Democrats and liberals: Why are you not more liberal?

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Those who identify themselves as Democrats, and/or as liberals, what are your reasons for retaining some conservatism, and not being as liberal as liberal can be?

Since this answer will likely differ for everyone, I've decided not to make a poll.
It seems that, at least in my country, liberals drift toward their extreme fringe, the very-vocal far left.
So, I wanted to ask those who are in favor of liberal policies why you choose not to just spontaneously be as liberal as possible.

Also, does anyone here, perhaps, feel that they are the epitome of liberalism? That is to say, as far-left as far-left gets?

The US doesn't have a credible socialist party or outspoken mainstream Marxists but we have a tendency towards leftwing fringe nutjobbery? Odd.

We have many people with strong socialist sympathies, but these people continue to vote for Democrats rrather than supporting a third party candidate. I think that's what he was asking; why don't our liberals and socialists do more to promote their views?

Hillary clearly believes in socialism. She'd like the country to embrace socialized medicine, for starters.
You don't think there are tons of socialists in the US?

For the same reason that the Republican Party didn't go spontaneously full-conswervative when it picked McCain.

Umm... yeah, I doubt that Hilary believes in more than populism. Like I said, there is a lack of socialist party or mainstream socialist thinkers. You might get some "class war" stuff from the dems, but not any outright marxism. So, really, I don't think that Hilary is a socialist, just a very authoritarian politician.


We don't have a lot of people with strong socialist sympathies outside of perhaps sociology departments and such. The average American does not consider socialism credible, with a number of anti-communists. I mean, really, there are some socialists, but not a credible number.

Great thread ! !!

Will the liberals in the room please stand up.. so I can pick them off one by one with my ultra arrogant right wing fanaticism gun. In fact who out there thinks they might be the most liberal? I want to fire a couple shots into THAT guy first.

I looked this up as a refresher course for myself, to make sure I completely understood what socialism is, and the first definition that came up sounds a lot like Democrat thought in America today:


http://www.merriam-webster.com

Understand I'm not saying our government is socialist, but that Democrats constantly vote for greater and tighter governmental regulation of large companies -- companies which successfully keep America running smoothly. I mean, the government is the most inefficiently-run organization we have; why would we want it to have its hands into running our businesses?? They can't even function without a full third of our yearly income, if you believe the IRS. It would wake everyone up to this extreme waste by government of their hard-earned pay if the government were to, for just one year, suspend automatic tax withholding, and then just send each person a bill for their full taxes at the end of the year. People would absolutely flip out at how much the government claims it needs from them, the little guys, to continue operating.

Last edited by Ragtime on 10 Apr 2008, 10:16 am, edited 1 time in total.

I know what the democrats do, however, still, our nation has a much stronger market ideology than a number of other nations. At the very least, our textbooks are less compromised with leftwing political nonsense than those of many other nations.

Enjoy Spanish Civil War 2.0

It's hard to get us.

Anyway, I'm a Socialist and like some of the ideas in Anarchism and Communism; I might vote for Nader, Obama or Gravel. one of the 3, if I can vote in 2008 (birthday is right by the election date, supposedly you can vote if 17 and around that time...)

The United States was founded by a bunch of libertarians inspired by philosophers like Locke and Rousseau really. This foundation stayed with the United States for much of the 19th century, and in the 20th century, we've seen the U.S. become more rapidly "left leaning" so to speak.

Looking at the most recent General Social Survey, only 3.1% of Americans would call themselves extremely liberal (http://www.thearda.com/Archive/Files/Co ... 006_CB.asp , question seventy-eight). If only 3.1% are that extreme/fringe, it makes sense to not have policies that reflect their beliefs.

tax the wealthy
then tax them again
and if they dont like it
tax them some more

for all the so called "little guys"
whos hands were stepped on as
Captain Greed bullied his way
up the ladder

What it this supposed to mean?
Clarification please

and this..



was the truth behind this



Why he wont just come out and admit as much
is beyond me

I don't know.

Maybe it's because I don't trust any politics and for what they stand for. I just try to get as close as I can to what's liberal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Civil_War

Basically you said you would shoot all the liberals. I said you'd have a hard time as us leftists are just as armed and/or can arm themselves better. See how hard Franco had it when he tried to institute a radical right-wing fascist coup in Spain (with the support of most of the military) in the 1930s. He still had a hard time, he fought against artists and workers and they made him work for that country. He took 1/3 of Spain early on but was stalemated for most of the rest of the war...until Italy and Germany jumped Republican Spain and bombed many of its' cities to the groud (see Guernica) and the Soviet Union/Stalinists who were 'helping' messed with the Anarchists and Libertarian Communism

EDIT: also this. and google "Anarchism in Spain"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Revolution

Too simple. Through most of our history, there have been 3 political cultures. Across the south, there was a paternalistic culture where a small number of powerful families dominated both politics and the economy - the good ole boys. In New England and across the upper Midwest, there was a moralistic culture that believed that government could actively do good, and many advances in public education, public health and other issues related to the common good were made here - this is the closest to the idea of liberal that most people have. In the Mid-Atlantic and lower midwest, government was idealized as a referee whose purpose was to enforce the rules fairly for all, but not to play the game.