I used to be liberal

Gonz

Gonz

molṑn labé
Staff member
In most accounts, I still am. Unfortunately, liberal has become a key code word for socialist & I was never that. Think Kennedy wanting to drastically cut taxes while taking on the Soviet Union. Think FDR winning a war. Imagine Truman ending a war quickly & decisively. These men had vision & knew their responsibilities. They saw a need for federalism over states rights. We had entered a new time & place for America & they knew it. It was no longer a few days or weeks to cross the country. Suddenly, there were more citizens in cities than farms. They had ideals.

Today liberal means you hate the government that allows you to hate it. It means wishing to give money to those who don't have enough & taking it from those who "have too much". These things are not liberal. They are communism. Liberal means taking care of those who are unable to help themselves. Not handing them fish forever but teaching a new way to fish if need be. It means the old ways are not the best ways, necessarily. It means questioning everything that comes from the mouths of "leaders" while knowing when to shut up & dance to the music played.

Personal responsibility is what made this country great. We've gotten away from that & because I believe that is the only way to retain our glory & honor, I am now a conservative right winger. I guess MLK, Jr was too.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.
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Rev Martin Luhter King, Jr "I have a Dream" Delivered on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963
 
His crusade was to end the oppression of the (rich) whites on the (poor) blacks...It seems an interesting game that the right wing has recently engaged...Project an agreement with liberals but convince the people they weren't really liberals...:confuse3:
 
His crusade was to end opression of blacks. I'm white & I know zero/none/nada/no rich people. I know plenty of poor whites. Color & income are mutually exclusive.
 
Today liberal means you hate the government that allows you to hate it. It means wishing to give money to those who don't have enough & taking it from those who "have too much". These things are not liberal. They are communism. Liberal means taking care of those who are unable to help themselves. Not handing them fish forever but teaching a new way to fish if need be. It means the old ways are not the best ways, necessarily. It means questioning everything that comes from the mouths of "leaders" while knowing when to shut up & dance to the music played.
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That is Rush Limbaugh's definition of liberal and has little to do with reality. Liberal and communist are the new catch phrases thrown about whenever someone doesn't agree with what the conservatives want.
 
If you're 20 and not a liberal, you have no heart. If you are 40 and not a conservative, you have no brain.

Or something like that... Spoken by Winston Churchill.
 
Gonz said:
Unfortunately, liberal has become a key code word for socialist
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I did add that flav. :D

Squiggy said:
Gonz...They weren't at the time he spoke those words....
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History hasn't changed a thing Squiggy. His people were being shit upon & he was tired of it & saw the injustice. It wasn't rich white folks who were hanging men from trees & burning crosses, it was poor ignorant fools.
 
Jerrek said:
If you're 20 and not a liberal, you have no heart. If you are 40 and not a conservative, you have no brain.

Or something like that... Spoken by Winston Churchill.
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So you have no heart?
 
Jerrek said:
If you're 20 and not a liberal, you have no heart. If you are 40 and not a conservative, you have no brain.

Or something like that... Spoken by Winston Churchill.
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Was that Churchill? I could never find the source & I love that saying.
 
"If you are 20 and are not liberal, you have no heart, and that if you are 40 and not conservative, you have no brain."

By Winston Churchill. Great saying.
 
flavio, it depends what you define heart as... if it means giving away 50% of my income to lazy bums, then I have no heart. If it means helping those in need, then I do have a heart. Exactly what Gonz highlighted in the first post.
 
Jerrek said:
flavio, it depends what you define heart as... if it means giving away 50% of my income to lazy bums, then I have no heart. If it means helping those in need, then I do have a heart. Exactly what Gonz highlighted in the first post.
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I suppose the statement is entirely worthless then without the definition of heart and brain.
 
:D

Meriiam-Webster

heart-5 : one's innermost character, feelings, or inclinations <knew it in his heart> <a man after my own heart>

brain-2 a (1) : INTELLECT, MIND (2) : intellectual endowment : INTELLIGENCE -- often used in plural <plenty of brains in that family> b (1) : a very intelligent or intellectual person
 
i am liberal too gonz but remember its all in people saying it how they want to it doesnt mean anything about communism or socialism or any of that bs.
 
Much of what brought this up is thinking of discussions with my 78 year old father in law, the son of Italian immigrants, a gunner in a B24 during WWII shot down in Poland, a POW for almost 2 years-surviving on one potato per day, a survivor of the death march, father of 13 (12 alive), poor, worker, conservative & lifelong democrat. We had to recently talk him into using some of his VA benefits(prescription medication & oxygen for his emphysema). He refused to take charity. Still does. We had to convince him he earned those benefits & that they are not a handout. He tells stories of his childhood, here in Ft Wayne-a mainly German city-and how he lived in a multi-cultural neighborhood (blacks, italians, poles, irish, hispanics) and how he doesn't remember the seperate drinking fountains, schools, diners, etc. He does remember the Irish getting shit on.

He hates republicans but talks just like them.
 
flavio said:
Liberal and communist are the new catch phrases thrown about whenever someone doesn't agree with what the conservatives want.
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yep, if you disagree with conservative viewpoints then all too often you are some loopy red-flag waving lefty nut by proxy. :rolleyes:
 
as much as i hate to say it the liberals can be jsut as myopic. but flavio and ris both make a valid point that they are bs terms thrown around.
 
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