It’s Cool To Be Liberal Again
Despite the best efforts of Obama-bashers, he managed to receive more than 66 million votes, 8.5 million more than John McCain , winning 52.3% to 46.2%. This is despite the efforts on the right to brand him a radical liberal, despite attempts to define him as “the most liberal” senator, despite attempts to tie him to radicals, Marxists, and communists.
For decades, conservatives used the “liberal” moniker as a bludgeon to demonize and marginalize its opponents. It didn’t work this time. It didn’t work against Obama. It didn’t work against Mark Udall in his Colorado senate race even though they tried to label him “Boulder liberal Mark Udall.”
“I suspect that the heyday of using ‘liberal’ as an attack word is over,” said George P. Lakoff, a University of California, Berkeley cognitive linguistics professor. “It has pretty much gone out of use, except by conservatives that are attacking people.”
A recent Pew Study showed that liberal Democrats are engaging in activisim more than other partisan and ideological groups. Tod Lindberg of the Hoover Institute, and a McCain adviser, acknowedges that the “center-right” meme to which conservatives are clinging is a myth. We are in “center-left times.”
A new generation of voters, coming of age on Facebook and Twitter, don’t care about these kinds of labels. They communicate with global friends who they never meet or see. They don’t know or care about their skin color, their sexual orientation, and whether they are liberal or conservative. Obama and his team knew how to use these new communication platforms to create not just an Internet donor base, but also a social network that he can now commicate with directly, bringing true democracy to a whole new level.
Welcome to the age of liberal cool.
Alan, would you mind sending a notice to all the people who I went to school with that called me a nerd? Especially those really mean girls from high school. (The ones who had extremely rich, republican parents who bought them all the cool clothes and cars. Too bad my hard-working, journalist parents didn’t make that kind of maney. I guess it’s because they worked for that horrible LIBERAL media.) I want to make sure they get the memo that I am now cool. Sigh* And just to think, I was giving up, thinking it would never happen!
November 17th, 2008 at 12:59 am
I meant money up there, not maney. I’m not sure how much maney they were making.
November 17th, 2008 at 1:00 am
Liberal never was a four letter word. Liberals have helped our nation advance beyond it’s popular limitations. The “big tent” is great!!
Sean, you are welcome if you want to play nice….ya know, Sean, a mind is a terrible thing to waste….wasted enough, yet????
November 17th, 2008 at 1:30 am
Of people earning more than $250,000 a year—the income level that would pay higher taxes in a Barack Obama presidency—52 percent voted for Obama, and 46 percent for John McCain, exit polls showed.
from The Week, Nov 21, Noted, derived from Slate.com
November 17th, 2008 at 1:47 am
Frankly, Liberalism always has been “cool”, in the same way that intellect is cool. People generally rebel against things that they cannot attain, liberalism is for the most part a greater understanding of themselves and the role they play in the world.
the less introspective person cannot fathom liberalism because they have no worldview…however, globalization and things like the internet are quickly destroying social conservatism. the more people are online, informed, and getting various points of view from a worldwide audience, the faster conservatism will die completely.
the only part left for debate will be fiscal conservatism…that has very strong status of debate as to where we should move as a nation…if the left simply makes sure their legacy in office shows responsibility, I do not see any time in the forseeable future that social conservatives will ever be back as a force.
Barack Obama should use this presidency as a demand to get the education and accessable information to every citizen as soon as possible. a information initiative..it is in the best interest of the liberal movement to have everyone educated.
because educated people are liberal as a whole.
November 17th, 2008 at 2:08 am
ALAN,i love being a liberal and a very poor 1 at that. Love listening to RUSH and SEAN eat crow meat with anger as well. Being a black man living in conseritive LEXINGTON and REPUB GOP KY., i love it. The right wing talk show guys are as bad as SEAN and Rush with LELAND on WHAS,but JOE PETT puts a smile on my face with his opinion cartoons in the local paper. Being a LOUISVILLE CARD fan,i loved VMI beating those kittens in rip off arena and most of all O B A M A W O N !
November 17th, 2008 at 2:13 am
SaturnFX,
because educated people are liberal as a whole.
Bah. I know plenty of well educated, intelligent conservatives. It’s more a regional thing, not an education level thing. More liberals on the coasts and big cities, more conservatives in the middle of the country and rural areas.
