Leftwing Loon

This is the fourth of a six part series in which I'm going to try to assume various personas, some of which I understand, and some of which I don't, in order to write from that point of view. Today I'll be playing the part of a liberal blogger writing a post for a political website.
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(Liberals - foolishly spending money on things like schools and infrastructure)

Let's first get this out in the open - I hate the word "progressive."  I despise it as much as I despise creamed spinach.  This term has crept into our language after a 100 year hiatus only after those of us on the Left turned coward and started eschewing the word "liberal."  We got it in our heads that because some washed up geriatric in 1988 - George H.W. Bush - used it as a pejorative against Michael Dukakis, that it was now a slur and something to be avoided at all costs.

 

Sorry, but I'm not going to let Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin dictate my vocabulary.  I'm a liberal, and I'm damn proud of it.

 

But why?

 

Because I believe in standing up for those that can't stand up for themselves.  I think that government should be the Great Equalizer, a place where we can come together to make sure our society is a fair place that helps us take care of each other.  We cannot be driven solely by the desire for profit or nationalistic pride - we have to be driven by the notion that everyone deserves justice.

 

Taxes are necessary to help educate our children.  A society that's educated is one that has no constraint on what it can accomplish.  I also think that taxes let us build roads, pay for police and fire departments, ensure access to quality healthcare for all, and allow us to take care of the more poor of our nation rather than let them rot on the street or in dilapidated housing so someone else's stock can go up by a quarter of a point.

 

Conservatives always go on about abortion and the right to life, but their attitude once that life has arrived is "Too bad you can't feed your child, but you should've thought about that before you had him."  This kind of callous disregard for the most innocent among us - children that had no choice in the circumstances they were born into - is exactly what abrogates the Right's claim to any kind of morality.  One would think that we could all agree that children, at the very least, should be fed, clothed, housed, and educated, but conservatives would rather preach about morality rather than demonstrate compassion.  That seems a little backwards to me.

 

Economic inequality has continued to spread, and all we hear from Republicans is that trying to level the playing field is somehow an attempt to punish success.  What a crock!  What we want is for those who've been more fortunate to bear a little more of the burden for a society that has granted them such fortune.  No one I know wants a rich person to give up all his or her money, but it's incumbent on those who've done better to help out those who need it.  I seem to recall Jesus saying something about that...

 

It's liberals over the years - not progressives, not hippies, not leftwingers - but liberals who've brought about some of the greatest triumphs of social justice history has seen.  The New Deal ensured our seniors have a retirement income, an adequate infrastructure, and more fair workplace conditions through union pressure.  LBJ passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 so that every citizen of our nation could enjoy the same rights as everyone else.  President Obama pushed through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to make sure that people had access to healthcare and weren't worried about having to declare bankruptcy due to a cancer scare.

 

Acts like these make me proud to call myself a liberal.  If you want to call me a bleeding heart because I believe in equality and helping each other out, then color me guilty.  We have an obligation to make this world a better place for ourselves and our children, and only through the spirit of compassion and cooperation can we do that.