A Peek At Liberalism
74
Liberalism and Liberals
The word "liberal" comes from Latin word liber meaning “free“, and is associated with the word "liberty" and the concept of freedom. In every aspect this sounds like a good thing, everyone is entitle to liberty.
Modern Liberalism
Liberalism remains popular among those in academia, which explains why recent polls find that young Americans are considerably more liberal than the general population, and why it currently dominates the political ideology. Some believe that more educated a person is, the more likely he or she is to hold liberal beliefs.
The philosophy behind modern liberalism in the US can be traced to Thomas Paine, who advocated taxation and universal free public education, a guaranteed minimum income, and other ideas then considered radical. Today liberalism has come to mean the support for freedom of speech, separation of church and state, reproductive rights for women, civil liberties, equal rights for gay people.
The preamble to the Constitution includes a clause stating that the purpose of establishing the Constitution was to "promote the general Welfare, and secure the blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity", which most liberals translated as an active role for government intervention.
Liberals are most often open to change and to new ideas, for example, liberals often lean towards scientific ideas, that some conservatives reject, such as evolution and global warming.
There seem to be 5 basic principles of liberalism:
1) To promote fairness, emphasizing empathy as a desirable trait.
2) To help those who cannot help themselves.
3) To defend those who cannot defend themselves.
4) To fulfill ones life, experiencing everything they can.
5) To love and care for oneself first, because only then can one help others.
Social Liberalisms
Social liberals believe that individuals should prosper, but with public assistance in health, education and welfare. This includes government intervention in the economy to provide full employment and the protection of human rights. Social liberalism supports and is committed to lowering income inequality, and advocate taking from the rich and giving to the poor.
Kennedy contested the claims that "liberal" meant "someone who is soft in his policies abroad, who is against local government, and who is unconcerned with the taxpayer's dollar." Conservatives often argue that affluent, educated liberals are in no position to decide what is best for Middle America.
Radical liberalism favor seeking political reforms which dramatically change the social order.
Fascism, from the Italian meaning “bundle“ or group, while entirely meaningless, is often tossed around from both liberal and conservatives groups. Fascist believe that people are in constant conflict, that only the strong, healthy and vital will survive by constantly conflicting with the weak. They believe in a single-party state, oppose class conflict, and often want to suppress any criticism against their government or their movement.
In Conclusion:
Liberals are in a perpetual state of infancy, wanting to be nurtured by the government, they want their freedom to do what comes naturally in their minds, but want to leave the responsibilities of their failures for the government to mandate, and eventually clean up.
While so many call themselves “liberal“, it’s apparent that many are still confused by which -ism actually applies to them. The current trend seems to be, to take what ever suits them for the moment and violently oppose anything that remotely resembles the views of anyone who still clings to their moral conservative ideas.
For more visit :http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Current-Conspiracy-Theory
CommentsLoading...
Thanks Dean, it was mean for the libs who have no clue.
Thanks for the explanation.
They want equalization without the work behind it. They want to be given everything instead of working for it.
Keep on hubbing!
You got it Eovery. Yet they use those words as if it was a good thing. Thanks for reading.
"Liberals are in a perpetual state of infancy, wanting to be nurtured by the government, they want their freedom to do what comes naturally in their minds, but want to leave the responsibilities of their failures for the government to mandate, and eventually clean up."
Let us examine this paragraph. How are liberals in a perpetual state of infancy? Are they "younger" than the republicans or the independents? And "nurtured" by the government? How does wanting social justice (women's rights in the workforce or unemployment insurance for example) mean wanting to be nurtured? Liberals do not ask for a "sucker" to play with, they ask for "fair-play".
Moving on: "they want the freedom to do what comes naturally to their minds but want to leave the responsabilities of their failures for the gov't to mandate, and eventually clean up" ... I think everyone likes to act as they would like to; who would not like to do as they please? Here though, you say that liberals after wanting to do as they please take no responsability for their doing. Be more specific? Is it like when Bush invaded Iraq on the WMD lies and then blaimed it on the British Intelligence and the CIA? Such criticism towards the "liberals" of all kinds and shapes needs examples in my opinion.
What had to be cleaned up and after what liberals, where? When? Let us discuss in more depth.
Jeez, what we have here is a failure to gibberish.