November 17th, 2008 at 4:15 am
If “Liberal” isn’t such a bad word, then why can’t we find a real one on Television? Look at all the commentators and not one of them is truly a “Liberal” or ready to embrace the word. Not one is free to speak truth to power without fear of losing their coveted position on the air. If “Liberals” are so great, then where are the successes? Alan are you a success or a set-up man for Hannity? You are a joke that makes Hannity look right. You are worse than Mika.
November 17th, 2008 at 6:30 am
When was it ever NOT cool?
November 17th, 2008 at 6:41 am
Cara is right. If you look at the county map of the U.S. you will see that the vase majority of the rural area, which makes up most of the U.S., it is mostly red. In those rural areas are millions of well educated conservatives. So Cara has it right, it is mostly a regional thing. Big city liberals on the left coast, the north east and a couple mid-west states.
Conservatism is COOL!! You ought to give it a shot someday. By the way, what exactly is cool about liberalism anyway?
Oh, Alan quoted a professor from the University of California, Berkeley. That is the bastion of liberalism. Hardley unbiased and center. Come on Alan, let’s be at least a little credible!!!!!!
November 17th, 2008 at 8:11 am
From Merriam-Webster:
Liberalism:
2 aoften capitalized : a movement in modern Protestantism emphasizing intellectual liberty and the spiritual and ethical content of Christianity b: a theory in economics emphasizing individual freedom from restraint and usually based on free competition, the self-regulating market, and the gold standard c: a political philosophy based on belief in progress, the essential goodness of the human race, and the autonomy of the individual and standing for the protection of political and civil liberties dcapitalized : the principles and policies of a Liberal party
And from George Washington:
As Mankind becomes more liberal, they will be more apt to allow that all those who conduct themselves as worthy members of the community are equally entitled to the protections of civil government. I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations of justice and liberality.”
Washington’s Farewell Address 1796
November 17th, 2008 at 8:23 am
Old Lefty,
A:…the spiritual and ethical content of Christianity–
Todays liberal, in my view, does not live up to that. Homosexuality, abortion, two views that liberals will defend to the death are neither spiritual or ethical and are not the Christian belief.
B:a theory in economics emphasizing individual freedom from restraint and usually based on free competition, the self-regulating market, and the gold standard.
Liberals do not adhere to free competition or the self regulating market. They don’t want anything free for anybody, (they tax everything) and they don’t want any market to be self regulating by wanting to regulate anything the moves, or breathes. And I do believe the Nixon took us off the gold standard. Correct me if I am wrong. Nixon turned out to be more liberal.
C: I’ll just say that conservatives also believe in progess, the goodness of the human race, the autonomy of the individual, and protection of political and civil liberties.
JFK would be considered a conservative today if he ran on the principles he believed in in 1960. For example, lower taxes and a strong national defense.
Remember “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”
Liberals are saying just the opposite.
November 17th, 2008 at 8:55 am
“…you will see that the vase majority of the rural area, which makes up most of the U.S., it is mostly red.”
Most of the real estate is rural.
Most of the US population is not.
November 17th, 2008 at 9:12 am
Willy,
A:…the spiritual and ethical content of Christianity–
Todays CONSERVATIVES, in my view, do not live up to that. WAR, INCREASED POVERTY, HATRED OF THOSE WHOSE BELIEVES DIFFER, THE WORSHIP OF POWER AND MONEY, are the only thing that the conservative LEADERSHIP, will fight for.
B:a theory in economics emphasizing individual freedom from restraint and usually based on free competition, the self-regulating market, and the gold standard.
CONSERVATIVES do not adhere to free competition or the self regulating market. They want MONOPLY AND GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION in the form of forbidding consumers the ability to shop for the lowest price of Rx drugs, and trade agreement that assure that corporations can make workers compete for lower wages, but they want the government to prevent us making them compete for lower prices, they want the government to provide no bid contracts and tax exemptions for those who ship jobs overseas.
In other words :
Socialize the risks and losses, and privatize the profits.
C: “I’ll just say that conservatives also believe in progess, the goodness of the human race, the autonomy of the individual, and protection of political and civil liberties.”
