I Want My Liberalism Back!

Liberals can’t support war.  They simply can’t, not if they want to call themselves liberals.  They can call themselves Democrats or Progressives, but they can not think of themselves as liberals.  It’s that simple.  Liberalism is reserved for those humans that do not and can not accept war and killing as an option in modern geopolitics.  I’ll say this now, if you support President Obama’s surge in Afghanistan, please, for the sake of all liberals, do not identify yourself with this ideology.  

Now I know so called liberals have been associated with war from the gitgo.  Cain thought he was a liberal and he went and killed his own brother for crying out loud.  Fucking Cain, see what you did man?

Presidents Truman and Johnson proclaimed themselves liberal even though they ordered the killing of people around the world.  Ya, some think they can be liberal but still proceed with the pursuit of power and wealth by extinguishing the lives of five year old kids.

Madeline Albright, former Secretary of State under Clinton, as well as Clinton himself, have been portrayed as liberal democrats.  Is it possible a liberal can say something like this:

It boggles my mind, I don’t know about yours, that a person can be perceived as a liberal and say something like that.  

Liberalism is a broad class of political philosophies that considers individual liberty and equality to be the most important political goals.  Liberalism cannot be applied selectively.  A liberal can’t be a liberal within the confines of U.S. policy while ignoring the individual liberty of people in other countries.  

Within liberalism, there are various streams of thought which compete over the use of the term “liberal” and may propose very different policies, but they are generally united by their support for constitutional liberalism, which encompasses support for: freedom of thought and speech, limitations on the power of governments, the rule of law, an individual’s right to private property, and a transparent system of government. (Wikipedia)

“Individual rights and equality of opportunity”.  I’ve always thought the greatest “right” and the most important “equality of opportunity”, was the right to live.  What else matters if you don’t live?  Particularly the right to live without governments, those we want to limit, dropping bombs and white phosphorus on peasant heads.  Innocent civilians don’t cause wars.  Arrogant, self righteous and greedy  government officials cause wars.  A true liberal is a the most compassionate of people, a truth and justice seeker.    

Modern liberal thought originated in and influenced the politics of The Netherlands, the United Kingdom and France. The first modern liberal state was the United States of America, founded on the principle that “all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to insure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. (Wikipedia)  

The United States government has never upheld the principles of liberalism on which this country was founded.  From slavery to Native American genocide to fascist regime changes in South America, and to the current imperialistic endeavors in Iraq, Afghanistan and the entire world, the U.S. government has shamed the ideals itself advocated.  

There will always be liberal people.  There are also those that prefer to believe they are liberal yet are actually no more so than some that prefer to think they are a Christian.  They may think it’s so, but their actions speak differently.   Many simply don’t get it.  Perhaps true liberalism is going the way of true Christianity.  

“We have nothing to fear but fear itself”.  We all know that famous saying.  Few heed it when it comes to those in foreign lands.  Our fear justifies the killing of innocent women and children.  Our fear justifies spraying 21,000,000 gallons of Agent Orange on South Vietnam citizens.  Our fear justifies our continued use of White Phosphorus, Willy Pete, in Afghanistan.  Our fear justifies spending a trillion dollars per year on “defense” while we ignore health care, infrastructure improvements, and homelessness.  Our fear allows our government to torture and kill.  Our fear causes too many to trust a government that has lied to its citizens from the beginning.  

We need a liberal reawakening and it must come with the cessation of permanent war, and a hard line on what constitutes being a liberal.  We must uphold liberal values, the same values our nation was founded on, for all people in all countries.  A true liberal doesn’t distinguish between a five year old child in Seattle from one in Afghanistan.   A true liberal seeks to rid themself of contradictions regarding how liberalism is applied in all aspects of their life.  A true liberal has no fear except the fear of justice, liberty and equality denied.  Becoming a true liberal requires effort.  We must keep liberalism from dying.  End U.S. Imperialism.