Commenting to one of my posts, one person referred to me as a schmuck liberal. Go ahead and call me a schmuck, if it makes you feel better, but PLEASE, don't call me a l-i-b-e-r-a-l.
Liberals BELIEVE in the current system; they only advocate that it be tweaked here and there to make it more fair and just. Therefore, in order to be a liberal, a person must accept our capitalist system as a reasonable option.
I want to make it very clear so there will not be any misunderstanding -- I do NOT accept the current system. I believe that capitalism is inherently flawed. No amount of tweaking will make that much of a substantive difference because capitalism itself breeds inequality and injustice.
If the apple is rotten to its core, no amount of cutting away the "bad" parts will do you any good. You can cut and cut and cut and cut. Before you know it, the apple is no more.
If you want to refer to me by a label, please use one that is more accurate. Here are a few: Taoist, spiritualist, left-winger, radical, socialist, militant or, maybe, progressive. Just don't insult me by calling me a liberal!
Liberals BELIEVE in the current system; they only advocate that it be tweaked here and there to make it more fair and just. Therefore, in order to be a liberal, a person must accept our capitalist system as a reasonable option.
I want to make it very clear so there will not be any misunderstanding -- I do NOT accept the current system. I believe that capitalism is inherently flawed. No amount of tweaking will make that much of a substantive difference because capitalism itself breeds inequality and injustice.
If the apple is rotten to its core, no amount of cutting away the "bad" parts will do you any good. You can cut and cut and cut and cut. Before you know it, the apple is no more.
If you want to refer to me by a label, please use one that is more accurate. Here are a few: Taoist, spiritualist, left-winger, radical, socialist, militant or, maybe, progressive. Just don't insult me by calling me a liberal!
You... you... radical socialist left-winger progressive, you!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks. I appreciate that!
ReplyDeleteAs much as the definition of Liberal you give is in line with what others have defined it as, it does not represent an accurate definition.
ReplyDeleteI call myself a liberal because I do not subscribe to a particular orthodoxy. I am free to base my decisions on merit and rational thought. I do not feel obliged to defend an institution or idealogy just because its "right" or "the way we do it". When I say liberal, I refer to freedom of thought. I do not necessarily support capitalism.
But I understand your concern about being called a liberal. I eschewed the label for a long while until I learned of the historical roots of liberalism, down through the enlightenment.