What are you, I mean we, I mean us, Liberal, Democrat, or Progressive?

And please explain why on each. I think a lot of us get these confused. I know I do.

How do you identify yourself and why?

I think were our society not totally insane I would be a moderate conservative. But of course we are insane so that effectively me pushes me over here.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

I'm a resistance fighter of non-political stripes trying to stop the overthrow of my Democracy by totalitarian thugs.

Of course, I live in a country where such things are allowed.

I use "progressive" to describe policies I support.

...is the best description of what many of us would like the Democratic party's platform to be. We need to start using this word (or whatever word we decide) and begin to counteract the GOP's thirty-year war on American liberalism. Labels, alas, DO mean something in this country.

and trying to advance towards a better and more equitable world for all.

I love the word Liberal, but it has been so damaged I'm not sure it is possible to save the word for now.

Not Democrat, although I am one, because there are other progressive paths, and I will follow the one who shows the best accord with my values.

type of politics etc.

to mean a view that the government does have a role to play in society beyond military defense/protection. Ergo Social Security, Medicare, the FDA and other regulatory agencies (granted some did reach a point of excessive regulation - but those started being brought back in the eighties ad nineties... and now are being made to work for corporations rather than protecting society...), promoting civil rights, etc. Compared to a conservative view that used to stand for believing that problems in society could not and should not be addressed by any power of the government (and if the fester... oh well...) and that government should only be in place for military defense. On that definition I agree with the poster who claimed liberal - but uses the term progressive for specific policies.

I refuse to bow down to the conservatives who have demonized the word "liberal" to the point that people have become reluctant to use it when talking about themselves or other liberals.

I'm a life-long Democrat. Actually a fifth-generation Democrat. My parents had us working for the party as soon as we could stuff and seal envelopes for mailings. That said, I don't know if I will always be a Democrat, especially if the party moves to the right. I will work my fingers to the bone to make sure that doesn't happen.

It has somehow gotten a negative connotation lately (as in "He's a LIBRUL!) So I like to try and take it back.

:hippie:

:kick:

I'm not a single issue voter, I'm not a sore loser, I'm not a purist who spites the party that best represents me if that party does not meet my own personal preference.

I am a Democrat!!!

It appears that they have spun Progressive into being ssociated with gay marriage - they sneer when they say Progressive.

I nominate PRESERVIST - preserve the Constitution, Bill of RIghts, and the effort to improve on their interpretations = preserve and cherish what we were told we are about - freedom to speak, freedom to choose within the law, freedom to have our vote count, freedom from imposed religion, separation of church and state. ETC.

but progressive just seems like a new word people are using because they're still afraid of calling themselves liberal. To me there is no difference- both signify open mindedness to me and that's the important thing.

And I come from a long line of Democrats- people often follow in the footsteps of their parents, don't they? My dad was a Village Independent Democrat in its hay-day, and I still think of the party as he knew it then- strong, PROGRESSIVE, unafraid, a home for intellectuals, artists, and citizens of the world.

For me, it's as simple as looking at the difference between someone like Fighting Bob LaFollette (progressive) and Woodrow Wilson (liberal). I think that progressivism seeks to confront problems a lot more, and doesn't shrink away from its core values. Liberalism often avoids confronting problems because it doesn't want to radically change the status quo, and in doing so its core values are subject to debate.

(see my definition above) using the govt to address problems for the public. His policies did rather radically change the status quo.

The reforms he enacted had been lobbied for for a solid decade or more by the Progressives and the Socialists, not to mention the contributions of the Populists of the turn of the century.

and I would also like to stop the demonization of that term.

and at this point in our history, I'd rather be able to get things done with a conservate populist than a liberal democrat

but at times I have used all three labels. I am less tied to the Democratic Party now, but I realize that we need to be able to win, and that takes some degree of organization. Third parties have failed completely in the US in the last 150 years.

I prefer progressive to liberal right now because I don't think the term liberal can be resurrected from the hell it has been consigned to by the conservatives.

I wish we could be as successful equating conservative with fascist as the right has been in equating liberal with communist, weak, and immoral.

Welcome to DU!! :toast: