What does it mean to be a Liberal?

Answer 1

It means that you are not wearing your sphincter muscle as a helmet.

Answer 2

My definition would be a person who believes that the goverment is the solution to most of the world's problems. A liberal believes that the government should take care of everyone (Welfare). A liberal also feels the need for government to control business and industry so they don't do anything they consider bad (polution controls.)
That is were terms such as bleeding heart liberal come about (They bleed for everybody's sob story.) A liberal also believes that the government knows better how to spend your money than you do and therefore liberal congresspersons like to raise taxes. Liberals believe that it is the environment or the parents that are at fault.

I believe a conservative believes in less government. That people should be free to do with their money what they choose (less taxes) and that people should turn to their families to help take care of them and be willing to work hard to learn a skill so they can get off of welfare. That churches and communities should help people become responsible for themselves and get off of the government dole. Conservatives believe in personal responsibility.

These are my beliefs as a moderate conservative, that too many people are bleeding the goverment dry instead of picking themselves up and getting a job and become a productive member of society, not a leach. This is not an attack on liberals, just my viewpoint.

Answer 3

A liberal removes the beem from his eyes before trying to find the speck in his brothers eye. A Liberal shows support for the troops in Iraq by wanting them to come home to be with their family instead of dying for a cause (WMDs)that never existed. A Liberal wants to increase minimum wages instead of making the rich richer, A Liberal is grateful to be an American instead of being proud. . .which according to the Bible is a sin. A Liberal says God bless everyone and not just a select 3 or 5 percent of the world's population. A Liberal pledges allegiance to the Cross instead of a piece of cloth(Yes, even there that maybe a stretch about believing in the cross, but I speak for myself). A Liberal tries to care for the environment instead of "trusting" the polluters to reduce greenhouse emissions. A Liberal believes we are responsible for global-warming instead of trying to deny it even exists. A Liberal believes in peace through peace instead of death and destruction. A Liberal does not judge a book by its cover. A Liberal believes that he or she is not better than anyone else on this planet just because he or she is an American or a Christian. A Liberal believes that the rich do not pay their fair share of taxes and that the tax burden has unfairly shifted to the working middle-class(Even I have to exclude Liberal Congress members from that one).

In short, what does it mean to be a liberal? It means not being a conservative!

Answer 4

It could mean one of any number of things, depending on both who you ask and the time frame you're interested in.

Originally, the term "liberal" was used to describe those opposed to the traditional, monarchial, autocratic forms of European government. This usage of the term dates back to the Congress of Vienna, which assembled to deal with the aftermath of Napoleon's conquest of Europe (early 19th century).

From there, the term has been used to those who tend to be interested in the Enlightenment ideals of "life, liberty, and property" (if you ask Locke), and a generally egalitarian, rationalist, democratic, political situation.

In the 20th century, generally around the advent of Communism in Europe and the collapse of modernist confidence after World War I, the term "liberal" lost much of its classic sense and has become something of an insult to many. While it still can mean what it did 100 or 200 years ago, most people feel the need to indicate this by saying "classic liberalism".

Liberalism today is associated with the "Left" of the political spectrum: labor politics, race politics, gender politics , sexual politics (including gay rights), abortion rights, moral nihilism, etc. More serious observers consider this to be a debasement of the term "liberal", but it has passed into common usage.

Answer 5

You people need to stop before you hurt yourselves. A liberal, in the strictest sense of the word, is one who believes in individual liberty and responsibility first an foremost. True liberals believe in limited government involvement in private affairs. True liberals believe in states' rights above the control of the Federal Government. True liberals believe in free market economies (yes, that means capitalism).

These so-called "liberals" of today are actually neo-socialists who will tell you what ever they think you want to hear if you will only allow them the power to take from one group and give to themselves and then the poor. That includes money, power, hope, and freedom. Take from one and give to another. That's what a "liberal" is today.

If you want to know what a true liberal is, ask a Libertarian.

Answer 6

I guess I could be considered a Liberal. To me this term means that I support others right to their beliefs, even if I think they are wrong. I do not put myself upon a pedestal or play god by saying my way is the only way. I abhor pornography, but the freedom of speech in the constitution gives pornographers the right to free speech, so I find myself in the position of supporting them. The constitution guarantees Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness...if you are a homosexual, why should you be denied this? Should we let our fellow members of society starve because they do not have the ability (for what ever reason) to support themselves? This just leads to crime and homelessness. I think the framers of the constitution were more compassionate than that.

That is just a small sampling of what a liberal is to me. I hope that helps you in your quest.

Answer 7

That any problem can be solved by throwing enough money at it and that having protests at the execution of a murderer is productive and that pedophiles can be rehabilitated within a months time to be let back on the street but gays can't help who they are and do not deserve to be discriminated.

So, in a nutshell:

If you want to be a liberal, think of every common sense occurance in a lifetime, and then take the opposite stand of that.

Answer 8

once upon a time it was a term used in government for those who were all about big changes and openess, now it is still about openness or at least acceptance of people who don't follow the norm, unless of course those people are what are considered conservatives or republicans..then anything THEY say is wrong, and all the OTHER people of the world are right..liberal is often used as a negative term today based on the actions of those who claim to be liberals...most of them actions that are considered very unamerican, and unpatriotic...

Answer 9

Liberals believe in big government. Lots of Government programs. Higher Taxes. Protecting you from you. leniency on criminals. Giving rights to those who would kill you. Blaming America for every bad thing that happens. Sending jobs out of America so other countries can benefit. Giving away military secrets to china. Giving 3 billion dollars a year to N. Korea.(Even though they hate us) Making Abraham Cherrix take chemotherapy for his cancer when he don't want to go through it again. Covering up good news so everyone thinks the economy is bad and thinking the war in Iraq is going bad. They think that if you don't agree with them your wrong. They are Marxist's. They side with terrorists in time of war.

Do I really need to go on?

the person without a name hit the nail on the head there.

Answer 10

I am a Liberal.......what you might consider "middle of the road" Liberal.

We defend the rights of human beings, yet as a "middle of the road" we don't want to give everything away, and hold true to some old fashioned values.

Liberals are Democrats by and large. I am middle of the road because while I do support MOST our causes, I do not support ALL.
I hope this helps.

Answer 11

this poem should answer that...

Hominidae

There are the leaf-eaters and the carnivores,
Democrats and Republicans.
Study the nice and the nasty -- see the pink,
and the colorless...interact.
Liberals cower -- look! there, in the corner
while the conservative laughs like a hiss.
With one mending the earth,
and one waiting for sky -- 
the spineless mom, the molester dad,
here they feed, America.
Smash your rose colored plasma-screen world.
wake and watch from the distance, man.
Fly elsewhere, look back through the film;
there is nothing, save the bleeding heart and the cold stare,
in this country schizophrenic:
the few who love each other,
and the fukkers who love themselves.