GETTING TIGHT WITH THE LEFT

Here is my second post, in my attempt to bring perspective for the purpose of bridging the divide in my nation.

The Left.  I must be crazy to take this on, right?  Wrong.  The Left is a bit more complex than the right, but the Left also could be summed up in one sentence.  That sentence is:

“Hey, we’re all in the same boat together”.

Now, I may fall short by a wide margin when getting down to the details of describing the two sides in America, but for general purposes, I hope I am very close to the mark.  Whereas the Right stands upon Personal Responsibility, Lefties are more community founded.  Far more community founded.  It’s not a stretch to say that collectively, liberals don’t like to be alone.  (remember that Righties are anal).  This is not an indictment.  On the contrary, Liberals have lassoed the strength that comes from being in numbers.

Liberals really, really want to do the right thing.  So much so that they’ll fight anyone who they perceive as not being of like mind.  The vast social reforms we have seen in the last forty years have ALL been liberal movements, and even before then, it was the Liberal doctrine that fought for equal rights for women in the early twentieth century.  The Left has been responsible almost entirely for social-economic legislation.  Things such as welfare, Social Security, Medicare, and medicaid come to mind.  Liberal policies are also responsible for Affirmative Action, the legislation that gives women and minorities a level playing field in Capitalistic America.  Recall how anal the Right is about personal responsibility, and it’s clear as to why the two sides butt heads so vigorously on this one issue.

The Left is not necessarily against personal responsibility, but they tend to subordinate it in favor of a more communal approach to democracy.  Personal responsibility is fine, so long as everyone has an equal opportunity.  The Right thinks people make their own opportunity, the left believes opportunity is a gift, not something that is inherent, and thus, it should be encouraged and tended carefully.  Here is a list to help you better understand what’s underneath the surface of a Left leaning democrat.

1.  Fairness.  America isn’t free unless it’s fair for everyone.

2.  The Left is forever hopeful of the future.  They are for any legislation that provides a better future for everyone, and against legislation that leaves individuals to fight on their own.

3.  The Left is one big neighborhood block party.  Everyone knows everyone else, even if they don’t.  If a party was thrown on each side, the Left would be the side mingling and eating while standing, whereas the Right would have a sit down dinner.

4.  The Left believes that sometimes, only sometimes, you have to force people to do the right thing.

5.  In my experiences with people, it would be flippant to say that the left has no faith in God.  On the contrary, I have found that all people look to the future, even as they approach death.  The one thing that is common to all people is the hope for a better future.  It sits underneath the surface for some people while others wear it on their sleeves and give it a name.  The right calls that hope God.  Some on the left do as well.  Others just feel it.  If you have ever had opportunity to view images from a sub-atomic microscope, you’d be convinced that we are all spiritual creatures having a physical experience.

6.  Liberals like rules.  They like things to be defined, and they want everyone to follow the rules, to the tee.  Furthermore, there is no such thing as a rule that can’t be improved upon.  These rules must be fair for all, and have the greater welfare of the community as the ultimate goal.  This is where Righties get the idea that Liberalism is socialism.  They are not right about that, but that is their impression, and this is where it comes from.

7.  The Left is passionate, loud, and organized.

8.  An attack on an individual is an attack on the entire Left.

9.  Why can’t we all just get along?  The Left likes this philosophy, so long as we get along FAIRLY,  and those who cannot do for themselves are helped by everyone.

10.  Individualism might be in danger in the Left.  I say this not because of the Lefts’ desire for community equality and health, but because in their attempt to bring that about, they may trample an individual’s rights without realizing it.

11.  A Lefty believes the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.  For America only.  They do not believe in shedding blood for other nations.  Or so their history has shown.  This a very curious thing.

12.  Liberals tend to be the protestors in our nation.  They are the activists.  For a while, in the eighties and nineties, they were fairly silent.  Today, they are vibrant, watchful, and vocal.

13.  Between the two sides today, Liberals are more active in government.  They do it not out of a sense of duty as the Right does, but rather out of a sense of justice.

14.  The left is just, and mostly compassionate about it.  They are definitely for fairness, as we have seen, but curiously, they will attack anyone who disagrees with them, sometimes viciously.

15.  Liberals are deep in their compassion for the downtrodden.

16.  A Liberal movement is a viral movement.  Like a wildfire, the Left catches fire on an issue, and consumes the opposition.  This is especially effective in social or economic reform, where at times in our nations past, change was resisted.

17.  Lefties embrace variety and diversity.

18.  Lefties are tolerant, and they want you to know that.

19.  Lefties have a strong desire for America to be viewed as a beacon of light and hope throughout the world.  The Global opinion of America is very important to a Liberal.

20.  Let’s face it, Liberals are far better suited to deal with times of economic crisis in this nation.  It takes a communal worldview to pull an entire nation up into some semblance of confidence again.  Liberals do that by starting from the ground up.

I hope I have done justice to bringing this perspective to you.  As I stated earlier, this is not all-inclusive, nor is it meant to be a detailed dissertation on Liberalism or Conservatism.  I stayed very broad, because most people approach the two sides of citizens from a general consensus.  It is my hope to change that consensus into one of understanding each side a little better, rather than dehumanizing one another.