why i am a liberal

i’m a liberal:

  • because i believe that fair (not free) trade is necessary, as “little people” deserve to make some money, too
  • because i don’t mind paying more money in taxes if it means someone won’t go hungry tonight
  • because the tendency of some to abuse a welfare state and the opportunities it affords isn’t a good enough reason to not take care of people who genuinely need the help of their government
  • because a democratic government belongs to everyone
  • because the march of history has made frequent casualties of the members of minority groups and extending equitable opportunity is one way of correcting this (and it is something that needs to be corrected)
  • because humanity is not more adept at judging itself than God, and we mustn’t seek to limit the personal choices people can make for themselves[1]
  • because the goals of a free society should not include provisions to criminalize action in the absence of very compelling evidence of its harm to any of the members of its people (e.g. murder and theft, being things that NO ONE wants to have happen to them), but instead should act to preserve what freedoms do exist; in other words, “you don’t need a reason to make something legal, you need a reason to make some illegal”)
  • because i believe in pluralism and the existence of more than one opinion

    • and

  • because i really don’t think that my personal religious faith is applicable (legally, politically or even morally) to anyone else except me.

    • also, i happen to find much modern conservatism [2] in practice to be akin to dark-age-fascism (since apparently, i’m a big communist…news to me). i still haven’t decided if it’s worse to be a conservative and not know why, or to be a conservative and know exactly why. the jury is still out in my mind, but either way, we probably won’t be friends .

    (this was kind of the answer i gave when recently asked whether or not i could ever date a conservative. the answer is “unlikely,” if it wasn’t clear.)

    [1] though religion should stay the hell out of politics, if everyone is going to treat the discourse on what government should and shouldn’t do as though that section of the first amendment on “free exercise” isn’t there, and that our Judeo-Christian foundations are to be heavily relied upon, then let’s do that in the context of the way it was written. if God can allow for free will, who the hell are we to limit that? (also, see the next point)

    [2] conservatism, in my interpretation, requires an acknowledgment of a superior opinion or perspective and tends to ignore dissent; is often so focused on establishing “freedom of opportunity” that it tramples the non-majoritarian actors in a society and in practice is neither equal nor fair; and ascribes a questionable type of morality to the application of and political decision related to domestic and (if possible, more frighteningly) foreign policy. this is a minimal delve into all that conservatism is, but we really don’t have that kind of time.
    also, these are often the people who deify ayn rand…which…no.