Defending Liberalism | Moiz Khan - The godless Liberal

Defending LiberalismFiled Under: Political

I came across this website recently and spent the first few minutes laughing at its entire premise. It calls itself “the trustworthy encyclopedia”…while its name clearly establishes a heavy bias. Contradiction? I suppose, but lets move on. On the page for Liberal, it lists in bullet form, 27 of the stances that liberals commonly support or believe in. So, being the godless Liberal I am, I will provide a defense for most of these opinions.

A government with large spending on social programs, and high taxes to support such programs

Taxpayer-funded and/or legalized abortion

Income redistribution, usually through progressive taxation

Government-rationed and taxpayer-funded medical care, such as Universal Health Care

Taxpayer-funded public education

The denial of inherent gender differences

Wanting men and women to have the same access to jobs in the military

Legalized same-sex marriage

Implementation of affirmative action

Political correctness

Censorship of teacher-lead prayer in classrooms and school sponsored events

Support of labor unions

Teaching “comprehensive” sex-ed programs instead of abstinence-only programs.

A “living Constitution” that is reinterpreted in a modern context, instead of how it was originally intended

Support for gun control

Government programs to rehabilitate criminals

Abolition of death penalty

Environmentalism

Disarmament treaties

Globalism

Opposition to an internationalist American foreign policy

Support of obscenity and pornography as a First Amendment right

Opposition to full private property rights

Reinstating the Fairness Doctrine

In 2005, it was reported by CBS News that liberals were the most likely supporters of the theory of evolution. Support for the theory of evolution which is a key component of atheistic ideologies in the Western World.

Opposition to domestic wire-tapping as authorized in the Patriot Act

Calling anyone they agree with a “professor” regardless of whether he earned that distinction based on a real peer review of his work (see, e.g., Richard Dawkins and Barack Obama).

Number 1, this is of course the debate between “small government” and “big government.” Most conservatives and Republicans will often argue that small government is the proper form of government, using the logic that “a government which governs least is the best government.” However, (like usual) they preach what they do not practice. Government spending has only risen under the governments of the previous conservatives, Bush Jr., Bush Sr., and Reagan. Bush Jr. over the previous eight years has spent more than any liberal would ever think of. Yet, Bill Clinton cut funding to the welfare system far more than any other Republican has. So, in actuality, this statement is false. Though, as a liberal I do support public funding of various social programs as they do indeed work in lessening the blow of poverty.

Number 2, these folk make it seem as if liberals are pro-abortion. Who is honestly pro-abortion? Who really wants to promote abortions? Liberals support public funding of health clinics, which happen to also carry out abortions. And, it is the woman’s right and choice to do whatever she pleases with her body. This is America, not some third-rate country in the Middle East, these conservatives forget we support women rights, and freedom in general (perhaps they don’t?).

Number 3. Are these people really saying they think someone who makes the minimum wage should pay the same amount of taxes as a millionaire?

Number 4, Universal Health Care. Most (if not all) advanced nations in the world currently have a system of universal health care. The reasoning behind this is rather simple, corporations don’t consider the needs of the person, and in a field that could mean life or death for many people, do you really want corporations making that call? I don’t know about anyone else, but I’d certainly rather have an organization like the government (which is responsible to the people) making the decision.

Number 5. Public funding for schools. Education is the most important aspect of childhood. A child in born in poverty will essentially have no chance at an education if it wasn’t free. Most parents struggle to pay the bill now, imagine having to spend another few thousand on their children’s education. Public funding of education is essential for the same reason that education is essential.

Number 6. What denial of inherent gender differences? Are they referring to the notion that most conservatives believe in the subjugation and suppression of woman? There aren’t any differences between the genders (besides the obvious sex organs I suppose). How hard is that to understand?

Number 7. They really want to deny a person a job in the military on the basis of sexual orientation? Smells like bigotry.

Number 8. Of course we support legalized same-sex marriage. Our government was established to protect the freedoms of its people. A person of age should have the right to marry any individual they want to.

Number 9. Generations of racism and hatred have implanted the seed of inequality. Affirmative action only reverses this inequality.

Number 10. I don’t understand the connection between liberals and political correctness. The conservatives wish to impose political correctness when someone criticizes religion or god. Liberals support the notion when it leads to hatred and bigotry. Though I personally don’t agree with this concept, freedom is nothing without the freedom of speech.

Number 11. Well of course, there is after all the constitution which builds a wall of separation of church and state. If they want their child in some school which has teacher led prayer, they should consider home schooling or private school.

Number 12. Of course liberals support labor unions, and so do the majority of people in every nation that gives rights to its workers. (this includes America)

Number 13. Denying the idea that young kids are not sexually active is delusional. So instead of denying it, let us educate children on the dangers of unprotected sex.

Number 14. Conservatives play this trick all the time. The constitution was meant to be re-interpreted and refined with time…that was the point of it. And how do they know of its original intention?

Number 15. I don’t see what point they are trying to make…As gun laws became stricter during the 90s, the national crime rate decreased by a rather large percentage. They point to all sorts of fringe research and studies yet simply don’t look at the correlation between gun control and national crime rate.

Number 16. What else should we do with prisoners? Torture? Execution?…What other reasonable option is there to rehabilitation?

Number 17. Of course the death penalty should be abolished. Not only is it inhumane and disgusting. There are multiple arguments against it. Firstly, it does not deter criminals whatsoever. Crime rates have no relation with state laws with regards to the death penalty. Secondly, what if their is a mistake in a trial, and a person is executed while they never committed the crime. You can’t get a second chance with that…and miscarriages of justice are not as rare as one would think. Thirdly, it is extremely expensive to execute a person, considering all the factors with regards to appeal. And finally, for people that are supposedly pro-life, they support the death penalty and free ownership of guns (which have no other purpose).

Number 18. This earth is all us humans have to live on. Protecting this planet from possible dangers such as global warming and deforestation will be essential to keep this planet habitable for our future generations.

Number 19. It is quite simple to make the connection between, “less bombs=less bombings.” If we could all agree to disarm and leave the concept of war in our bloody past, we would have a much more bright future.

Number 20. I suppose this is a more person to person matter, but to me, it seems as if the world is becoming more interconnected by the day. Technology has drawn us closer and closer to the point where we can talk to someone in any part of the world within minutes and be there within hours.

Number 21. It was the farewell speech that Washington gave in which he promoted isolation. While I personally don’t think that is an option in the modern world, the reason why Washington said it still is quite valid. Washington hoped that America would not become some sort of international police force, or even entangled with any other country because of the possibility of war. We have no business intervening on the behalf of other countries, and especially when those countries (such as Iraq) don’t want us there.

Number 22. The beauty of the First Amendment is that there aren’t many restrictions or exceptions to it. It means simply what it says, the freedom to say whatever one chooses to say, whenever they wish to say it. Anyone who tells you otherwise clearly wants to restrict your freedom due to some misguided belief that they have the right to.

Number 23. I don’t really understand this, I don’t see the connection between liberals and those who want to restrict people’s property rights. And the ruling that they point to doesn’t clarify this one bit.

Number 24. Isn’t it odd that the Religious right-wing want to promote “equal time” for intelligent design in public schools? They denounce the fairness doctrine (which I do too) yet promote the exact idea of it with regards to creationism and its intellectual cousin, intelligent design.

Number 25. I am not sure I need to defend this at all. Liberals are usually more intelligent than conservatives and thus they demand evidence for their beliefs. Evolution by natural selection has mountains of evidence that support the theory, and not a single shred that would contradict it. And, evolution is simply incompatible with any theory of a personal god (especially the Abrahamic god)…therefore a good understanding of evolution should lead to an atheistic or anything but theistic explanation for the cosmos and life.

Number 26. Benjamin Franklin articulated this point quite well, and so I’ll just quote him. “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

Number 27. This one has no basis whatsoever, and should be dismissed for its stupidity.