Sunday, July 17, 2005

I Clarify My Thoughts on Liberals

There has been some discussion, recently, on my post, about the difference between Conservatives and Liberals. Or maybe we should say right leaning Americans and left leaning Americans. I never did get an answer of what the preferred "label" should be. But I want to clear up a misconception that some have of me. It have been suggested that I use the word, "Liberal", with a negative connotation. I want to clear that up now. The following is a reprint of a post I made in early May:


I am a conservative. I have stated that for the record in previous posts. But I have an issue with conservative radio talk show hosts and their opinions of liberals.

Rush, and Hanniity, and Laura Ingraham, and others seem to think that liberals are malevolently trying to bring about revolution in this country because they are simply evil people. I don't share this opinion. Having once identified myself with liberalism, I believe they really do have the best interest of the country and it's people at heart. They do care about the United States and the environment and animals and human (civil) rights. They really do want to make improvements to our system of government and to our lives. They really do care. I believe they are, on the whole, basically good decent people, but they are misguided.

the problem is not what they believe are the issues affecting the quality of life in the world, but rather in the solutions to the issues. More taxation and additional redundant legislation is not always the best solution to the issues facing us but it seems to me most liberals have no other answers. In short, in my opinion, the major difference between liberals and conservatives is the liberals tend to want the government to solve all our problems and the conservatives want us to stand on our own two feet and solve the problems ourselves and face the rewards or consequences of our own decision. This makes more sense to me than depending on the government to do the work for me. I guess that is the reason I am not a liberal.

I will add that after observing liberals for sometime I have noticed one glaring fact. Many Liberals are very mean spirited. Preferring to launch personal attacks against their opponents rather than attack their viewpoints in a respectful manner alone should be enough of a reason to not be a liberal, but I know that some people are small minded enough to think that personal attacks are the best way to resolve differences.

I fail to follow this logic, but that's just me.

UPDATE: I listened to A Prairie Home Companion last night, and they played a repeat broadcast of my favorite PHC show, the joke show. Here are a couple of jokes from that show:



George W. Bush is at a press conference and Moses walks in. Bush says "Hello, Moses." Moses doesn't speak. Bush says again, "Hello Moses." He still doesn't respond. So Bush asks, "Well why aren't ya talkin'?" And Moses finally says, "Last time I talked to a bush I got stuck in the desert for forty years."

And then there's the all-time favorite: First penguin says to the second penguin, "You look like you're wearing a tuxedo!" second penguin says, "How do you know I'm not?"

And a joke I claim they stole from me:

Descarte walks into a bar. The bartender says, "Try a root beer schnapps?" Descarte says, "I think not." Upon saying that, he vanished.

Have a good day.

16 comments:

The WordSmith from Nantucket said...

Hmm....I listen to my fair dose of talk radio also. Strangely enough, I have NEVER listened to Rush. I mostly listen to one station, and their programming is: Laura Ingraham, Dennis Prager, Michael Medved, and Hugh Hewitt. They have others, but these are the people I listen to from morning to dusk. Michael Savage comes on after Hugh Hewitt, but he's so far out in right field, 90% of the time I can't stand the guy (Now there's a conservative talk radio host who I think hates liberals and think of them as disease...even has a book called "Liberalism is a Mental Disorder"). Sometimes I'll flip stations if my favorite host has a topic I have no interest in, or is a repeat, and listen a little to Hannity, O'Reilly, or whoever else. I've also listened to Air America (which I don't think should be listened to as representative of mainstream Democrats).

I don't know Mark...I get a different impression of Laura Ingraham when I listen to her show. I don't think she hates liberals or think of them as evil. I'm not sure if the others do, either. I'm actually inclined to believe that they would agree with your own assessment of the differences between conservatives and liberals. Hannity never seems capable of conceding points when I watch him on FOX. He seems very narrow-minded, although I agree with him on a number of points. It's just that he can be rude to his guests and doesn't always acknowledge a good point being hurled at him from the other side of the net. Hugh Hewitt is one of my favorites, in that he just seems so on top of current events. When I listened to him throughout last year, he's treatment of liberals comes off more like a good-natured football game, ribbing the other side for going crazy over George W. Bush and the "Republican noise machine".

Medved and Prager themselves are reformed liberals. I believe Medved's book Right Turns, has chapters devoted to how he went from being liberal to conservative.

Anyway, that's my take.

Erudite Redneck said...

Re Hannity, "It's just that he can be rude to his guests and doesn't always acknowledge a good point being hurled at him from the other side of the net."

