Why I am not a Liberal---My Response

-----------This is my response to this article-------------

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Why I am not a liberal
By Dennis Praeger
Article Launched: 08/13/2008 09:50:54 AM PDT

The following is a list of beliefs that I hold. Nearly every one of them was a liberal position until the late 1960s.

Not one of them is now.

Such a list is vitally important in order to clarify exactly what positions divide left from right, blue from red, liberal from conservative.

I believe in American exceptionalism, meaning that (a) America has done more than any international organization or institution, and more than any other country, to improve this world; and (b) that American values (specifically, the unique American blending of Enlightenment and Judeo-Christian values) form the finest value system any society has ever devised and lived by.

I believe that the bigger government gets and the more powerful the state becomes, the greater the threat to individual liberty and the greater the likelihood that evil will ensue. In the 20th century, the powerful state, not religion, was the greatest purveyor of evil in the world.

------The powerful state would not have used religion as a tool if it were not already such a large tool to use-------

I believe that the levels of taxation advocated by liberals render those taxes a veiled form of theft. "Give me more than half of your honestly earned money or you will be arrested" is legalized thievery.

-------I don't agree with taxing people who don't make tons of money, but many ridiculously rich individuals earn a salary that is inconsistent with the work they actually do. Stocks and bonds should be taxed instead of Firefighters salaries.
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I believe that government funding of those who can help themselves (e.g., the able-bodied who collect welfare) or who can be helped by non-governmental institutions (such as private charities, family, and friends) hurts them and hurts society.

--------have you ever been a homeless teenager? A job is hard to come by in a country that is quickly requiring Spanish skills for work at McDonnalds.
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I believe that the United States of America, from its inception, has been based on the Judeo-Christian value system, not secular Enlightenment values alone, and therefore the secularization of American society will lead to the collapse of America as a great country.

----------The United States of America, from its inception, has been based on freedom, not religion, and not on any "religious value system." I went to a Catholic school and never once did I come across a list in any religious book that said "here is the list of Judeo-Christian Principals..." It's something we made up in the 50's during the war.
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I believe that some murderers should be put death; that allowing all murderers to live does not elevate the value of human life, but mocks it, and that keeping all murderers alive trivializes the evil of murder.

----------Agreed, but we need to get a better appeals and justice system going, lots of innocent people have been put to death because of crappy government appeals systems---------------

I believe that the American military has done more to preserve and foster goodness and liberty on Earth than all the artists and professors in America put together.

------------I personally think the New Zealand Army has done a lot more peace keeping work that the American military seeing as they work exclusively with the UN and America has vowed never to.
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I believe that lowering standards to admit minorities mocks the real achievements of members of those minorities.

--------------There aren't any lowered standards, just higher-priorities. Businesses have quotas of how many hispanics, blacks, women etc they have to have on staff or else they get penalized. If a half-black half-hispanic girl in a wheelchair applies for a government job, chances are she's going to get it over an able bodied white boy because there's already a ton of able-bodied white boys working for them.

This system was actually necessary back in the 50's because you couldn't get hired at a factory if you were black no matter what you did, now the system is completely obsolete but the Unions still get paid, so get mad at the Unions, not the companies.
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I believe that when schools give teenagers condoms, it is understood by most teenagers as tacit approval of their engaging in sexual intercourse.

------------------You're so stupid. Teenagers at their sexual peaks are going to have sex anyway because YOU, the parent, aren't there talking to them about it. So we need to at least make sure they don't get pregnant or get an STD while they're out being neglected teenagers. Education is the key, not taboo.
Moron----------------

I believe that the assertions that man-made carbon emissions will lead to a global warming that will in turn bring on worldwide disaster are a function of hysteria, just as was the widespread liberal belief that heterosexual AIDS will ravage America.

------------------You weren't at the Zaca Fire that burned 300,000 acres in less than three weeks, smashing every major superfire record of the last 3 decades. Fires are getting bigger, weather is getting hotter, and more firefighters are dying. Go fight on the line with me for a week and then tell me if you still don't believe in Global Warming, because you're not going to find a single firefighter who doesn't.
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I believe that marriage must remain what has been in every recorded civilization - between the two sexes.

--------------Except for the Greeks, the Romans, and every major civilization that gave birth to Democracy.
And yes, between the two sexes, there are only two sexes so they can have sex with whoever they want apparently, I agree, marriage should not be between three sexes--------------

I believe that the trial lawyers associations and teachers unions, the greatest donors to the Democratic Party, have done great harm to American life - far more than, let us say, oil companies and pharmaceutical companies, the targets of liberal opprobrium.

