Jen Sorensen for August 02, 2022

You nailed it Ms. Sorensen. The Founding Fathers were in fact a very liberal group for the times they lived in while the authoritarian monarchies of Europe were the conservatives. What is striking is that conservatives of today are are becoming just like the authoritarian monarchies of the days of yore.

Conservative used to mean something other than screaming theocratic nazism too.

“Neo” in front of any historic political philosophy has always tended to be bad news. Examples being neo-nazi, neocon, neoliberal, and the list goes on…

Is this the beginning of fascist republigun totalitarianism?

The most important aspect of Liberal is growth. While the conservative has stagnated and mired themselves socially and intellectually in the conformative dictates of religion, Liberals have grown to accommodate to the changing realities and perspectives.

a word or phrase has several meanings (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/liberal)

The Reich-Wingnuts seem to have forgotten that TIME and HISTORY themselves are essentially LIBERAL, in the sense that they are always moving FORWARD, and not Backward, like the Cons want it to.

Some will hurl the word liberal as if it was a slur.

Definition of Liberal; ‘’Favoring reform, open to new ideas, and tolerant of the ideas and behavior of others; not bound by traditional thinking; broad-minded.’’

I would be pleased, if someone were to define me using these words. Just sayin’.

Dr. Martin Luther King: “‘Socialism for the Rich, Rugged Individualism for the Poor”.

(From Webster’s Dictionary)

Liberal I.a 1. Possessing or manifesting a free and generous heart; bountiful. 2. Appropriate and/or fitting for a broad and enlightened mind. 3. Free from narrowness, bigotry, or bondage to authority or creed. II.n 1. Any person who advocates liberty of thought, speech or action.

So yes, you may call me that.

Yet, the claim on the right is that lefties “change” definitions.

This comic gets at the, well, language advantage Republicans have. Right, it seems to me that Lefties can’t throw out the term conservative as a convenient put down of their Rightie opponents, for somehow that label, for some magical reason, is indicative of a candidate who represents hard-working, value-laden Americans who do best when government is small and taxes are low, lost puppies, and little elderly church-going ladies crossing the street. On the other hand, the only campaign strategy a Republicans needs involves calling his opponent a liberal, which suggests automatically that he is for giving away all US jobs to illegal immigrants, setting up a debt-creating social safety net for minorities – who are all naturally lazy – raising taxes to pay for this safety net, eliminating all defense spending, national anthems, and pledges, taking away everybody’s guns, assaulting white heterosexual males, making all restrooms unsafe by allowing trans folks to use them, and for public schools teaching that slavery once existed in America, which would create a situation wherein white kids might get their feelings hurt. (Forgive me – no room here for the whole list.) In other words, Republicans aren’t moved to come up with policies to solve problems. They just seem to enjoy making everybody afraid, and for non-existent reasons. For instance, right now, according to many conservatives, the most evil entity on the face of the earth is Anthony Fauci! Before March of 2020, I’d never heard of Anthony Fauci. It’s crazy!

This is the reason I describe my belief system as “progressive” – which also allows me to look down my nose as others who don’t believe as I do – win-win in my opinion.

Of course, I could be charitable toward others – but why start now?

You left out an important definition: liberal as in, “Advocates for equality, social justice, and environmental protection but is unwilling to take action to ensure them if it causes any inconvenience or discomfort.” Check out the Phil Ochs song, “Love me, I’m a liberal”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLqKXrlD1TU

Now let’s have a companion piece on “conservative.”

Senate Republicans are reversing course on a veterans health care bill, signaling they’ll now help it quickly move to President Joe Biden’s desk after weathering several days of intense criticism for delaying the legislation last week.

Republicans insist their decision to hold up the bill, which expands health care for veterans exposed to toxic substances while on active duty, was unrelated to the deal on party-line legislation that top Democrats struck last week. The GOP blocked the bill hours after Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced an agreement on a health care, climate and tax package — angering Republicans who thought the Democrats-only plan would be much narrower. Regardless of their reasoning, the GOP was quickly forced to play defense against both Democrats and veterans’ advocates who were caught off-guard by Republican delaying tactics after the party greenlit a nearly identical bill in June. Republicans say they blocked the bill because of concerns spearheaded by Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) over what the retiring senator called a “budgetary gimmick” — language that he argued could allow certain funds to be used for programs unrelated to veterans’ health care. That language was in the bill when it initially passed the Senate in an 84-14 vote, before a technical snag forced the chamber to vote on it again. Democrats have questioned the turnabout sharply given that 25 Republicans voted to block the bill over the budgetary issue only on its second trip to the floor, not its first.

Today’s ‘conservatives’ are radical extremists who are dragging the majority backwards.

They want to be authoritarian dictators so their deadly stupid ideas will become law.

Now if we could only see so called conservatives actually be fiscally conservative and socially liberal they might not be so repugnant. For now they are the complete opposite.

It’s not what Liberals use to want; it’s what liberals want today. I will never be part of a group that contains the likes of most of the commenters here. WOKE Progressivism is a disease, elections are the vaccination, with boosters needed every two years. The vaccine doesn’t wipe out the scourge but keeps the sickness mild and keeps the patient out of the hospital. The Democrat Party has become a small tent rich educated white party that still believes they know what the rest of their party wants/needs and tells them so every day. Let them eat cake!

. . . as long as it’s an insult apparently

Common Usage: A jerk who disagrees, even if the evidence is on his side.

That third panel, “Neoliberalism” seems to describe republicans very well.

And still, not quite as bleeped up as “conservative,” which has been taken over by right-wing populism.

From The West Wing political debate, Jimmy Smits played Matt Santos and Alan Alda played Arny Vector ( He said he’s played murders, so playing a conservative Republican shouldn’t be too much of a stretch)

MS:“I know you like to use that word ‘liberal’ as if it were a crime.”

AV: “No. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have used that word. I know Democrats think liberal is a bad word. So bad you had to change it. What do you call yourselves now, progressives? Is that it?”

MS: “It’s true. Republicans have tried to turn liberal into a bad word. Well, liberals ended slavery in this country.”

AV: “A Republican President ended slavery.”

MS: “Yes, a liberal Republican, Senator. What happened to them? They got run out of your party. What did liberals do that was so offensive to the liberal party? I’ll tell you what they did. Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. Liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act. What did conservatives do? They opposed them on every one of those things ¬ every one. So when you try to hurl that label at my feet, ‘Liberal,’ as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won’t work, Senator. Because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor.”