Why are the terms 'liberal', 'progressive' and 'democrat' used as insults??

Question

Look them up! FREE, FORWARD THINKING, POWER TO THE PEOPLE, all the things that America is supposed to stand for and to be fighting for?

Aren't you 'right-wingers' just contradicting yourselves?

Wow, Ok, let's debate this people, Panacea says a Democratic government is a Nazi government and Branless says marijuana will kill you! Oh, and they have to throw God in there too for good measure.

Some help, please, people with brain cells?

In answer to Pancea, Bush has more in common with Hitler than any 'Liberal'. In fact, in some ways, this situation is worse. At least the Nazis were hung in Nuremberg for war crimes. Bush has managed to completely circumvent all that by calling the people who are fighting for their home soil, 'unlawful combatants' and scrapping the rights of any American citizen that is vaguely perceived as a 'threat'. Imprisonment, without trial, indefinitely, has only happened in Nazi and communist societies.
Now who's a Nazi?

And come on Brainless, what God forbids? I so wish the 'right-ons' would stop using God as an excuse for everything. It's the same mentality rife in suicide bombers! So gay people are forbidden from feeling the way they feel?
You know, He also forbids adultery, not keeping the Sabbath day holy, stealing, jealousy, the making of graven images, need I go on. Let's not pick and choose what we think God wants shall we?

Relevance always seems to be missing from most Republican/'conservative' arguments.

And for Joe in texas:

WOW! How did you people all get so brainwashed??
NOBODY outside the USA thinks Liberal Democrat = Communism! I suppose if they repeat it on Fox News enough times people will believe it. I suppose just like most of you believed Iraq had something to do with 9/11 or Saddam had WMDs, or Afghanistan was a threat to national security. Just keep repeating it, keep repeating, and the more you say it, the truer it will be...

Baa. Baaaa

Answer 1

It is a tatic....that has been going on for years and years.
Modern politics is like selling a product, the stupid hear liberal in negative context over and over and eventually become convinced not because they can reason but because of marketing stratagies...my favorite example is the war hero Senator Max Cleland... they associated him with Osma...he lost three limbs serving our country.

The most intellectual answer i can give you involves the conservative roots and ideolgoy based on the the Peter Viereck writings. Basically the term and movement came to represent a backlash to the 1918 revolution in russia and the bloodshed. An educated person can tell you what happended in Russia wasn't liberal, progressive, or power to anyone of the people....but with the help of McCarthism and fanatics....Russia and Liberal became associated....
if you look at some of the dumber posters they will associate communism and socialism in their insults...the funny thing is i don't think they could tell you the diffrence between the two terms.

Answer 2

The new milleneum rule for debates is that who ever mentions th Nazis or Hitler first loses.

Having said that I believe that the history of the last century has been a struggle between two systems; capitalism and communism.

Capitalism depends on a free market economy. People are financially rewarded by selling a service or product that somone else wants.

Comunism is an attempt to make everyone have the same wealth by having the government taking money from wealthy productive citizens and giving it to poor lazy ones. That's called liberal progressive or democrat.

So what were the results of the great experiment of the last century.
Well when the citizens of the communist societies learned how much poorer they all were compared to the west they realized that communism does not work. Why ? because everyone was sitting on their butt all day!

Unfortunately this lesson has been lost on the liberal, progressive democrats. That is why they still believe in high taxes and goverment handouts to the disadvantaged.
The result is families where three generations have never worked.
People on disability that are faking their illness. You know the one's with back problems that prevent them from working but they can still go for a jog in the am and be home in time to get their check.

And so this is the real difference between conservatives and liberals.
Conservatives want to reward people who work by lowering their taxes and letting them keep their money.

Liberals want to reward people for being lazy by raising taxes on those who work so they can give money to those that refuse to work.

Answer 3

Respect to the Missing Lincoln. Those who support right-wing governments have been taught that liberal means "indecisive", progressive means "hippy" and democrat means "weak".

This is gibberish of course. They are indeed very complimentary terms, establishing the identity of those who believe in equality of opportunity, mental and passionate engagement with problems, and the fundamental goodness of human beings.

And just to throw a little controversy into the pot - can I invite my American fellow-answerers to learn a little something about socialism - you don't have it now, you've never had it in the last century, and evidently from the responses here, you're not entirely sure that it's a separate thing from Communism...which you've also never experienced. Democratic politics comes from the same heart as socialism - the expressed will of the majority of the people determining compassionate, broad-based policies for all, rather than the narrow concerns of the market dictating policies that ignore the majority and much a minority very rich. But true socialism is an idea that has long - and sadly - been dead in most nations that once had the vision to dream of it.

Answer 4

Sad, isn't it?

This all revoves around the trueism "The only constant in life is change."

Everybody has difficulty in accepting change into their lives. It is uncomfortable, unsettling and suddenly the cosy little routemap we had for our lives is thrown into confusion.

The wonder of our society is that everybody is unique and helps build a tappestry of diversity that not only makes our society tick, it provides a touch of colour and pizzazz to life.

However, the down side is that people accept the idea of change differently. Some just shrug their shoulders, smile and just get on with it. Others go into deep denial and look at change as something to be feared.

It is fear that is the killer.

Fear causes us to react in ways that are often illogical and even counter productive. One of those reactions is to lash out against the whole idea of change - hence the reasons you will see people lashing out at terms like liberal, progressive and democrat.

Overall, change is a very good thing. Look back in history and you will find that conservatives tried to stop the development of train travel (The human body cannot stand sppeds of over 30 miles per hour).

