At every turn, conservatives claim the moral high ground on every issue and too often successfully paint liberals as evil, immoral, anti-God, etc. Today, I am taking back the moral high-ground un-rightfully claimed by the neo-cons.
First though, what makes a good human being? Kindness? Respect? Compassion? Tolerance? These traits are as good a place as any to start, so let's start there shall we?
Hop, skip, jump...
Before I begin, let me just state that I am, in fact, a bit biased (being a liberal myself, ya know). Now, I don't want to speak for everyone, for surely there will be those that claim, "hey, I know good conservatives!"
While I don't doubt that there are conservatives who are decent people, the truth is, I don't know any (decent conservatives, that is). The conservatives I know are whiny, always complaining about those traitorous anti-war hippies who are trying to destroy America, or how immigrants are stealing all of the jobs, or how gays (like me) are destroying the very fabric of civilization. I despise whiners for the simple fact that they are always ready to scapegoat anyone who disagrees with them, and, of course, conservative pundits have given them an easy target: us.
So why are we better human beings? Are we more kind to others? Do we respect our fellow human beings more than conservatives? Are we more compassionate to the less fortunate? Do we tolerate difference more? The answer, at least in my mind, is yes.
Liberals in this country have, over the two plus centuries we have been a nation, sought to help the less fortunate.
Pop Quiz: Who is responsible for the following, a conservative or a liberal?
1. Social Security
2. Pell Grants
3. Worker's rights, from workman's comp to the forty-hour work week, unemployment insurance, and child labor laws
4. GI Bill
5. Medicare/Medicade
6. Civil Rights
7. Environmental Regulations
8. Public Education
9. the Peace Corps
10. Fair Housing
Some in our great country would rather focus their attention on hurting people rather than helping them, so for extra credit, who said or did the following, a conservative or a liberal?
1. Accused the 9/11 Widows of enjoying their husbands deaths.
2. Mowed down a row of crosses memoralizing fallen troops last summer during Cindy Sheehan's vigil in Crawford, TX
3. Suggested interning Arab-Americans after 9-11
4. Called teachers terrorists
5. Want NYT editor Bill Keller sent to a gas chamber
6. claimed gay unions would literally destroy the fabric of American society
7. Attacked the patriotism of courageous war heroes like John Murtha, John Kerry, and Paul Hackett
8. characterized torture as a fraternity prank
9. Wants a "department of censorship" in the U.S.
10. Compared Jimmy Carter, U.S. President, to Adolf Hitler, Nazi dictator
This is the country we live in folks, polarized and getting worse every day. Now, not all liberal ideas have succeeded, and we aren't perfect, nor are our sacred cows, but looking at the lists above, and considering how often our side is attacked based on some "moral high ground", I send you to a humble poll:
Okay, times up!