights.

In fact most folks on both conservative and liberal wings are progressives (collectivists, a poorer term) who believe that modern society requires scientific, professional management in both government and private sectors to better the community for all.

Most folks are wrong. The greatest 'betterment of the community' in human history has happened right here over the last 200 years.

If it ain't broke, don't FIX it!!

 

[JakeStarkey]

Our society has been fixed and fixed again, GuyPinestra, and you have benefitting from those fixes. On this, you have simply no compelling evidence to suggest otherwise, I believe, but present it if you think you have it.

 

[GuyPinestra]

Our society has been fixed and fixed again, GuyPinestra, and you have benefitting from those fixes. On this, you have simply no compelling evidence to suggest otherwise, I believe, but present it if you think you have it.

It has NEVER been fixed by the abrogation of Bill of Rights.

It has only been WEAKENED.

 

[JakeStarkey]

Your concession, GuyPinestra, is noted.

 

[GuyPinestra]

Your concession, GuyPinestra, is noted.

As is your delusion...

 

[JakeStarkey]

Guy, it is what it is. You can play in reality or you can try to revise a history that does not exist.

 

[Thunderbird]

What are you upset that someone isnt allowing you to do? gay marriage isnt about making random churches have to host weddings,

Homosexuals can and do get married all the time! Government sanctioned gay marriage is meant to take away freedoms.

Fresno Churches will be forced to perform gay marriages

More loss of freedom resulting from government sanctioned homosexual marriage.

quote:
•Religious groups who have refused to make their facilities available for same-sex couples have lost their state tax exemption.
•Religious groups like Catholic Charities in Boston and Washington DC have had to choose between fulfilling their social mission based on their religious beliefs, or acquiescing to this new definition of marriage. They have, for example, been forced to close their charitable adoption agencies.
•Nonprofit groups are faced with abandoning their historic mission principles in order to maintain governmental contracts (for things like low-income housing, health clinics, etc.)
•Whenever schools educate children about marriage, which happens throughout the curriculum, they will have no choice but to teach this new genderless institution. In Massachusetts, kids as young as second grade were taught about gay marriage in class. The courts ruled that parents had no right to prior notice, or to opt their children out of such instruction.
•Wedding professionals have been fined for refusing to participate in a same-sex ceremony. Christian innkeepers in Vermont and Illinois are being sued over their refusal to make their facilities available for same-sex weddings despite offers to refer the couples to other providers and in spite of the deeply-held religious views of the inn-keepers.
•Doctors, lawyers, accountants and other licensed professionals risk their state licensure if they act on their belief that a same-sex couple cannot really be married. A counselor, for example, could not refuse 'marriage therapy' to a same-sex couple because she doesn't believe in gay marriage. She'd put her licensure at risk.

LINK

its about the generic legal protections that married couples get- being on eachothers insurance,

Evidence this is a problem?

being recognized as family in the case of emergency,

Does this happen often?

file joint tax returns etc,

Are you aware there is a marriage penalty?

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Liberals believe that society functions best when people with no real world experience get to implement policies and ideas that come with a 100% guaranteed fail rate

 

[rightwinger]

Essentially, every major improvement in our society is the result of liberal policies

Have you thanked a liberal today?

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Also, bravado, hubris and deluded sense of importance seem to be Liberal traits

 

[rightwinger]

We do, of course have Republicans to thank for the current distribution of wealth in this country

 

[JakeStarkey]

Sigh. Thunderbird, go back and check your facts, please.

 

[Ava]

"Liberal" was originally what we call libertarian today. The progressives obfuscated the term decades ago.

OK, but lets stick to today and what the term means now. the history lesson was accurate, but lets talk about what they are today.

Okay, here are some good examples of liberal thinking in this day and age:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hSvAukUNmY&NR=1&feature=endscreen]Liberal Hypocrisy - YouTube[/ame]

 

[JakeStarkey]

Libertarian today is never what classical liberalism was in the days of the Founder.

 

[bripat9643]

In fact most folks on both conservative and liberal wings are progressives (collectivists, a poorer term) who believe that modern society requires scientific, professional management in both government and private sectors to better the community for all.

Wrong, Fakey, conservatives don't believe that. But you do. That's just one more indication that you aren't a conservative. You're a left-wing troll.

 

[bripat9643]

Essentially, every major improvement in our society is the result of liberal policies

Have you thanked a liberal today?

Of course, the opposite is the actual fact of the matter. Liberals are responsible for every social problem that is humanely solvable.

 

[rightwinger]

Essentially, every major improvement in our society is the result of liberal policies

Have you thanked a liberal today?

Of course, the opposite is the actual fact of the matter. Liberals are responsible for every social problem that is humanely solvable.

Fingerboy....


Care to name a single contribution conservatives have made to this country?

 

[JakeStarkey]

In fact most folks on both conservative and liberal wings are progressives (collectivists, a poorer term) who believe that modern society requires scientific, professional management in both government and private sectors to better the community for all.

Wrong, Fakey, conservatives don't believe that. But you do. That's just one more indication that you aren't a conservative. You're a left-wing troll.

Yes, they do, but you, as a libertarian, do not. The national vice laws of the early 20th century were progressive conservative right wing federal laws to change behavior through limitation and punishment. So was Prohibition. So is the drug war.

This is why you can never, ever carry your case because you refuse traditional definitions and encyclopedias. You are a loser.

 

[Pogo]

Also, bravado, hubris and deluded sense of importance seem to be Liberal traits

Donald Trump, Alan Keyes, Alan West, Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, Sean Hannity, Rush Limblob, Bill O'Reilly, Greg Gutfeld, Dick Armey, The Dick Cheney, Neil Boortz, Ann Coulter, Alex Jones, Glenn Beck and Finger-boy are liberals?

Ya just never know.