Precisely why I can't stand Hannity. He's like the knee-jerk righty Reagan-lovin' frat boys that helped cement my Demness back in the '80s. But, I'd stop if I saw Hannity on the side of the road, on fire, I'd stop and pee on him. Being a punk doesn't make him mean or evil -- just a punk.

Bill O'Reilly? I wouldn't pee on him if he was on fire.

tugboatcapn said...

Mark, My own talk radio lineup is Lex and Terry in the mornings, then I switch between Glenn Beck, Jerry Springer and Neal Boortz until Rush comes on. Then I switch between Boortz, Rush, and (Strangely enough) The Don and Mike show. At 3:00, the Schnitt show comes on locally, so I switch between him and the Phillips File.
On the way home I listen to Phil Hendrie. If I am recieving my programming from talk radio, then my views should be all over the map. Fortunately I can listen with all of my filters in place.
By the way, I agree with Mr. Savage about liberalism being a mental disorder. If you don't, then try arguing at length with a die hard liberal, and observe the bizarre twists of logic and mental gymnastics they will try to drag you through.
It is truly amazing...

tugboatcapn said...

By the way, Mark, i just got called a "Nazi" on my comments page. I guess i must have hit a nerve...

Sassy said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Mark said...

I drive for a living and I only listen to radio while I'm driving cause I don't get any reception at home.
The line up on my radio is this: Laura Ingraham, although the radio reception on that station isn't very good, it's better than Dr. Laura. Then, when her show's over, I turn to a station with good reception for Rush's show. I prefer Rush to O'Reilly which is the show following Laura Ingraham.
then I go home for lunch and miss the final 2 hours of Rush's show. Then it's Glenn Beck in a time delay broadcast. By this time I am heading into another state and his signal fades before his show is over, so I change to another station and hear the final 30 minutes of Hannity. Then, I change again for the first of Hannity on another time delay. Then, on the last 30 munites of my day, I listen to a replay of the morning Laura Ingraham show on WABC out of New York, which I cannot get until after 8:30 PM. And then I am home for the day.

Mark said...

Tug, you are in good company. Other's that have been compared to Nazi's have included Bush, Cheney, half of the Republican Senators and Congressmen, and every American service man and woman.

Sassy said...

TY for being the first one to comment in my blog!
My husband and I totaly agree with your political veiws!
Kansas is not the place you remember our sap sorry lib lady gov is runing the place. Everyone here is related by blood money or debt and no one is friendly. If you made it out your one of the lucky ones KANSAS SUCKS!

Mark said...

Sassy that depends on what part of Kansas you live in. I grew up in Wichita and lived in Kansas City and Topeka

Toad734 said...

"More taxation and additional redundant legislation is not always the best solution to the issues facing us but it seems to me most liberals have no other answers."

More guns and more restrictions on our personal freedoms and civil liberties, and more intrusions into our private lives are not the answer either.

Toad734 said...

How ironic that now Bush seems to be the one who will spend 40 years wondering the desert, well not Bush himself, but our troops anyway.

Mark said...

I promised myself I wasn't going to respond to any more of this guy's comments, but this time he seems a tad more respectful, so I will respond this time.

Toad734 said...
"More taxation and additional redundant legislation is not always the best solution to the issues facing us but it seems to me most liberals have no other answers."

More guns and more restrictions on our personal freedoms and civil liberties, and more intrusions into our private lives are not the answer either.

Possibly not, but I would rather be armed than unarmed when threatened by terrorists. I would rather have intrusions into my private life than none, as long as they are intruding on those who seek to fly airplanes into buildings as well.

As to restrictions on our personal freedoms. that is a Democrat concept, not a Republican one.

Erudite Redneck said...

Re,
"As to restrictions on our personal freedoms. that is a Democrat concept, not a Republican one."

Both sides voted for it, but the current administration pushed, and continues to push, for the misnamed "Patriot Act."

The WordSmith from Nantucket said...

What, pray tell, is so wrong with the Patriot Act? Have you even bothered to read it? Or just liberal spin and scare-mongering that mischaracterizes it?

tugboatcapn said...

The problem with the Patriot Act is that republicans are in power.
It is no more mysterious than that.
The resistance to the Patriot Act is just another front in the war against the War on Terror...

Anonymous said...

Well, I distinguish between liberals and liberalism. I would say that yes, liberalism is evil--and I would agree that liberals are not (well, some are, but as a group, no).

Nice blog, btw. I'm shamelessly advertising my new blog. Traffic, comments, or links would be most appreciated, thanks!