(I don’t see that in the leadership)
JFK would be considered FAR TO THE LEFT today if he ran on the principles he believed in in 1960. For example, He DID lower taxes, but closed the loopholes so that the rich ACTUALLY paid their share. and I think that Republicans are good for the DEFENSE INDUSTRY, NOT DEFENSE.
Remember “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” THAT”S PRETTY MUCH WHAT OBAMA IS TALKING ABOUT WITH SERVICE.
The conservative say, “just go shopping.”
I think Teddy Roosevelt and Eisenhower would be called “far left “ today.
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.
This world in arms is not spending money alone.
It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.
The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities.
. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement. We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people. This is, I repeat, the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking. This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron. [...] Is there no other way the world may live? “
-Dwight David Eisenhower, “The Chance for Peace,” speech given to the American Society of Newspaper Editors, Apr. 16, 1953.
“We stand for a living wage. Wages are subnormal if they fail to provide a living for those who devote their time and energy to industrial occupations. The monetary equivalent of a living wage varies according to local conditions, but must include enough to secure the elements of a normal standard of living–a standard high enough to make morality possible, to provide for education and recreation, to care for immature members of the family, to maintain the family during periods of sickness, and to permit of reasonable saving for old age”
Teddy Roosevelt: living wage:
http://www.ssa.gov/history/trspeech.html
Imagine a Republican saying that the government should assure wages “high enough to make morality possible, to provide for education and recreation,”!!!
The CONSERVATIVES are saying just the opposite.
November 17th, 2008 at 9:22 am
JFK wouldn’t be allowed in the Democrat party today.
“Ask not what your country can do for you,but what you can do for your country”
Todays Democrat Party promotes government dependence.If you rewrote JFK’s comments to fit todays Democrat it would read—
“Ask not what you can do to support yourself,but your government can do to support you.”
“We pray for Peace as we prepare for War”
Can you imagine a Democrat saying those words today—Pelosi would run them out of DC.
November 17th, 2008 at 11:20 am
Bryan,
I think that the truth is EXACTLY the opposite.
JFK, FDR, Eisenhower, and Teddy Roosevelt would be called ultra, far left wing Marxists by the GOP of today.
From TR:
“We stand for a living wage. The monetary equivalent of a living wage must include enough to secure the elements of a normal standard of living–a standard high enough to make morality possible, to provide for education and recreation,”
Ike:
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.”
Can you imagine a MODERN REPUBLICAN saying those words today?
They smeared Obama, and called him “radical” for saying similar things.
November 17th, 2008 at 11:43 am
“the spiritual and ethical content of Christianity”
This is of probably the most hilarious statement I have read on this board. Christians! Spiritual??? Ethical ???? Have you read any of their hate-filled racist posts here. Remember despite the fact that Christ himself was the father of Liberalism, it was the institutions of Christianity which brought us the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, Slavery, Pogroms, the Holocaust and Bush’s Iraq war. Very spiritual, very ethical- LMAO.
November 17th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
“the spiritual and ethical content of Christianity”
This is of probably the most hilarious statement I have read on this board. Christians! Spiritual??? Ethical ???? Have you read any of their hate-filled racist posts here. Remember despite the fact that Christ himself was the father of Liberalism, it was the institutions of Christianity which brought us the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, Slavery, Pogroms, the Holocaust and Bush’s Iraq war. Very spiritual, very ethical- LMAO.
November 17th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
I disagree Lefty
TR—”A living wage”—implies working for a living—look at the government programs out there put into effect by Dems and Reps that support the lazy people—-NOT the needy—the lazy.TR never knew the “abuse of the system” like we see today.
My point—the one’s who abuse the system ruin it for the one’s who need the system.
Ike’s comment were made in peace time in a world that did not know terroism like we know today.When you compare U.S.Militray spending to Forgein Aid spending(which was not to the extreme in Ike’s time as it is now)Which one takes food,heat and clothing away from “needy” U.S. people who need our help?
So I would say that TR and Ike would view it different by todays standards.I like TR and Ike’s comments,and it should be that way,but they cannot be applied to todays modern society.
November 17th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
The word ‘liberal’ is even in the bible.
November 17th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Bryan,
Nobody advocates supporting the “lazy”, that’s just right wing propaganda.
Reflecting the new federal mission, under Bill Clinton, welfare rules now:
~ Require most recipients to work within two years of receiving assistance,
~ Limit most assistance to five years total, and
~ Let states establish “family caps” to deny additional benefits to mothers for children born while the mothers are already on public assistance.
While two thirds of welfare recipients are either on assistance only for a short time, or on-and-off, the remaining third have proven impervious to prior attempts to find them lasting work. For some, the problems are concrete and potentially addressable: lack of child care or transportation. For others, notably those who have never held a job, the problems are harder to tackle: poor health or lack of skills, desire or confidence.
I think we loose much more money to corporate welfare, (9 billion just gone, poof,! In Iraq?)
Ike beat fascism in Europe, which was fueled by 3 military powers on par with ours. …a MUCH greater military threat.
He then warned :
“We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. “
A warning we did not heed.
Actually, our military spending is the greatest in the world, while our foreign aid is among the lowest of industrial nations.
So I STILL maintain, that Ike AND Teddy, are far, to the left of the Democrats today.
November 17th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Jesus Christ was a liberal.
So being liberal has definitely been “cool” for at least 2000 years.
November 17th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Lefty–It’s not right wing propaganda—Obama himself at Saddleback said he fought to keep mothers on the welfare rolls that the Clinton reform package kicked off.Clinton’s reform works and needs to be enforced–Obama and Pelosi have both said his reform was too extreme.
I see jobs here in the paper everyday–with 2 major requirments—clean police record and drug tests.
All I ask is why should all of us that have been responsible enough to stay “clean” be required by our governemt to keep up those that haven’t?
Obama supported,as a memeber of The Foreign Relations Commitee,over $8 Bil. in aid to Iraq—$3 Bil. to Afganhistan—not military,not contractors—-just gave it to them.
$113 Mil to Ireland
$674 Mil to Kenya
The list is way too long to continue here——-
If you look at fact checking groups,our Aid to other countries is the most in the world—not the least as you imply.
November 17th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Sorry Lefty I was rambling—-JFK/FDR/TR/Ike—their comments have a place in history I agree—but very few apply to the problems we face today.
November 17th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Bryon,
The charts and data below are reproduced from the OECD (using their latest data, at time of writing. It will be updated when new data becomes available).
•Aid as % of GNI
•Aid in dollars
•Raw data since 2004
Aid as % of GNI
Net ODA in 2007 as percent of GNI
Country Aid amount by GNI
Source: OECD Development Statistics Online last accessed Sunday, April 27, 2008
If you are viewing this table on another site, please see http://www.globalissues.org/article/35/us-and-foreign-aid-assistance for further details.
(the bars don’t show up)
Norway 0.95
Sweden 0.93
Luxembourg 0.9
Denmark 0.81
Netherlands 0.81
Ireland 0.54
Austria 0.49
Belgium 0.43
Spain 0.41
Finland 0.4
France 0.39
Germany 0.37
Switzerland 0.37
UK 0.36
Australia 0.3
Canada 0.28
New Zealand 0.27
Italy 0.19
Portugal 0.19
Japan 0.17
Greece 0.16
USA 0.16
………………….
From, Religion online:
The U.S. now ranks last among the 22 industrialized countries in percentage of national income given away in development aid:
As for welfare reform, I think when most people look at the actual circumstances, it’s USUALLY, not as undeserved as people think….example, my daughter went to school,(nice white suburb) with a kid whose dad left…the mom had done EVERYTHING right, but had 3, little kids, he paid NOTHING. all her money had to go for lawyers, and rent after she lost the house. She collected welfare for a few years. Would you have her thrown out on the street? I’m sure you wouldn’t.
I agree there is always abuse, I could never understand why the right is always SO angry when the corrupt poor steal thousands, but find it SO easy to forgive the corrupt rich, when they steal billions.
November 17th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Lefty I don’t understand these numbers—-the OECD states that the US in the largest single contributor with 25%–Japan=16%—Germany=9% and UK and France both with 7%.The formula is based on GNP.Our percentage of national inome may be low–but like I said our contributioan are the highest.
