I read Armando's entry entitled "Fighting Dems" located here:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/8/5/15134/56717
and one thing got to me. The author kept describing the net/grassroots as liberals saying how we will pull our party to the left, etc.
Now, on some issues I am unabashedly liberal. I think we need a liberal foreign policy in the middle east (for a variety of reasons that I wont mention in this diary).
I think Dems should quit the equivocating with the Civil Unions nonsense and endorse gay marriage IF they truly believe gays should be allowed to marry. I'm gay so it should be a no-brainer as to why I think that. I also am sick of hearing rumors about people like Hillary who "really dont have a problem with it personally, but think it's not politically viable." If you are for it, F-ing say it! You dont have to make that the cornerstone of your campaign!
Basically, I think Dems should stand for what they reallly believe in.
But I want to know what I would be considered. A moderate? A liberal? What exactly?
More in extended...
I think abortion is a very complicated issue and not something I can, with good conscience, say that women should be able to get an abortion as easily as they can get a can of soda from a vending machine. I've heard some people on here say an abortion should be no different from removing a wart. I'm sorry, but it's not. It is and should be a difficult choice to make. Having said that, I dont think the gov't should make the choice for women. It should only make all options available including pre and post natal care, daycare, and an economic foundation so that women don't choose an abortion because they can't afford to have a baby.
I also think we should use our (failing?) economic might to push our labor laws internationally. Things like CAFTA CAN be good, if they really level the playing field.
I don't think a Canada-style single-payer health care system is necessarily a good thing. I believe in a system that is based on quality not cost. I think the German co-op system is something more tenable.
I do think that we can be overtaxed and that there should be a balance between taxation as investment in wealth creating infrastructure and taxation as economic burden.
I dont think corporations are inherently evil. I do think National ID cards are and the religious right are.
So what does that make me?
See, I dont consider myself a liberal. I consider myself a progressive. I think all this press about the "liberal netroots" is not accurate. Ultimately, I think all we want is for Dems to start sticking for themselves and what it means to be a Dem. Howard Dean is no liberal, but he 'gets it'. He's not ashamed of being a Dem.
Isn't that what we are? Or are we really all just cookie-cutter liberals?
I'm curious as to what y'all think.