See, I didn't really insult you, just told you what I think based on those words. If you are, in fact, just those words, then maybe I'm right. But you're not.
Basically it appears to me that your terms for 'liberal' and 'progressive' are entirely routed in very, very modern and limited rhetoric. Progressive doesn't mean liberal or Democrat, as you probably well know. It means something that moves forward. How can Democrats call themselves progressives when some of their ideas are old and already proven not to work elsewhere? Libertarians are actually coming up with NEW ideas with ideas for government that move forward, not backwards. MORE freedom, not back to less.
Classical liberals ARE what today's libertarians are for the most part. Go to Europe or England and ask what a liberal is. It's a someone for smaller government and more freedom. It's Jeffersonian.
And the both today's Republican and Democratic parties used to be third parties, which you should know since you used to be one, but must have forgotten.
I just don't know how anyone who advocates forcing people to do things can call themselves progressive, is all. Your list of requirements - I can see all that in the Libertarian ideas. Not necessarily the government providing it, but it is there. And you're mistaken if you think that most Libertarians don't want ways to check corporations. But most people would agree that we don't want corporations regulating themselves, yet would allow the government to become a self-regulating corporation.
The main problem with Libertarians is that there are too many anarchists or capitalist-anarchists in the party. But every group has its extremists, though not all are defined by it in the media.
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game on!
Date: 2004-12-24 07:59 pm (UTC)Basically it appears to me that your terms for 'liberal' and 'progressive' are entirely routed in very, very modern and limited rhetoric. Progressive doesn't mean liberal or Democrat, as you probably well know. It means something that moves forward. How can Democrats call themselves progressives when some of their ideas are old and already proven not to work elsewhere? Libertarians are actually coming up with NEW ideas with ideas for government that move forward, not backwards. MORE freedom, not back to less.
Classical liberals ARE what today's libertarians are for the most part. Go to Europe or England and ask what a liberal is. It's a someone for smaller government and more freedom. It's Jeffersonian.
And the both today's Republican and Democratic parties used to be third parties, which you should know since you used to be one, but must have forgotten.
I just don't know how anyone who advocates forcing people to do things can call themselves progressive, is all. Your list of requirements - I can see all that in the Libertarian ideas. Not necessarily the government providing it, but it is there. And you're mistaken if you think that most Libertarians don't want ways to check corporations. But most people would agree that we don't want corporations regulating themselves, yet would allow the government to become a self-regulating corporation.
The main problem with Libertarians is that there are too many anarchists or capitalist-anarchists in the party. But every group has its extremists, though not all are defined by it in the media.