And the US still gives money to countries on the Finacial Action Task Force known as “blacklist” countries—–tax havens.And we give money to countries that screw us on NAFTA and CAFTA( that one still amazes me)
As for your daughter Lefty—she is the kind I was talking about getting hurt by our system—the one’s that do it right.Think of how much more our government could have helped her if the “sorry” ones were weeded out.
Clinton’s Reform stated that women who were working or going to school would stay on the rolls—but Obama fought to keep “all” women on the rolls in Ill.—regardless of how many kids they had out of wedlock or their refusal to work.I feel this maybe a national trend once he takes office–I hope not.See my point?
November 17th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
I never thought I’d be deemed “liberal,” but then again, I never imagined myself joining the ACLU, NAACP, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, or my professional union, for that matter….
…until 2004. That was the year when enough became enough. For me, anyway.
November 17th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Bryan,
My numbers are from April 2008.
They state that while Swedan gives 0.95% of GNI, we give 0.i6%.
And My daughter only went to school with this child. She was not hurt at all.
She did an internship in a very poor urban area, my husband and I both worked in health care, I think these “welfare moms”, you describe are less than you think,(often wages don’t come close to the costs of transportation and child care) but of those who are that bad, it stops when the kids are 18.
In the meantime, I’m not ready to throw theses kids out in the street.
The people who take of my in law’s building (in India), have to have the children work as well, or they don’t eat.(no school for them).
They can’t take time to care for the baby, so they put him in a hammock, and give him opium…..better than welfare?
I guess that’s why Barack Obama will be such an excellent role model.
November 17th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Thanks Lefty—My numbers were from today—went to the website you gave me.It states that 25% of all Foreign Aid in the world comes from the Unites States.
We all know that there are alot of needy people out there.But we all know there are a lot of sorry/lazy one’s too.Lets just weed out those.Make personal responsibilty a requierment not an option.
November 17th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
“Todays liberal, in my view, does not live up to that. Homosexuality, abortion, two views that liberals will defend to the death are neither spiritual or ethical and are not the Christian belief. Liberals do not adhere to free competition or the self regulating market. They don’t want anything free for anybody, (they tax everything) and they don’t want any market to be self regulating by wanting to regulate anything the moves, or breathes. And I do believe the Nixon took us off the gold standard. Correct me if I am wrong. Nixon turned out to be more liberal. Posted by Willy”
You are wrong about Christian belief. I think Depak Chopra was on Alan recently. I would contest that the modern Christian doesn’t have a very Christ-like belief. Liberals have compassion for the illegal immigrants, accused crimninals and homeless while religous conservatives talk about ‘personal responsibilty.’
Abortion is something everyone is against in principal and any sane person works within their circle of influence to discourage a woman from making such a decision. But ultimately it is a privacy issue with liberals wanting non-intrusion and conservatives calling for intrusion. Homosexuality is actually just fine, even with Jesus. Think I’m lying? Something about leaving the women chaste and so on. Not ‘thou shalt not have gay sex’. Why do you and other conservatives have a problem here? Gay people are just as moral and sometimes religous as you.
And lastly, this Democrats just tax everything as a solution concept was implanted in your head by right-wing radio and I invite you to show me a politican who never voted for a tax increase in some form or other. Only Ron Paul can hold that mantle and he is a Libertarian. So it’s just a BS line to say that if you’re a liberal then you support tax increases.
Yes, Nixon took us off gold standard but that wouldn’t matter if the Republicans have practiced a little fiscal conservativism (the only good form of conservativissm) in recent years. Blame Democrats if you like living in a fantasyland but it was a Republican Congress and President that dug this hole for us to climb out. We can only hope Obama can get the ball rolling.
November 18th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Yeah, it’s cool being liberal again, in a Che Guevarra, Michael Dukakis kinda way.
Right On, brotha!
November 18th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Dy-no-mite! I’m fetchin’ my bell bottoms from the closet! Wherz my disco record?
Good Times!
November 18th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
That’s good news for me, too! Psych just got cancelled on USA!
Sign me up for “Good Times, Redux”
November 18th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Wheezie! Casting call!
Round up Lionel, we’re back in business!
November 18th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
Whuss happ-en-in.
Hey, HEY, Hey.
Rerun! Show us that new dance move! Have you seen Rodge?
November 18th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
Mr. Kott-TERR. I am too cool for your school.
November 18th, 2008 at 6:05 pm