[Curlyben]

Seriously now, what is the problem with American Liberalism?

lib·er·al·ism
1. the quality or state of being liberal, as in behavior or attitude.
2. a political or social philosophy advocating the freedom of the individual, parliamentary systems of government, nonviolent modification of political, social, or economic institutions to assure unrestricted development in all spheres of human endeavor, and governmental guarantees of individual rights and civil liberties. liberalism - Definitions from Dictionary.com

Personally I can't see a problem with attempting to minimise the governments interference in with the populace or are, as seems to be the case, American Liberals attempting to subvert the overall nature of Liberalism?

Broadly speaking, liberalism emphasizes individual rights and equality of opportunity.Liberalism

Am I being a naïve Brit here??

[N0help4u]

The media loves liberals
They think they are going to cure problems by promising more government which in major cities has only proven to create more problems
But do they see the connection?
Nah!
As my local DJ Quinn & Rose have said for years
Liberalism is thinking the only reason your plans failed is because you didn't get to do them long enough.
The fundamental difference between Liberals and Conservatives is - Liberals see every new life as a potential problem and a burden. Conservatives see every new life as a potential source of creativity and wealth. Allow me to elaborate a little bit on that. When your view of your responsibility to your fellow citizen is to take care of them through government planning and government force, every new person born becomes another mouth to feed another person to educate another burden on the states resources. If you are a liberal you believe that resources are limited and there is only so much to go around. You see yourself or government policy as the arbiters of who gets what. A conservative understands that new wealth is created every time human creativity acts on a resource and is unlimited.

A liberal says tax, tax, tax,
Then the conservative business owner that is being taxed can't afford to hire the very ones their taxes support.

[Curlyben]

That being the case I'm misunderstanding what Liberalism in America is.
It is meant to be against overt government interference and the protection of people's rights.
I would hardly describe raising taxes as limiting interference?

[NeedKarma]

The fundamental difference between Liberals and Conservatives is - Liberals see every new life as a potential problem and a burden. Conservatives see every new life as a potential source of creativity and wealth.

Wow, that`s the biggest load of propaganda I have read here in a while. Congrats! :)

[N0help4u]

Will wait for other liberals and conservatives have to say.
That is what I hear from the extremist conservatives '
And see with the democrats running things in my city.
Liberal Democrats do raise taxes to try and 'fix' things.

[NeedKarma]

How about this for a proposal. Curly offered a definition of liberalism. We can post a dictionary definition of conservatism as well.
The extreme sides of both are will get bandied about here as an excuse to demean the other side; this happened form the very first post here. Is there any way to answer this without insulting those of the 'other faith' (because this stuff is like religion in the US)?

[N0help4u]

sure I LOVE IT
Conservatives seem more out for me, me, me and while they say they want to make a difference they trample others to get what they want like power and money hungry.

Both sides are do as I say and not as I do.

I see definitely see liberals wanting more government, more programs, more taxes and more laws.


The dictionary definition I am for

con·ser·va·tive (kn-sûrv-tv)
adj.
1. Favoring traditional views and values; tending to oppose change.
2. Traditional or restrained in style: a conservative dark suit.
3. Moderate; cautious: a conservative estimate.
4.
a. Of or relating to the political philosophy of conservatism.
b. Belonging to a conservative party, group, or movement.
5. Conservative Of or belonging to the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom or the Progressive Conservative Party in Canada.
6. Conservative Of or adhering to Conservative Judaism.
7. Tending to conserve; preservative: the conservative use of natural resources.
n.
1. One favoring traditional views and values.
2. A supporter of political conservatism.
3. Conservative A member or supporter of the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom or the Progressive Conservative Party in Canada.
4. Archaic A preservative agent or principle.

But that isn't necessarily the real world is it?

[ordinaryguy]

"The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy: that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness." --John Kenneth Galbraith

[tomder55]

That being the case I'm misunderstanding what Liberalism in America is.
It is meant to be against overt government interference and the protection of people's rights.

