Madanthonywayne said:
What is middle America? Is the term really that hard to understand? Look at the famous Red/Blue map and you'll see middle America: It's that vast swath of red in the middle of the country that voted for Bush!
You mean like Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina, Texas, and other states with coastlines?
It's this kind of conservative contempt for reality that reveals the idea of "liberal elite" as a complete con job by conservatives.
What is the Liberal Elite? It's a bunch of smug know it all's who consider anyone who holds opinions different from theirs to be idiots, charlatons, or worse.
And these sorts of paranoid exaggerations that exploit people's ignorance show the disingenuous nature of conservatives such as yourself. Look up at the Horsey cartoon above your post. See what "middle America" voted for. But never mind; while the Bush administration has the working class coddling the rich, they can always blame it on the "liberal elite", right?
Additionally, "middle America" voted for torture, short-staffing our military, and elective belligerence in pursuit of petroleum.
"Middle America" also rejected the U.S. Constitution, and in that sense we see the geography carry all the way to the West Coast, where "middle Americans" in Oregon joined in the chant: "Our rights are violated unless someone else's rights are taken away for superstition."
Constantly claiming moral and intellectual superiority based solely on the leftist slant of your viewpoints.
Well, it wasn't liberals who voted for moral superiority; check the scoreboard. Additionally, it isn't liberals who exploit superstition in order to compel people to forfeit the U.S. Constitution. Perhaps you could answer a question for me:
How are your rights violated by the Supreme Law of the Land if it doesn't allow you to reject it?
It's interesting rhetoric you offer, but it provides no answers.
Too many fixate on the literal meanings of the terms conservative and liberal. The literal meanings have little to do with their meaning in present day American politics.
Gee, you mean like the
dictionary definition that describes liberalsim as favoring laissez-faire economy? I thought the much-praised conservative Ronald Reagan put that issue to rest. And what of the trade debate? "Fair" or "free" trade?
Or did you mean broad-minded and broadly sympathetic, and tolerant of change?
To be liberal, in the classic sense, is good. America was founded as a classical liberal nation. When the choice was monarchy or independence, the left was on the right side (perhaps I should say the correct side). Unfortunately, in the 20th Century "liberals" shifted their agenda to collectivism and socialism.
So much for literal definitions, eh?
As a result, the term "liberal", which was once a compliment, became a term of derision. No politician dares admit to being a liberal. The term conservative, once an insult, became a compliment. Politicians proudly lay claim to the title conservative.
I'd say this is more a result of conservative exploitation of ignorance.
Middle America believes in the traditional values: freedom, independence, character, rugged individualism, capitalism.
Freedom? Check the scoreboard, Madanthonywayne. Eleven states just rejected the U.S. Constitution. Independence? Hey, if "middle America" despises the Constitution as much as their votes suggest, they can always try to secede. Character? That's why "middle America" voted for a lie, isn't it? Rugged individualism? Ah, I see. That would be why eleven states rejected equal protection of the laws for individuals. Capitalism? Yes, that would be why the very devices feared of Communism are what keeps "capitalism" moving forward in this country. After all, the "individual" ought to be providing health care, education, and retirement for themselves, right? And yet the "capitalists" would see those choices taken out of the hands of individuals. And here we run into an interesting notion:
social contract. Rather than obliging government to its end of the social contract, "capitalists" would rather see "socialism" carried out by corporations that whose social-contract obligation is to the bottom line, and not the individual.
They will vote for whoever they think will protect these values.
No, they won't. Check the map. And then go look at the result of what those colors mean: discrimination, coddling the wealthy, exporting American jobs, wrecking the educational system, elective belligerence, torture--these are the values of "middle America". You can offer up whatever theory you want, but the results are pretty clear when you look at the famous map and compare it to the result of what people actually voted for.
You can call yourselves progressives, democrats, the green party, or whatever you want. So long as you advocate socialist ideas, you will continue to lose elections in the US.
Here I hold with Michael Moore: it would be nice if the Democrats actually stood for liberal values, instead of playing "Republican lite". Who would vote for a fake Republican when there's a real one, more genuinely devoted to greed and superstition, across the ticket?
So ... why is it so hard to get an honest answer out of conservatives? Perhaps because they are afraid to admit what that honest answer equals?
