I do not accept racial discrimination. I first saw legal segregation in Miami in 1956 when I was 10 and it sickened me. Liberals led the fight against racial discrimination and I was proud to be whatever small part I was beginning with my own efforts after graduating from high school in 1963.
I do not accept gender discrimination. My mother graduated from Columbia Law School 2nd in her class at age 21 and yet could get no job as a lawyer except with her father. For my mother and all the other women who did not fully get to use their gifts I supported legislation, amendments and social change, all led by liberals.
I do not accept discrimination based on sexual orientation. Perhaps it is because I lived in Greenwich Village and Brooklyn Heights and got to know many fine people who suffered discrimination and worse. Perhaps it is because both my wife and I have been active in arts. Perhaps it is because I remember Stonewall. Perhaps it because I have close friends who are gay, and have taught students who struggled with their own sexuality. Liberals have accepted the Gays in their midst and fought for their inclusion as full members of society.
I fully support the right of workers to organize collaboratively. I am a proud member of the National Education Association. I know that without unions we would not have gotten paid vacations, 8 hour days, safety standards at work, and a lot of benefits now disappearing like paid medical insurance and paid retirement. Liberals support unions.
I believe in public schools. I believe it is the responsibility of society to provide a quality education to all, even if it means paying taxes for something from which my benefit is indirect. I do not have to have children in public schools to benefit from the learning of those children who attend. It has been liberals that have fought to provide quality public education in communities that need assistance.
I believe wealthy people have an obligation to return some of their wealth to the larger society that enabled them to gain and keep that wealth. It is American society as a whole, with its stability and economic opportunity that enables people to become rich, and to pass on their earned wealth to their offspring. And without some economic equity our society would not remain peaceful. And without domestic peace, that wealth would not be secure. Liberals have supported the idea of people who can paying some of their wealth and income on behalf of the society at large, including such things as a graduated income tax and appropriate inheritance taxes so that wealth does not accumulate in the hands of the few to the detriment of the many.
I believe in equality before the law. Those without personal financial resources should have the same legal support as those who can hire the best lawyers. If the law only works for those with wealth and position, then we do not have a system of laws and not men. Liberals have supported broadening access to the legal system on behalf of those without resources.
I believe in political equality. Wealth and position should not make one person's vote more meaningful than that of another. And political equality can only exist when we seek to broaden the franchise, not to restrict it to those who will vote the same way as we do. Liberals have sought to expand the franchise by amendment, legislation, and litigation.
I believe all should have a guarantee of quality healthcare. Absent this one has no security of life, because a single illness in one's family can plunge one permanently into the economic underclass. Liberals have fought to expand access to healthcare.
I believe the natural world belongs to no one person and to all of us as a common heritage, and we must act to ensure we can pass it on to future generations. Liberals have taken the lead in laws protecting the environment.
Too often we shy away from labels because they are used to demonize. But to me the word liberal should be reclaimed, as a proud banner, of a tradition of caring and commitment beyond one's immediate needs, one's kith and kin, one's social class. one's religion, one's ethnicity.
I do not condemn those whose orientation is different than mine. I seek to find common ground where we can come together for the greater good.
But I will not shy away from asserting my own beliefs. I am a human being who sees myself not so much in opposition to others as I do in sharing a common world, a common heritage, a common future, which means that we must find some commonality in how we work to ensure that future.
And so I give my reasons, make my explanations. I view the label as explanatory, but as more. It is a moral commitment.
I am a liberal.
Peace.