--------------Well if Oil Companies stopped buying up all the electric, Hydrolic, and alternative energy cars and destroying them to stay in business, maybe we'd actually cure our oil addiction, but that would put them out of business wouldn't it? Also, if pharmaceutical companies would stop lobbying for the law that "only a drug can cure a disease," we might be able to use some of this ground breaking research with natural cures they're doing in other countries and we might actually have a cure for AIDS now if the AIDS cocktails weren't a multibillion dollar a year industry.
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I believe that nuclear power, clean coal, and drilling in a tiny and remote frozen part of Alaska and offshore - along with exploration of other energy alternatives such as wind and solar power - are immediately necessary.

---------------Are you putting another hole in the ground of a frozen remote part of Alaska that just so happens to be Polar Bear and the endangered Elephant Seal breeding ground? I don't care if you're drilling inch by inch holes in the permafrost, you're doing enough damage to the environment as it is to fuel America's gluttonous energy demand. America has 3% of the world's population and yet we use 25% of the world's energy.
Quit putting holes in the ground and go watch that movie they showed in high school about killing baby seals or something-------------

I believe that school vouchers are more effective than increased spending on public schools in enabling many poorer Americans to give their children better educations.

------------------No, they enable white parents to get their kids out of public schools and just "let the poor Mexican and black kids have them" further re-enacting segregation in schools. Washington City was given $13000 more per kid than Schools in Oregon and schools in Washington still had the same problems. It's not the amount of money you spend on the child, but the effort you put into impacting that child's life, and unfortunately, most teachers do not become teachers because they want to make a difference in a child's life, those who can't do...------------------

I believe that America, which accepts and assimilates foreigners better than any other country in the world, is the least racist, least xenophobic country in the world.

----------------Oh yeah, now it's a law that Home Depot has to have facilities for the illegal day workers that stand out in front of it, you need to ditch your national pride and start thinking about how we can better this country educationally, economically, and maybe get some more border patrol officers on the line and quit arresting them when they open fire on illegals who are shooting at them---------------------

I believe the leftist takeover of the liberal arts departments in nearly every American university has been an intellectual and moral calamity.

------------------Liberals are suspicious of the government, they're all conspiracy theorists, all of them, they just can't get past the "what if" and that's what gets their students thinking, its what gets them active.
Just about every major change in this country has been brought about by student activism, so I don't know if the Liberalism of Universities is a good idea or not, but at least at it's worst its better than the Ultra conservativism of Iranian Universities who have student groups going around enforcing the laws that women be veiled and not speak or sit with men unless spoken to----------------------

I believe that America's children were positively affected by hearing a non-denominational prayer each morning in school, and adversely affected by the removal of all prayer from school.

---------------so what you want to tell the atheist kids to just sit down and shut up because even though this country is about "majority rule, minority rights," that only applied to Christians because the founding fathers were Christians? Oh, I guess we don't count then.
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I believe that bilingual education does not work, that for the sake of immigrant children and for the sake of the larger society, immersion in the language of the country, meaning English in America, is mandatory.

--------------There's a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it, unfortunately America does it the wrong way, while every other country in the world, best example being Romania, has their children speaking 4 languages by the time they're out of school-------------------

I believe that English should be declared the national language, and that ballots should not be printed in any language other than English.

---------------You're bitter, be happy. I'll agree that the funniest bumper sticker I ever saw said "Soy El Army.
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Finally, I believe that there are millions of Americans who share most of these beliefs who still call themselves "liberal" or "progressive" and who therefore vote Democrat. They do so because they still identify liberalism with pre-1970 liberalism or because they are emotionally attached to the word "liberal.

------------I like how Hilary Clinton stated "I'm not a liberal, I'm a progressive." We need to move forward in this country, not get stuck behind in our comfort zone because times change whether we like it or not, so we have to constantly change with them. You're "values" are going to keep us in one place too long, and the world is going to leave us behind. You need to replace your morals of national pride, Judeo-Christian principals, and family values with Education, Social Enrichment, and Tolerance.
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I share that emotion. But one should vote based on values, not emotions.

--------------Amen------------

Dennis Prager hosts a nationally syndicated radio talk show based in Los Angeles (KRLA-870 AM, 9 a.m. to noon, Monday through Friday).