Well I would argue that liberalism in the US has been on a progressive march leftward since the days of Roosevelt ;and with the exception of a few moments of the tide ebbing has been expanding the role of the government ever since.

Curly ,liberalism in the USA has morphed into progressive quasi socialism . The closest comparison to Britain I would guess is your Labour party but your center of gravity began further left than ours did.

What you gave as a definition of liberalism is better called classic liberalism .As Wikipedia writes Modern liberalism, which favors government intervention in some cases, takes a different approach to economics from classical liberalism, which favors a pure free market.

The agendas of European social liberals and modern American liberals seem to to be identical.Left of center on social issues and an ever increasing expansive intervention in the economy and growth of government services.. . what I call the nanny-state . It serves to create an ever dependent on the government populace.

[ms williams]

Will wait for other liberals and conservatives have to say.
That is what I hear from the extremist conservatives '
and see with the democrats running things in my city.
Liberal Democrats do raise taxes to try and 'fix' things.

We should use taxes to "fix things" instead of borrow more money from china and sudia arabia. They own us! We should pay our own way (taxes) not continue to put ourselves in debt to other countries.

[tomder55]

The State of Michigan's Governor and legislature raised taxes to balance the budget even though it has the highest unemployment rate in the nation ;and businesses were already leaving the state because of the high tax rates .It resulted in a loss of revenue for the state. This to me is the prototypical example of the liberal mentality. If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And If it stops moving,. subsidize it.

[NeedKarma]

See Ben, I forewarned this. The conservatives here cannot help themselves.

[RickJ]

Liberalism in american politics is nothing like you describe. It is my distinct impression that [very generally speaking] Liberals want more government interaction/intervention in the lives of the citizens and Conservatives want less.

Liberals say "You have become too rich so we should take more money from you to help those not so successful".

"We can't dig for oil there cause you might disturb the homes of the honking geese"

"you may not let people smoke in your establishment because smoking is bad for you"

etc...

... just a few...

[N0help4u]

Many Democrats do not seem to realize there is a difference between the average Democrats and the liberals. The liberals hijacked the Democrat party and they are a bad weed taking over the garden.

There are the Democrates like Liberman and Zeller
Then there are the ones like George Sorros, Boxer, Pelosi, Reid, and many more
Moveon.org, Accorn. Org, Codepink.org, etc...

[NeedKarma]

The liberals hijacked the Democrat party and they are a bad weed taking over the garden.

Why do you use "liberal" is a derogatory sense?

[N0help4u]

So what do you want to call the extreme far to the left
In that case I suppose extreme right being called conservative should be considered a derogatory term too?

[NeedKarma]

So what do you want to call the extreme far to the left
In that case I suppose extreme right being called conservative should be considered a derogatory term too?

You've lumped all those including myself who is a moderate liberal into some term that you call "a weed". There are all sorts of extremes on both sides. Would you call the Westboro Baptist Church conservative like you? There is nothing wrong with being a liberal it's just another view on life. A conservative viewpoint has never solved all the world's problems and neither will a liberal one although liberals have more of a worldview in my opinion than a conservative person. As you know I view people as individual, I try not to lump them into groups; having said that I'm much more at ease with a group that isn't always on the attack or look for faults in everyone like I see here. That's also how I pick my personal circle of friends.

[N0help4u]

I thought I was making a distinction that there is a difference between extreme liberal and
A more conservative liberal. Sorry I didn't make a bigger distinction in a 1-being extremely liberal and hijacking 2-being liberal democrat 3-being moderate democrat 4 being moderate conservative democrat 5 being a conservative democrat

[tomder55]

"contemporary liberalism has come to represent different things to Americans and Europeans: In the United States it is associated with the welfare-state policies of the New Deal program of Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt, whereas in Europe liberals are more commonly conservative in their political and economic outlook."

liberalism -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia

[speechlesstx]

See Ben, I forewarned this. The conservatives here cannot help themselves.

Can't help themselves from what, having an opinion? Who could have predicted?