{"id":550,"date":"2006-06-24T11:20:34","date_gmt":"2006-06-24T15:20:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/000af36.netsolhost.com\/wordpress1\/2006\/06\/24\/what_is_a_liber\/"},"modified":"2006-06-24T11:20:34","modified_gmt":"2006-06-24T15:20:34","slug":"what_is_a_liber","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/2006\/06\/24\/what_is_a_liber\/","title":{"rendered":"What is a Liberal?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve asked this question before in a similar context<\/a>, but it bears being asked again, especially in the light of two recent stories. In an AP story yesterday<\/a>, the reporter seems to think \u201cliberals\u201d want us out of Iraq immediately.<\/p>\n

On the issue of Iraq, [Sen. Hillary] Clinton has been buffeted by competing forces within her party. Many elements of the party’s liberal base want an immediate or timed withdrawal of troops from Iraq, while others feel such a position may weaken the party’s electoral chances this year and in 2008.<\/p>\n

\u2026Last week, many in the audience of a more liberal group http:\/\/home.ourfuture.org\/ booed Clinton when she said she opposed setting a fixed date for troop withdrawal.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Meanwhile, The Washington Post\u2019s article yesterday<\/a> again paints \u201cliberals\u201d as the ones wanting us out of Iraq.<\/p>\n

Liberals wanted a firm date for troop withdrawals, but others argued for a more moderate approach that would urge, but not compel, Bush to start a drawdown this year. Efforts to reconcile the two camps failed, resulting in the competing measures that were voted on yesterday.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I consider myself a proud liberal, though I like many others have been using the term \u201cprogressive\u201d because I think it\u2019s more accurate: I believe in making progress toward a more cooperative, compassionate society that demands both individual and societal responsibility rather than the \u201clive-and-let-live\u201d idea that the word \u201cliberal\u201d connotes. But I oppose setting a public deadline at which time we pull out troops from Iraq. For all the opposition I had before the war, broadcasting a near-term date for withdrawal is unwise, in my opinion. I think the president should say that he\u2019s given the Iraqis clear goals on troop training, governmental progress, etc. that he\u2019ll adhere to, and publicly say that our commitment in Iraq is not open-ended. Does that make me a \u201cmoderate\u201d?<\/p>\n

And what\u2019s a conservative on this issue? Conservatives have historically shied away from foreign entanglements. And with the war\u2019s decreasing popularity, at what point do those \u201cstaying the course\u201d become \u201cextremists,\u201d defined as someone who takes a position farthest from the center?<\/p>\n

Finally, at the NDN conference I attended the past two days (more on that later), virtually everyone used the word \u201cprogressive.\u201d Even the group that booed Hillary Clinton for her stance on Iraq, uses \u201cprogressives\u201d on its web site, instead of \u201cliberal.\u201d <\/p>\n

With the media so willing<\/a> to use the conservatives\u2019 term \u201cdeath tax\u201d to describe the inheritance tax., why can\u2019t they use the term \u201cprogressive\u201d for our side?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve asked this question before in a similar context, but it bears being asked again, especially in the light of two recent stories. In an AP story yesterday, the reporter seems to think \u201cliberals\u201d want us out of Iraq immediately. On the issue of Iraq, [Sen. Hillary] Clinton has been buffeted by competing forces within… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}