Goals Of The Liberal Philosophy Of Life And Governing

Liberalism is about:

• Ending poverty; 
• Real, affordable education for everyone, so everybody can compete in the job market and has the means to feed, clothe and house themselves; 
• Real affordable health care for all, not only emergency care when may be too late and more expensive, or only for those lucky enough to have the money to paid for it;
  
• Global commerce and competition but on fair terms;
• Protection of workers, their health, working environment and provide them with decent wages and benefits;
• Retiring proud after a life of work, service and contribution to society and having the means to live with dignity versus retiring with fears of not having adequate housing, health care or food;
• Living your life with minimum intrusion from the government;
• A government that works for the people, not for the interests of greedy corporation, millionaires or industries;
• Keeping religion at the church, not influencing policy decisions.

An the list continues.

Liberalism is about making society works the best way possible. Nothing is perfect and it is very difficult to create a just nation when a large segment of it is moved by greed, hate, bigotry, intolerance, consumerism, selfishness.

However, it is our responsibility to continue, to move forward, to never stop. America needs a refresher course on what the Liberal agenda proposes. It is the only way to counter the greed, selfishness, intolerance and bigotry that some want to take the country back to.

Social Responsibility And Free Markets

Social responsibility and free markets can grow together, stronger if we take greed and selfishness out of the way. When you ban greed and selfishness, corporations become a tool for social advancement, justice and equality instead of a tool to take as much as possible from everyone else to benefit a few.

GOP Takeover of the South, an Opportunity for Liberals

This is a very interesting article from Politico.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/45627.html

The GOP have swiped state legislatures in the south and the few Democratic state legislators left are rushing to switch parties to the GOP. Of course the reasons for this will be the subject of many books in the future.

However, instead of looking at the glass half empty, Liberals should view the glass as half full. Those Democrats defeated or switching parties were conservative Democrats after all. It is not that Liberals are losing a ton of allies.

The important thing is that this is an opportunity for Liberals to start building a movement from the ground up in those red states. A movement that must start with promotion of the Liberal philosophy of life and governing. Not the Liberalism according to the right wing, but the real Liberalism. After all the Liberal philosophy is about being Americans and about social responsibility of everyone toward everyone, from the poorest and homeless to the richest person in town.

Next step in economic recovery sabotage

Just read this in the morning: "conservative economists, GOP strategists, hedge fund managers and bank analysts this week will launch an advertising campaign calling on the Fed to back off its quantitative easing plan, arguing it risks driving down the dollar and sparking inflation"

Translation: Sabotage economic recovery and jobs creation looking forward to November 2012.

While it is true that there is a risk of inflation with QE2, the potential for jobs is even greater. Even with a devalued dollar, consumer demand is so depressed that the risk of inflation is very low.

The truth behind this is that the GOP understands and we all need to understand that the strategy of obstruction, Hell NO! and sabotaging the economic recovery worked so well for the last two years, GOP and conservatives have no intention of abandoning that strategy. No economic recovery means no jobs and without jobs the liberal message, the Democratic message, the Obama message or any other message is almost worthless to the public and voters. 

Before Supporting Democrats in 2012, Liberals Need To See "Change We Can Believe In"

The main reason Democrats lost in 2010, after such big wins in 2008, is because a group of Democratic strategists and leaders (and maybe including president Obama himself) concluded that it was a good idea to alienate the Liberal base. After 2008, Democrats got arrogant, they decided it was good strategy to govern from the status-quo, change-little, "center", to capture independent voters, under the assumption that the base will follow no matter what, like cattle, under the argument that the alternative, GOP would be worst. That strategy was a mistake, a bet that didn't pay off. Obama and Democratic leaders made it a quasi habit the "sticking it" to the Liberal base and then wearing that as batch of honor in front of Republicans and independents.

Also, you cannot promise big changes, boldness and then deliver middle of the road, half baked solutions that change little while lack boldness. Even independent voters understand that sometimes big changes are necessary and boldness is warranted. With the crisis that Obama inherited, it would have been much easier to explain to independent voters the reasons for boldness than trying to explain the lack of it. Liberals were ready an anxious to engage in that battle and Republicans offered the perfect ammunition all the way with their obstruction, lack of ideas and the extremism of their Tea Party faction. However, that became very difficult when the policies left to defend were just the same status-quo that change-little and made Wall Street richer, while made Main Street poorer.

But that is the past now. November 2, 2010 was a bad day for Democrats, but it actually was a victory for Liberals. Now Obama and Democrats know that Liberals are willing to let the Democratic Party lose. Now Obama and Democrats will think their policies twice and I am sure they will not wear the "sticking it to the Liberal base" as a batch of honor anymore. Not if they are smart.

This is the moment for the Liberal movement to push the Democratic Party to become the agent of change that the American people expected of them when they voted in 2008. This is the moment for the Democratic Party to listen, "man up" and act accordingly.

Liberals let Democrats lose in 2010 and we will let them lose again in 2012, unless we see that "Change We Can Believe In!"

The Progressive Movement Will Be Stronger Regardless Of The Nov. 2 Election Outcome

Under normal circumstances, when a party "loses" an election, the base is the strongest and sometimes the only constituency standing within the party. We saw this clearly when republicans lost big in 2008. Only the republican base was left and GOP's first task was to rebuild that base.

So equally, under normal circumstances, if Democrats "lose" the Nov. 2 election, the Liberal base will be the strongest constituency standing within the Democratic Party and the party's first task in getting ready for 2012 is to make amends with its Liberal base.

But that is under the "losing" scenario. What would happen if Democrats do not "lose", which at this moment means keeping at least one chamber of Congress? How Progressives will be the strongest constituency within the party if the party didn't "lose"? The answer is because of the process that resulted in that victory. This means that even if Democrats keep control of one or both chambers of Congress they went through the scare of feeling abandoned by the base and that alone is a learning moment for them and a teaching moment for Liberals. It should be completely clear now to every single democratic strategist and leader (including president Obama) that WITHOUT ITS LIBERAL BASE, THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY CANNOT WIN.

So, this is the moment for Liberals to make it very clear to Obama and the Democratic Party. In 2012 they can have either another 2008, another 2010 or even worse. They choice is theirs.

Is it our turn in America to learn this painful lesson?

www.truthout.org

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal." - Corinthians 13:1

Why is it that so many men and women who believe themselves disciples of Christianity are so errant in the very faith that they profess? Why have so many died - and suffered - at the hands of evangelists for Christianity because they would not convert or were thought heretics?

The Tea Party followers and Republican fundamentalists are "resounding gongs and clanging cymbals" because they have replaced the inclusion that comes of love for humanity with the hate of exclusionary religious vanity and a restrictive personal vision of a God.

An Islamic fundamentalist and a Christian fundamentalist share the same power of hate that betrays "the tongues of men (women) and of angels." It is the error of pride and the easy, lazy path of feeling redeemed by feeling chosen - and others being damned. It is couch-potato religion because it requires no responsibility other than to hate other humans who choose a different route through the perilous path of life.

Democracy embraces diversity; it doesn't try and compress it into a narrow tunnel of bile and arrogance. The Constitution ensures the separation of church and state because true freedom comes only with the right to choose one's religion - or to not believe in a God at all. What is the difference between a tyrannical government of any ideology and the cultist Christianity that a Sarah Palin would impose on us? None.

Without a love for the spark that ignites the glories of the human spirit, there is only a grim, spiteful self-indulgence wrapped in the harsh din of claims to knowledge of the divine. Human history has paid dearly for such selfish religious shackles. Is it our turn in America to learn this painful lesson?

Mark Karlin
Editor, BuzzFlash at Truthout