On one hand we have the lovely Jiberish, on the left we have Mr. Happy and his take on gibberish, or is it his gibberish on Jiberish...It is awful late and I must be
confused with all the "this ish", "that ish", when I think about it, we all need a little, "ism" in our lives.. If I can ever figure it out, I might discover I have been living in the wrong "ism".. Good nite all..
Mr Happy...I was refering to a lot of things, but let's just take abortion as an example. Maybe we can start a forum for further discussion...Thank you stopping by.
Great, I'm not threatened. Sleep well.
Forgive me Jiberish I have to take Mr Happy on!
Mr Happy, what social justice do you speak of? Are all people not treated equally? You mention Women's rights in the work force, are men the recipients of more rights in the work force? Fair play? What do you mean? Let us discuss in more depth!
Bush lied? Ok then, I guess you are prepared to say that Bill Clinton,Al Gore,Nancy Pelosi,Harry Reid lied also! They all said that Saddam Hussein had WMD's! Somehow I don't think you are prepared to say that, lets use Pelosi as an example of a liberal who acts as she wants but accepts no responsibility. She was informed that waterboarding was being employed by the CIA on Terrorists, but later when it became known that investigations were possibly going to be held she denied that she knew. But we all know now because of CIA leaked info that she was informed as early as 2003, I would say thats a perfect example of a liberal not taking responsibility!
What about Women in the work force? Are you talking about equal pay? Lets examine that. Women usually do not work as long as men do throughout their lives, they will drop in and out of the work force at higher numbers than men. Armed with this knowledge (and it is fact)lets take it to its reasonable end, if you have a woman doing the same job as a man and she leaves this job to start a family why should she receive the same pay as the man who never left at all? Why invest in an employee who will more often than not leave your employ?
I think Jiberish has described liberals such as yourself quite well, Your up Mr. Happy!
Gawd I do NOT want to get involved with that conversation! Texan, you're on target, but you know that good reason is lost on the zealot right? He already started with the make-me-puke fairy tale "Bush lied people died" rhetoric, so how can anything else he says be reasonable and logical? However, Happy's heart is in the right place, he wants equal treatment for everyone, unemployment, (safety net). I am definitely conservative in my values, but see the benefit for helping out fellow citizens. It's too bad it's peddled under the liberal extremist umbrella. I mean, we need "Change" right?
Okay, I didn't mean to say anything about that, but now I'm in the mix I bet. Jiberish, you had me wondering the whole time which side you were going to come down on, that was a very fair and factual piece and explained liberalism nicely. I love that quote from Kennedy, I never knew. I bet most libs don't either.
I like the first 4 principles of liberalism, and the 5th one has some merit, but most liberals, (young people especially but certainly not exclusively), take that to mean to do whatever you want without worrying about consequences: premarital sex being a great example. Pregnant? murder the kid, whoops, I mean the genetic material that I have decided is not alive yet. Want to have a baby but don't want to bother with the fuss of having a male influence in the baby's life to complicate yours? Go find a one night stand with someone handsome and smart.
I'm yakkie tonight, I'll shut up now. Love the hub and clear thinking. I do hope for a form of nationalized healthcare but hopefully in the vein of McCain's health care plan, not the Communist one from Commie Obama.
"Liberalism remains popular among those in academia, which explains why recent polls find that young Americans are considerably more liberal than the general population." Right on the mark as Mark Twain said; If you're not a liberal in your 20's you have no heart, if you're still one in your 30's you have no brain!"
Wasn't that Winston Churchill who said that?
Great Hub Jiberish. Nice explanation of something that has puzzeled me for years! :)
found this if anyone is interested
The phrase originated with Francois Guisot (1787-1874): "Not to be a
republican at twenty is proof of want of heart; to be one at thirty is
proof of want of head." It was revived by French Premier Georges
Clemenceau (1841-1929): "Not to be a socialist at twenty is proof of
want of heart; to be one at thirty is proof of want of head."
This Hub is about the philosophies of Liberalism, no where did I ever mention either political party. I wrote that they are perpetual infants and stated abortion as one example because, in my opinion the Liberal thinking is live free sexually, by pass morality, even religion in some cases, then when faced with the consequences of pregnancy, the government should take care of it for free. (It's in the current Health bill). Just like when you are a parent, no matter how old you child is, when they get in trouble, they will come to you for help. You being the gov't. By 'cleaning up' I meant, passing laws to counter act bad behavior.
