It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
(visit the link for the full news article)
1. Liberals hate America.
For the record: Liberals love America. In fact, what makes us liberals is that we actually read and believed all those pretty words in the Declaration of Independence about "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," and in the Bill of Rights about freedom of speech, religion, assembly, privacy, and all the rest of it.
2. Liberals want to leave us defenseless in the face of evildoers around the world.
The big disconnect on security issues begins with the fact that we have a far more expansive definition of "security" than conservatives do. And, perhaps, a broader sense of what the actual threats are, and what can be done about them.
3. Liberals hate the free market.
If that's so, why does everyone down at the Apple Store know my name?
4. Liberals hate our troops.
We love our troops. We love them so much that we want them brought home safe and sound to their families, as soon as possible.
5. Liberals are a bunch of elitists who hate decent working- and middle-class Americans.
...as opposed to those sainted corporate men-of-the-people who fly around in private jets and pull down eight-figure salaries while closing plants and cutting 10,000 jobs at a time. That's what real populism looks like, you betcha.
6. Liberals are against "family values."
This is one of the biggest disconnects between us. As George Lakoff has pointed out, conservatives and liberals have very different ideas about what families look like, how they function, and what rules they should run under.
7. Liberals want to raise our taxes.
It all depends on who is the "our" in this scenario.
If your dinner companions are well-off enough to be bringing in over $250K a year, there's no point in finessing this. Their taxes probably are going up. The only comeback is that between Clinton-era tax cuts, the housing bubble, and the hot stock market of the past 15 years, they've probably made so much money that it's time to start giving some back to the nation that made their boon possible.
8. Liberals are Godless—and therefore, amoral.
This often sounds odd coming from people who raised you, who generally like you, and who usually think you're a fairly sound citizen...well, apart from that weird liberal thing.
9. Liberals don't believe in personal responsibility.
Again, there's a definitional disconnect at work here. Conservatives tend to use the rule of law to enforce traditional morality and social hierarchies, which usually means light treatment for those at the top, and harsh penalties for those at the bottom.
10. Liberals are wimps.
Conservatives like to caricaturize liberals as being soft in all the places our society values toughness. Our refusal to adhere to any dogma must mean that we're soft in our convictions.... But you can only believe this if you don't know anything about the history or reality of American liberalism. The Constitution is, itself, a liberal document—the ultimate expression of Enlightenment principles.
Originally posted by grover
Yes it takes wimps to face down the water cannons and dogs and racists in Selma Alabama.
Yes it takes an amoral atheist to stand up for all people of faith (and none) instead of making hypocritical noise about just one.
Yes it takes someone who wants to raise your taxes to understand that when only the middle class and poor pay taxes the seeds of revolution are sown.
Originally posted by grover
There weren't just black people at Selma or any other of the key moments of the Civil rights era.
Originally posted by grover
we actually read and believed all those pretty words in the Bill of Rights about freedom of speech, religion, assembly, privacy, and all the rest of it.
And, perhaps, a broader sense of what the actual threats are, and what can be done about them.
Liberals hate the free market.
If that's so, why does everyone down at the Apple Store know my name?
We love our troops. We love them so much that we want them brought home safe and sound to their families, as soon as possible.
...as opposed to those sainted corporate men-of-the-people who fly around in private jets and pull down eight-figure salaries while closing plants and cutting 10,000 jobs at a time.
liberals have very different ideas about what families look like, how they function, and what rules they should run under.
Liberals want to raise our taxes.
It all depends on who is the "our" in this scenario.
Liberals are Godless—and therefore, amoral.
which usually means light treatment for those at the top, and harsh penalties for those at the bottom.
Liberals are wimps.
The Constitution is, itself, a liberal document
Support for Republicans has long been characterized as the "Christian Right". Some call an important part of the Democratic Party's base the "Non-Christian Left".
The Democrats support among "mainline white Protestants" is far weaker than conventional wisdom would suppose it to be, and Democratic support among Catholics has declined greatly in the past generation
Originally posted by grover
We often see the same problems... we just see different solutions and that should be respected.
Originally posted by nyk537
Unfortunately Conservatives don't get the kind of respect around here that your demanding liberals get.
Originally posted by nyk537
Unfortunately Conservatives don't get the kind of respect around here that your demanding liberals get.
Originally posted by grover
The whole point behind this thread is that despite rhetoric to the contrary liberals/progressives are no less patriotic or less concerned about the welfare than conservatives are.
We often see the same problems... we just see different solutions and that should be respected.