It just took time or a cataclysm for people to accept new ideas and innovations are the only way to move forward.

So it will be again when climate change starts to really bite. When there is a particularly horrific gun crime, when oil prices reach levels that stifle the economy, when the realisation strikes that state instituted violence doesn't actually resolve anyjthing.

Answer 5

I can understand the term brainless

Liberalism is just the opposite of socialism. Actually a conservative is much more closer to a Fascist than a liberal!!!!

There goes your argument.!!!!!

Guess what term fits the first two neo-cons?? It isn't conservative!

Liberalism is an ideology, philosophy, and political tradition that holds liberty as the primary political value.[1] Broadly speaking, liberalism seeks a society characterized by freedom of thought for individuals, limitations on power, especially of government and religion, the rule of law, the free exchange of ideas, a market economy that supports relatively free private enterprise, and a transparent system of government in which the rights of minorities are guaranteed. In modern society, liberals favour a liberal democracy with open and fair elections, where all citizens have equal rights by law and an equal opportunity to succeed[2

Conservatism is a philosophy defined by Edmund Burke as "a disposition to preserve, and an ability to improve".[1] The term derives from conserve; from Latin conservare, to keep, guard, observe. Classical conservatism does not readily avail itself to the ideology of objectives. It is a philosophy primarily concerned with means over ends. To a conservative, the goal of change is less important than the insistence that change be effected with a respect for the rule of law and traditions of society.

Conservatism is tethered to the traditions of a given society and therefore it cannot hold any single or universal meaning across the world


Fascism is a radical authoritarian political philosophy that combines elements of corporatism, totalitarianism, extreme nationalism, militarism, anti-communism and anti-liberalism.

Why are they used as an insult. I think it has to do with the fact thats the only argument they can come up with! It is obvious that they don't even know what it means!

Making up definitions Joe? Yes, I think it is basically wrong to give the rich 2 major tax cuts. WE ALL KNOW. including Ronald Reagan and David Stockman, that trickle down has NEVER worked!!

Answer 6

Many liberals deny who they are. You use colorful language without saying anything. Democrats supported Jim Crow and were still "Progressive". Supported free speech and backed the Fairness doctrine when they had a monopoly in the Media, and then get angry when Ann Coulter uses Free speech. Conservative thought is more consistant and better thought out. Liberals only recently decided they need think tanks. But GEE I Thought they were always Thinking. They after all were annointed by the big Bananna to run everything into the ground,
Our schools are failures BECAUSE of LIBERAL thinking.
Forrest I gotta get a box of choclates.

Answer 7

Because the "conservatives" (narrow minded rhetoric spewing religious hypocrites) like to think that Liberal means "easy" and Conservative means "Hard" I believe this narrowminded thinking (for the last two generations, and remember most of Senate and Congress republicans are old school) comes from the ideology that the Kennedy's had it so easy while Nixon was a scrapper and had to fight for everything and that just went down along the generations. Liberal, progressive democrats are perceived as whiners, contributing to the downfall of America. Which cracks me up, Republicans are the ones that are so money oriented, so against the "people"
don't endorse any programs that actually help people, are willing to do anything to throw their constituents into this war. Look at the stats: Who enlists? (younger guys from red states) Who pumps them up to enlist (their Republican leaders) Who votes down every raise for the military? (Republicans) Who tries to get more benefits, more money, more post mordem family care (Democrats)
Republicans try to call themselves the religious right, yet Dems are FAR more family values and all about the people.
And oh yea? That downfall of America? I believe it happened in January of 2001, nine months later we had well, you know (try to blam it on Clinton, it didn't happen while Clinton was Pres)

Answer 8

It's part of the organized demonization of liberalism in this country.

In order for the right to keep control of the country, they have to keep the country from thinking about real issues. By concentrating the hatred of their base on one or two groups, they can eventually get to a point where anything that goes wrong or might be "bad" can get blamed on that group. Hitler did the same thing -- read "Mein Kampf" and replace the word "Jew" with "Liberal" -- you'll see a lot of the same spewage as that coming out of Coulter, O'Reilly, and the rest of Karl Rove's mouthpieces.

I thought it was interesting to see Tom Delay's parting words describing how much hatred was pointed his way by the evil liberals -- talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

Answer 9

i see democrats and left-wingers as people who dont look at the big picture. for example: marijuana legalization. many liberals back this proposal. you say that if people wanna kill themselves, then let them. however, what about the people that are affected by second-hand smoke? or those who are killed by a driver under the influence of the drug?

in addition to marijuana, many liberals overlook the long-term effects of gay marriage. yes, many secular institutions back such a concept. but what if it starts to infiltrate the church? the Church will be further corrupted, and will allow something that the Bible forbids.

power to the people is a scary thought. this is because the "people" do not know exactly what they're getting into. this is why i am a conservative.

Answer 10

All of those terms are used by communists/marxists as a way to hide the fact that they are communists/marxists. They don't do a very good job of it so everyone knows that they are actually communists and marxists. And by communist/marxist, of course, I mean someone who glorifies in the genocide of hundreds of millions of people. Marxism spawned national socialism (nazism for the uneducated), communism, socialism and now liberalism and progressive movements. All of these things have the same goal....genocide. If you think for one moment that we are going to let you do in this country, what you did in nazi germany, the soviet union, ukraine, north korea, china, cuba and a whole bunch of other hell holes that escape me at the moment, well, we have a nice length of rope with your name on it.