Why do Americans seem to dislike liberals? Did we forget how much liberals contributed to American society?

[Gamer]

I am not a liberal myself. I am a moderate conservative.

Liberals:
founded the country (the conservatives were pro-British)
built the American government (a federal three-branch government was a novel idea that was never put into practice until the framers came along)
ended slavery (the conservatives were pro-slavery)
established labor unions (the conservatives were venture capitalists who only served themselves with ruthless business tactics)
articulated the idea of socialism (underscored the importance of government regulation of industry)
helped us out of the Great Depression (FDR exercised unheard-of levels of peak government control of industry with Social Security, market watches, public works investments to create jobs, etc.)
invented welfare (LBJ's Great Society cut poverty in half in four years)

Note that I do not agree with everything that liberals say. I disagree with some points about animal rights, gay rights, etc. I am a moderate conservative.

In all of this, please remember to answer the main question.
I'd like to thank DirkPotters for pointing out something that I wrote: when I said FDR "helped us out of the Great Depression," I should have been more clear in saying that his applied socialism prevented the worst of the Great Depression and sustained America long enough for economic growth from WWII to kick in.

[squaregoose475]

I think it goes both ways. Maybe conservatives will remember this when liberals stop calling them "stupid redneck's" and taunting their religion. Just saying...this can't be blamed on just one side.

[crookedvest994]

You have to understand that political labels generally mean the opposite of what they mean everywhere else. A liberal in the US is called a Social Democrat Egalitarian everywhere else.

Their policies have been disastrous for the US. Everything from the New Deal to the Community Reinvestment Act. They (the politicians who claim to be liberal) support corporate welfare and an aggressive foreign policy just as much as the Republican Party, in everything but their rheotric.

The liberals of today (social democrats) are NOTHING like the liberals (Thomas Jefferson, George Washington..etc...) who founded this country. Neither are the conservatives. These terms mean very different things then what they meant in the early 19th century.

The founders of this country are most similar to US (right-wing) libertarians, and anarcho-capitalists.


The problem with neo-liberals(democratic socialists) is they have no idea about what the cause of the problem really is. It's government propping up corporations. The corporations and big banks, etc, are all a consequence of a large government. They cocoon themselves in self-written regulation to protect themselves from free market forces. Corporations and Monopolies cannot exist with government intervention in the economy. So expanding the government in the name of helping the poor is what the big corporations want. It props up the corporations and creates a permanent poor class. We have to create a separation of state and economy to stop this fascism/creditism! And we must End the Federal Reserve! The US hasn't had real capitalism since 1832-1860. The corporatist Lincoln (and his policies of central banking, subsidies to industries and railroad companies, high tarrifs, and protectionism) was the biggest reason for Southern Secession in 1860.

[Earl Hickey]

Liberalism is hated because it's perceived as being weak. Liberalism is constantly yielding to the whims and demands of the far right-wing. This is due to the fact that liberalism is a capitalist entity which, in the final analysis, means the betrayal of the working class to the right-wing. History has proven that liberalism will open the doors wide and welcome in the fascists rather than sit back and watch the working class take state power and overthrow the capitalist system.

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"The petty bourgeoisie is quite capable of linking its fate with that of the proletariat. For that, only one thing is needed: the petty bourgeoisie must acquire faith in the ability of the proletariat to lead society onto a new road. The proletariat can inspire this faith only by its strength, by the firmness of its actions, by a skilful offensive against the enemy, by the success of its revolutionary policy... But if the revolutionary party, in spite of a class struggle becoming incessantly more accentuated, proves time and again to be incapable of uniting the working class behind it. If it vacillates, becomes confused, contradicts itself, then the petty bourgeoisie loses patience and begins to look upon the revolutionary workers as those responsible for its own misery.” -- Trotsky

[Smarter Then You]

Trying to label Democrats as Liberals in order to denigrate them completely backfired on Rush. He started using it as a means of name calling and associated it with communism. His minions latched on and began to mimic him without understanding what it meant. It didn't take long for rational people to realize that the term Liberal wasn't derogatory but indicated a high standard of moral values. Having realized that Liberals were indeed instrumental in creating a better country Rush now is teaching his minions that some of the progress made is actually bad (welfare, unions, government regulations, etc). He even tries to say it was the then Democratic Party that supported slavery (some one will respond with that here) and by association, Liberals. In his attempt to demonize the Democratic Party he has actually revealed the ignorance of his followers...as you'll see from their responses.

[Dirk Potters]

The word "liberal" does not mean the same during the Revolutionary period that it does today. The liberals of that time period are much more like Libertarians of today.

People like Alan Colmes that describe themselves as "liberals" and/or "progressives".....

Yes, I thank liberalism for the destruction of the family.
I thank liberalism for the creation of a permanent under class.
I thank liberalism for the state of American education today.
I thank liberalism for not being the watchdog of the government in the news media.
I thank liberalism for putting hard working people into debt slavery

One of the BIGGEST LIES being told to school children was that the New Deal got us out of the Great Depression. Look up the unemployment and GDP numbers yourself. Unfortunately, what got us out of the Depression was the military buildup that began in 1940 followed closely by WW2.

[Bbb Bbb]

You are trying to say the founders of the country are liberals? By today's definition, they would be very conservative.

They wanted a small government and individual liberty.

In fact, they were much like the Libertarians of today.

[Zachery G]

Well, the Classic-Liberals have contributed to society.

The progressives have tainted and ruined everything they've touched.