Tex, Thank you, but again, it's liberal verses conservative thinking.
Alexander, Equal right for woman, civil rights, etc. are also the view of conservative.
Patisan, I agree. In my twenties I was as liberal as you could be, a real hippy, but then I grew up.
RS, thank you.
Thank you all for visiting. Maybe I will write a counter Hub, explaining Conservatism.
I was just playing the devil's advocate and of course I am "dogging darts" now but it's all good.
The Bush and WMDs was just an example ... Pelosi lied, just like Bill Clinton (think about the failed mission in Somalia - the public would have never known if the mission did not fail; or think about "I did not have sexual relations with that woman" ...) Politicians lie - they all do and it is up to us to figure it out, point out their failures and then, it is also up to us to vote them out of office. And if anyone thinks Obama is a commuinist ... just watch the Obama Deception please - everyone's being lied to: liberals, conservatives, etc.
And since I gave the "Bush and the WMDs" example all of a sudden I am being stripped of my reason and logic? Why... I simply gave that example because it was said that "liberals" do not take responsability for their "actions/decisions" - this is not only true of liberals, it is true in most cases because most politicians do not represent the public. They represent special interest groups (lobbyists) and generally only care about their fat bellies.
Okay moving on to ... abortions. So : "Pregnant? murder the kid, whoops, I mean the genetic material that I have decided is not alive yet" There are great implications here ... You say that genetic material is equal to a kid ... at what point is the male sperm and female egg a kid? Because if we look at it that way, every time anyone has sex and the sperm ends up in a comdom we can say that a baby has been killed: the sperm in the condom which you threw out in the garbage or toilet or whatever. Does that make sense? In my opinion a baby is a baby when it is a baby. I cannot look at sperm or human cells as a "baby". Until it is a baby - it is a bunch of cells with no feeling, thought or awarness.
Now, the comment about women being less vauable to an employee because they might need to take time off during a pregnancy ... such a comment is brutal ... if women did not take the time to give birth - where would we be? Why should they "suffer" social unfairness because they are the ones giving birth? A society has to be built in which "giving birth" is not detrimental to a woman's career; we should all be understanding and helpful towards such cases.
Now I just realized I am respoding to a couple of posts at the same time but it's all good. Keeping in mind that I switch sides as I please, do not take me for a liberal or republican - I dislike both sides equally.
Mr Happy, thank you for your explanation. Yes there is corruption on both sides. I want to address your view on when is a baby a baby, if you have ever seen an ultra-sound, even as early as 3 month, you will see that 'organism' as a being. So many would rather protect a quail over a fetus.
"... such a comment is brutal ..."
We are dealing in reality here, something liberals have a hard time dealing with. I explained why Women are paid less, and your rebuttal is nonsensical at best. I will move on, a baby should be a human when it takes the form of a human! It does so while in the womb, liberals sometimes say that a baby becomes a human when they are self sustainable! Using that logic we could abort children until the age of 30 in some cases!
Jiberish is absolutely correct in saying that liberals are always looking for someone to blame for their problems or looking to the Government to protect them from life! This health care legislation is the perfect example, liberals want cradle to the grave care for everyone, and it does not matter what the American people want because we do not know whats good for us.
Spot on. Libs want the government to bail them out while they tell the rest of us what's best.
TEX, I agree, "Using that logic we could abort children until the age of 30 in some cases!"
Nicomp, there are no consequences the liberals want to take responsibility for, and the double standards are killing us. Thanks for stopping by.
My rebuttal was not nonsensical ... you are putting profit above anything else: since a woman may take time off from her job because she may get pregnant - she is less "profitable" to an employer. Are you a bloody machine? Do you not feel how wrong that train of thought is? Do you have no morals and values? Everything in a society has to be thought carefully taking in consideration all aspects of a situation.
All pregnant women should be given "paid leave" by the employer until the pregnancy is over. Everyone should be thankful for women for giving birth to begin with. Do not make me feel that I am wasting my time trying to explain that there should be equal pay and equal opportunity for all people of all shapes and colours regardless of age or part of the world they live in.
