Liberal & Proud!
We are a liberal nation:
The role of government — 69 percent of Americans believe the government “should care for those who can’t care for themselves;” twice as many people (43 percent vs. 20 percent) want “government to provide many more services even if it means an increase in spending” as wanted government to provide fewer services “in order to reduce spending.”
The economy —77 percent of Americans think Congress should increase the minimum wage; 66 percent believe “upper-income people” pay too little in taxes; 53 percent feel the Bush tax cuts have failed because they have increased the deficit and caused cuts in government programs.
Unions — 59 percent of Americans have a favorable view unions—more than twice as many (29 percent) who hold unfavorable views and more people want unions to have greater influence in the country as opposed to less (38 percent to 30 percent)
Trade — 48 of percent Americans says “free trade” has cost U.S. jobs while just 12 percent believe such trade policies have created U.S. jobs.
Health care — 69 percent of Americans think it is the responsibility of the federal government to make sure all Americans have access to health coverage; 76 percent find access to health care more important than maintaining the Bush tax cuts; three in five would be willing to have their own taxes increased to achieve universal coverage.
Security — 4 percent of Americans say we are spending too much on our military; 60 percent feel the federal government should do more about restricting the kinds of guns that people can purchase.
The environment — 75 percent of Americans would be wiling to pay more for electricity if it were generated by renewable sources to help reduce global warming; 79 percent want higher emissions standards for automobiles.
Social issues — 61 percent of Americans support embryonic stem cell research; 62 percent want to protect Roe v. Wade; only 3 percent of Americans rank gay marriage as the “most important” social issue.
http://blog.aflcio.org/2007/07/08/the-myth-of-conservative-america
- Login or register to post comments
- Email this comment
- 0 points
The MYTH of Conservative America
by Mike Hall, Jul 8, 2007
Ever since Newt Gingrich & Co. came on the scene in 1994, we’ve heard the following drumbeat over and over: America is not just swinging to the right, it’s rushing to the right. American voters are more deeply conservative in their views than ever before. It’s time to kiss progressive politics goodbye when it comes to economic and social issues.
Just because something is loudly repeated over and over, doesn’t mean it’s right—or should we say correct?
But a new report by Media Matters for America and the Campaign for America Future—The Progressive Majority: Why Conservative America is a Myth, shows that most of us in the United States are far more tolerant, open and progressive in our views than we are characterized as by pundits and commentators.
And those pundits and commentators declaring the nation’s rightward spin are not just the Rush Limbaughs or the talking heads on Fox News. The report finds the nation’s mainstream media is repeating the same mantra.
- Login or register to post comments
- Email this comment
- -2 points
This is great! "I'm A Liberal" by Neal Gladstone:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOpTAL50bl8
- Login or register to post comments
- Email this comment
- 7 points
It's Time to Recognize America's Huge Progressive Majority
By Eric Lotke, TomPaine.com. June 18, 2007.
The facts simply don't support the oft-repeated mantra that we are a "conservative nation."
The façade of conservative political dominance is crumbling. The disintegration runs deeper than public disaffection with the Bush administration’s catastrophic failures and is more fundamental than the political realignment of the 2006 election. The notion of America as a "conservative nation" was always more fiction than fact, but the nation’s rejection of President Bush’s brand of "you’re-on-your-own" conservatism and wedge-issue divisiveness is so broad that today the façade is simply unsustainable.
An exhaustive review released on June 13 of decades of public opinion research by the Campaign for America’s Future and Media Matters for America, using the most reputable, nonpartisan sources, leads to a simple conclusion: America is more progressive Common Sense Conversation than people think -- or, more precisely, than the conventional wisdom would lead them to believe. From the economy to social issues, terrorism to trade, Americans want politicians who recognize that we’re all in it together.
see http://www.alternet.org/story/54409/
- - - -
We are the majority. It's time to say proudly that we are liberals and stop fearing being labeled as such!