Obama: destroyer of the Left. And why I still call myself a liberal

Cannonfire hits at a point I have been throwing into posts - sometimes at random - for a year.

Obama will destroy the Left.

The country thinks that Obama is some sort of lefty. He isn't one, but that's what people think. If his plan fails - and it will - all left-ish solutions (real left and faux left) will be discredited.

Paul Krugman continues to bravely attack the thinking of the Obama Administration from the Left.



Why I am still a liberal.
When I say I am a liberal I am talking about a broad ideology that has a basis in both classical liberalism, and some New Deal and Great society policies.

I wiggle around about in my own beliefs, especially after last year, but fundamentally they are - randomly:

1. A well educated (classic liberal Western education is what I mean) population is a national concern.

2. The Federal government has a place in some domestic arenas. Head Start and Social Security for example. I see no other way in an industrial or post industrial society.

3. Legal equality for all is the purview of the Federal government. Therefore I think the ERA should still be passed, Gays must be given the same rights as Heterosexuals - including marriage.

4. The Constitution must not be seen as something to be "strictly constructed" but "strictly interpreted." Flexibility was built into by the founders. Not a lot - but some.

5. Overseas military intervention must always be a last resort.

6. The second amendment is interpretable. No one has the "right to bear arms" in total. I can't carry a stinger missile around town. Therefore the kind of arms a citizen can own should be legislated. Arguments over the extent of control are good and healthy.

7. Money is not speech. Rich people do not get "more speech" than poor people under the 1st Amendment. All elections should be financed publicly. Everything rides on this. As long as money is the primary concern of our representatives the system will sputter and be unresponsive. A fine example fell on Dodd's head this week.

8. The right to terminate a pregnancy belongs to the pregnant person until the fetus is viable.
The best way to prevent unwanted pregnancy is intelligent sex education and accessible birth control. Telling humans to abstain from sex is not an answer and never has been. Obviously, society has an interest in discouraging the young from sexual activity. This is a matter of placing value on human sexuality - not simply saying "Don't do that" which any horny teen will tell you is ridiculous. Sexual behavior is not degrading. We have comodified sex and degraded human sexuality, which has cheapened sex. The inability for many to accept the normal homosexual behavior of a certain percentage of any population is a good example of how thick the denial is.

I no longer support Roe V Wade. It is time to have this arguments in the states or amend the Constitution.

9. Capitalism controlled to a degree from excess by a freely elected Federal government (see 7) is the best system we've yet devised. (The bad banks should have been nationalized by Obama for a year.) Capitalism is important. Democracy is more important. Over the last 50 years we've reversed the priority - become consumers first and citizens second.

10. The government on all levels has almost no business interfering in the private lives of citizens.

11. The wall between church and state must be very high.


That is it for now. I do not know what else to call myself given the above list. Certainly not a conservative. And not a faux liberal so in vogue now. Libertarians have their appeal. I have no doubt I'd become one if (when) everything collapses. Until then I am a liberal. Feel free to tihnk up another label.