What is a business in business for if not to make a profit? It is not opinion that women leave the workplace to start a family it is fact! Its not that they "may" it is that they will! Business is to make money it is not there to provide job security to someone who will leave and possibly never come back! This is about investment in an employee, if the males were to leave at higher rates than women then it would be the male who is paid less, you libs just don't get it!
You are right: Buisiness means making the most amount of profit with the least amount of risk. Yet, there are some who believe that there are ethics involved in buisiness since we live in a society and we are all in a constant relationship to one another. That is why I said there is a need for "fair-play" in my earlier post. Look what happened with the banks when they were left to do as they pleased. You have to do buisiness in a way that not only the buisiness prospers but so do the people involved in the buisiness and affected by it.
Look this is very simple, liberals want to muddy the waters with feelings and what they consider right or fair play! A man will work many more hours than a woman on average, he will not drop in and out of the work force for personal reasons. He should be and is paid more because on average he does more!
I am not trying to slight women and their roles I am explaining why there is a disparity in pay! I have worked with women who were painters and tape and floaters who worked faster and more efficiently than men and were paid accordingly, but they are not the rule they are the exception.
Mr Happy, I believe that equal pay is beneficial for us woman, but like Tex said, woman tend to be more of a liability. There are plenty woman who make more that thier counterparts, overall it balances out.
You said: "Everyone should be thankful for women for giving birth to begin with." This is open for debate.
My question to you is, why should everything be fair, and who would it be fair for?
Golly, It has been about 12 hours since I was here and it looks like Jiberish got some folks fired up. I realize Mr. Happy is probaly like a lot of folks, not Liberal nor conservative but Moderate. Just for the sake of argument he did say
"you are putting profit above anything else: since a woman may take time off from her job because she may get pregnant - she is less "profitable" to an employer. Are you a bloody machine? Do you not feel how wrong that train of thought is? Do you have no morals and values?"
Mr. Happy I like that question about Morals and Values,
has anyone thought to ask Obama and his Health advisor Emanuel about the Value they put on life, such as within the first two years of a babies life, and the years of the elderly who do not work and often do not pay taxes. It appears their entire graph is based upon Profit, as in the taxable value of human beings. So much for the President and his thugs 'MORALS AND VALUES',,
Great, I'm glad you brought up morals & values, because both have been put on the back burner and replaced with the mighty dollar. Overlook everything, unless it's profitable, the new motto.
I have never heard a better definition....you need to write for the dictionary... :)
Dan, thank you,you can use it as a reference if nothing else. :)
Excellent HUB.. I agree liberals have evolved into adults with the mindset of children who spend foolishly and want what they want, the consequences be damned.
If fairness is not something to strive for than should we strive for unfairness? If so whoever shoots first will "win".
We are all born the same: legs, arms, some hair, etc. Why should we not all enjoy the same rights and privileges? And when I mean "all" I mean "all". Why is a kid in South-east Asia paid sixteen cents an hour and the same kid in North America be paid ten dollars an hour? This "unfairness" is what shipped most of the manufacturing jobs out of the States (for example)? Good thing? I think not.
YOU ROCK!!
BJC
BJC & Break thank you for visiting.
Mr Happy, I agree we should all have the same opportunity to life, love, liberty, etc, but I disagree with taking from those who make an effort, and give who don't even try.
I have one thing to say about ethics andd fair play . Nobody looks at that objectively , they look at It through the lens of whether they like It or not . ie: It Is fair If It benefits me , that Is human nature . This was for AT and Mr Happy .
Tony Thanks again. "All is fair in love and war", and the hell with everything else. :)
Mr. Tony, I am not sure how selfish you are but do not portray yourself or your assumptions on others. I do not look for fairness for myself - I look for fairness for everyone and everything "alive"! I search for the "truth".
It is interesting to see the passion shown by the conservatives in their "us against the world" mentality. If its not the damn commies its the moral laxity of the liberals. The automatic defensive stance fascinates me. There has been little attempt (by either side) to consider the point of view of the other.
Surely it is arrogance to think all of the ideas in any one political or idealogical stable are correct.
It is a part of human nature to view subjects such as these through different eyes.
If anyone had all the answers they would be doing very well for themselves and elections would be rather boring.
Due to the differing way we see things, there is no "correct" view on these topics that suits everyone. You may be happy with one response, but it doesn't make someone else a fool for not agreeing with you.
