Why I Am a Liberal

The older most people get, the more conservative they become.  With me, it’s the opposite.  The older I get, the more liberal I become.

I thank Fox News and Rush Limbaugh for much of that.  I listen to both of them whenever possible because I want to test my beliefs against the best conservatives have to offer.  

And if Fox News and Rush Limbaugh represent today’s conservatism, then conservatives offer nothing (unless, of course, you consider negativism something.)

They hate Obamacare, but they offer nothing to replace it -- other than the system we had before, which denied coverage to millions of deserving people.  They hate his plans to stimulate the economy, but they offer nothing to replace it -- other than an austerity plan that has failed everywhere it has been tried and most economists say cannot work.  Look at Europe. 

But most of all they hate liberals.

And what have liberals done to cause all that hatred?

Lawrence O’Donnell Jr. answered that quite clearly when he pointed out that liberals got women the right to vote, got African-Americans the right to vote, created Social Security and thus lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty, ended racial segregation, passed the Civil Rights Act, passed the Voting Rights Act, created Medicare, passed the Clean Air Act, passed the Clean Water Act.

And what did conservatives do?   

They opposed every one of those things.  Every One!

O’Donnell adds:  “So when you try to hurl that label at my feet,  “Liberal,”  as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, IT WON’T WORK, because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor.”

Amen, brother O’Donnell.

-Skip