Pushing the Liberals to the Left
This comes from Patrick
If socialized health care is a far left idea then there are sure alot of far left leaning countries out there. almost all of the industrialized/modern countries have some sort of socialized medicine. I guess my point is that definitions have been changed.
The right has done a very good job of changing "liberal" to "far left". A liberal position on say religion would allow anybody to practice any religion or not, a far left position would outlaw religion. A liberal position on say abortion would allow for personal choice, a far left postion might force abortion, i.e. china.
I would agree there are some liberal ideas being expressed in this election cycle. Liberal is not always bad, women voting, social security, many other liberal/progressive ideas have been positive for the United States. Other liberal ideas have not been so good.
If you were to look at the political spectrum of the world, I think you would find the US is right of center. So when the right says "far left" they really mean centrist.If a majority of americans want socialized medicine, is it really a far left idea?
I would like to know what you, or some of the responders to your blog, think what far left means.
To be fair and balanced I also do not think there are alot of "far right" ideas out there, like accepting torture.
Fox news has obviously been very successful.
Joe's reply....I see your point. This is basically why I am a liberal and a democrat because I believe that most of what the party stands for are sound and reasonable issues. The right has been trying, and with much success, to turn "liberal" into a bad word and this is how they do it, by making their issues sound like they are way out in left field. Wanting to protect the environment, animal rights, helping the poor, womens rights to abortion, medical marijuana, euthanasia....these are all issues that really belong in the middle or maybe to the slight left of the middle, definitely not out in far left. Im sure the right see's their issues the same way although the liberals do not try to make you into a right wing nut case because you believe in your right to own a gun.
By pushing the liberal agenda to the far left, it makes the right wing agenda seem very centrist, and I do believe that there has been a perpetrated effort on their part to do this. They are smarter than the liberals when it comes to being devious and misleading. This is why they keep winning the white house and why they will probably do it again this year. They've already got Barak painted as the most left wing liberal in the senate.
The left has made many mistakes, some of their agenda has gone too far. Most liberals do not condone pulling a screaming fetus from a mother and then killing it. Most liberals do not support hiring minorities over better qualified white people just because they are a minority. We have screwed up in some areas and I think we need to come clean and admit that and fix it. It is because of our few far left ideas that we have promoted that the right has been so successful in making our whole agenda appear to be far left.