Funny, how the liberal talks about calling names without justification. So much for the kettle.
Liberal is actually the wrong term. A classic liberal is very much like the modern conservative. They both want the maximum amount of freedom for the maximum amount of people. The difference is that liberals think government can provide it and conservatives think that people are smart enough to do it on their own, if government just stays out of the way. Today, we're seeing progressives, socialists, Marxists, and totalitarians masquerading as liberals.
True liberals would not consider stacking the Supreme Court. True liberals would accept the results of an honest election without complaint. True liberals would not try to steal an election. True liberals would not try to hide important news that effects the outcome of an election.
There are very few true liberals on this site. Lucas is not one of them. He really has no idea what he thinks until someone tells him what to think.
Originally Posted by the_real_Barleycorn
This is a thought provoking post. You'd probably disagree, but I'd like to think I'm a classical liberal.
I think I disagree with the statement "True liberals would accept the results on an honest election without complaint." A true liberal believes in freedom and liberty. And frequently a tyrannous majority arises, that tries to take away freedom and liberty from a minority. In our system, this can happen at the national, state or local level. A rhetorical question, what do you do when this happens? Do you take it without complaining? Protest peacefully? Move someplace else? Or take up armed struggle (not recommended)?
Here are some examples,
You live in a dangerous neighborhood. You have neighbors who are armed bullies. You own a registered weapon. Your local or state government passes a law to take away your weapon and starts taking weapons from people like you.
You like to smoke marijuana and see providers. Your democratically elected state government makes both criminal offenses and starts jailing people for violations.
You work hard, make lots of money, and the democratically elected federal government decides it will tax your income at a 65% tax rate. And after you die take 55% of everything you've got left.
You're raped. Or you're pregnant and ultrasound and other testing show the child will be severely deformed. Abortion is illegal in your state and you don't have the money to travel and get it done elsewhere.
I think most of us would just put up with situations like these, unless we had extremely strong feelings. Realistically, your only choice to deal with the problem is move. But I wouldn't fault people for protesting. I'd admire them for it.
Ironically, because those of us who are Republicans or who lean that way believe we're bigger believers in freedom and liberty than others, Nevada, a state currently run by Democrats, may come closest to ideal -- no state income tax, prostitution is legal in places, marijuana is legalized, and the hypothetical situations with guns and abortion like the examples above wouldn't occur there.