Why is being a "Liberal" considered to be such a bad thing by Republicans?

Question

It seems that if you are a Democrat you are immediately labled as being a "Liberal" and summarily an outcast to the current political machine. It seems that the Republicans use this term, "Liberal" as a form of name calling, catagorizing, and insulting to otherwise intelligent human beings....why? So, what demeaning term does a Democrat (Liberal) use to demean (return the favor) to a Republican?

Answer 1

1. Neocons... hehe (thought I'd throw my own version of name calling in) use name calling as a method of 'winning'. That's all in the own head btw.

2. I've watched some detailed research on this subject on CSpan and it was actually a goal of the Republican party to have a campaign designed specifically to make the word 'liberal' derogatory. Their goal was to have the words liberal and democrat to mean the same when someone is talking about each party.

Their strategy worked btw. Today even us democrats use the word liberal to describe us when we all know that the far left is only a minority of the democratic party.

Did you know that Clinton was a moderate democrat? Yep. But if you listen to ppl today, they say, '... that liberal democrat Clinton.....'.

Answer 2

Being a liberal is not a bad thing all by itself, and not all ideas and proposals made by liberals is bad or wrong. For that matter not everything proposed by conservatives is good and right. Both parties engage in hypocrisy, but I see it more from the liberal side. For example, when Bill Clinton bombed Iraq for violating the peace agreement from Gulf War I, the explanation was that Saddam had weapons and/or was developing WMDs, and every Democrat supported that position. Indeed a lot of Republicans supported that position, though some felt the timing had more to do with the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Yet, when George W Bush goes to war against Iraq, claiming, as intelligence agencies told him that their were WMDs, and as we saw use of against the Northern Kurds and Iranians in the 1980's, Bush is called a liar when no WMDs are found. Clinton and Bush acted under the same intelligence and came to the same conclusions. Difference is that Bush ended the threat of Saddam forever. Only time will tell if it would have been better to deal with "the devil we know".

Liberals tend to think of themselves as the tolerant party, I think it is the other way around. Far more often I see conservatives as the ones who allow the liberals their way. Liberals tollerate as long as it is not conservative, there can be no tolleration there.

Answer 3

The differences between liberal and conservative are basic differences in ideology. The dems I know don't really call other people names like the repubs do; I guess it's a matter of maturity. FYI, I'm an Independent!

I will give you this though, We went into Afganistan to depose the Taliban who: 1) attempted to force a specific religious doctrine upon the population, 2) degraded the roles of women in society to disempower them, 3) took away reproductive rights from women to make them second class citizens, and 4) discouraged questioning the government and arrested people who showed "unpatriotic" behavior.

How do the republicans stack up against the Taliban?
1) the christian right controls the Republican party, 2) Republicans oppose the equal rights amendment, 3) the Bush Admin is attemptingf to ban abortion, and pulls Federal funding from any federally funded agency that even mentions abortion or condoms in a discussion of safe sex, and 4) the Patriot act.

I now call them "Republibans" or, the "New American Taliban".

Answer 4

It's no different than the Democrats calling the Republicans Conservatives or Right Wingers. You make it sound like Republicans are the only ones doing the name calling. Both sides do their fair share of name calling.

What I would like to know is why the name calling bothers so many people?!? I don't think of liberal or right winger being derogatory or offensive.

Answer 5

Both parties attempt to divide the public along false ideological lines using wedge issues, semantical deception, and smoke and mirrors. I liken politics to wrestling. Back in the days of WCW Monday Nitro, you had the new world order white and the new world order red that pretended to hate each other in the ring. But afterwards, you know they all got along just fine and went to the same parties and such. And, they all reported to Vince McMahon from whom they took their orders. Our politicians tow their party line, which the party heads receive from the global elites. These are the people that met at Bilderberg in Ottawa just this past weekend. Anyway, it is all a fraud. Both parties voted for the war. Both parties have left the border wide open to illegals. Both parties spend money like there is no tomorrow. We have witnessed the biggest expansion of government in history under Bush, but aren't Republicans supposedly the party of fiscal conservatives? It is a fraud. Get beyond the phony left-right debate.

Answer 6

nothing is wrong with liberals republicans demean the term becasue republicans are afraid that more people will wake up and smell the cofee and become liberal. republicans don't want universal health care, free college education, and equality for all people. this is what liberals beleive in-peace, eqaulity, and a fair chance for all people. doesnt sound bad does it? republicans believe in big buisinees and corporations controlling the country.

Answer 7

Wow, if liberal has the same demeaning power as facist, we are in for some big-time problems!

I would call a republican neo-conservative, ultra-conservative, conservative, or just pansy-a$$ navel-gazing selfish homophobe.

Is it just me or does this describe Republicans to a tee, especially in relation to religion and the christian right (who, contrary to their own marketing, are still a minority)?:
"...making the majority of Americans who believe in the same thing adjust to the minority of people who believe something different because it "offends" them."

Answer 8

Because "liberal" refers to selfless doing.That's why self-serving CONservatives pretend to be religious,and use the word as a smear.Republicans who are paid by stockholders and lobbyists to change laws to benefits the rich at the expense of the poor wouldn't be caught dead actually doing any of the works Christ reccommended.

Answer 9

Because 'liberal' means socialist/communist in modern political parlance and the Democratic party has largely been co-opted by such liberals.

Answer 10

Liberals have the the stereotype of being Godless and making the majority of Americans who believe in the same thing adjust to the minority of people who believe something different because it "offends" them.