America just handed power to the democrats, this highlights the point.
Some will be happy, some less so.
History will decide what was right, what was wrong, and what didn't matter either way.
McBean, thank you for your words of wisdom, and for stopping in.
Great hub jiberish. I think you've gotten to the core of modern liberalism (not necc. old school liberalism).
Infantile in nature, reactionary and shrill. Todays liberals, like infants, don't ask or work for what they want (whether they deserve it or not), they demand.
Unfortunately, being infantile in nature limits their ability to think through the repercussions if we all took the infantile "gimme" attitude (instead of the old "hard work" for what I want attitude).
If we all took the "gimme" attiude, we'd be living in caves and trees, flinging real feces at each other, instead of these electronic bits that hard work and sweat produced.
We weren't "given" the internet (or automobile, or light bulb, or telephone, etc, etc) through "social justice", we got it by having a capitalistic incentive, and putting in the hard work to make these things happen. Period. (I apologize to the libs for multiple uses of that nasty four letter word "w-o-r-k")
Well said jiberish, bumps up.
MN. thank you for stopping by. This generations doesn't know the meaning of work or sacrifice. Many don't understand that freedom does not mean anything at anytime without consequences. Thank you for your input.
Very interesting hub and conversation going on here. Thank you jiberish!
Great hub!!!!
Fount and Bob, Thank you for the kind words.
jib, Nice job, you handled everything well. Don't handle Mr. Happy, he should go back inside his pants.
What, Mr. Harvey? Would you elaborate? How should I be "handled"? And what "inside my pants" arouses your interest?
Harvery, again, thank you.
Mr. Happy, I'm glad to see you too, we may have our differences, but I'm always open to the opposition.
I am open to discussion - I wish people made sense instead of talking about my pants or what not. Thank you, for as Rousseau said ""agreeing to disagree" is a virtue. Or did he say that lol?
Mr Happy, I grew up in a home where my father challenged us, played devils advocate, and taught us to respect other's opinions even if we did not agree. I always welcome you comments. Thank you.
Mcbean - I completely disagree. There is most definitely a "correct" view on things. It depends on what your goal is. If you want a free society with minimal government interference, then you do not do as our government is doing right now. If you want a "nanny state", then you give these Obama worshippers a free hand. To take the view that "all views are equal" is to entirely miss the point.
Great hub jiberish - as usual!
WOW, I imagine you got some guff for this. I thought it was very well written, and I am off to read your conspiracy theory...I just LOVE a good conspiracy theory!!!
Outstanding work, me lady! Stand tall for the Truth and don't worry about persecutors. They hated Jesus, too.
I read the below blurb and smiled. Thank you for your candor. :)
"While so many call themselves “liberal“, it’s apparent that many are still confused by which -ism actually applies to them. The current trend seems to be, to take what ever suits them for the moment and violently oppose anything that remotely resembles the views of anyone who still clings to their moral conservative ideas."
I appreciate all the wonderful comments, and apologize for not replying until now.
I came back to read this for a sense of normalcy.... now don't let it go to the head, especially in the Florida sun!!
I hadn't paid attention before as to the real meaning of the word liberal - interesting.
They mean well because they want good for all, but when things don't go their way they spew venom. Anyway, love to read your comments.
BJC thank you for dropping by. In a perfect world, we could sit down and iron out our differences.
Florida is the great state to live in, and we're both from Europe if I understand you correctly:)
Sister in both Florida and Europe, thank you for stopping in.
Great hub as always.
Love this hub! Comments are great. Keep it up!
I can say the same for both of you, Pamela and Cari. Thank you for visiting.
You bet. We may be in the same part of Florida...
Wow, that would be great! BJC.....
Great Hub, thanks. It is incredible how many people think they are owed something or can recieve something without putting anything in.
Spoilled rotten. Thanks for stopping Tdarby~
Jib, You go girl! You also have a wonderful discussion going, it's like a forum. That was meant in a nice way.
Thanks Harvey, You're not doing so bad yourself.
dean77 2 years ago
Very nice, jiberish; very nice indeed. I don't think I have ever seen the definition of liberalism defined so well. You really did your homework on this one. Well written, well thought out--Great Job!!
Dean77