What is a liberal?

Well, if one can't create content, one can always appropriate it. Also by way of atonement for my cheekiness on 27 July, I present to you a speech by JFK Sr. in which he does a fantastic job of refuting those who would vilify the word liberal, a term which I would use to indentify myself.

Strange that it's been fashionable to bash the concept of liberalism for so long. Anyway, to get to the point, here's JFK's Speech to the New York Liberal Party upon accepting their nomination. It dates back to 14.9.60, but it's still pretty timely.

And as for my sound-bitable reason for being a "Liberal" (not that I need one) is that I think liberalism is the belief that the best solutions to existing problems are yet to be found.

And to those in the U.S. who are hoping to harken back to some fictious "Good Old Days," (either 1950 or 1850, variously) I would submit that in neither of those years did the United States include my family, and therefore any return to those times, in either spirit or attitude, would inherently reflect the exclusion of me and my family. Which is patently un-American.

Okay, enough ranting for today.

I'm Anil Dash, and I've been blogging here since 1999, writing about how culture is made. Contact me at anil@dashes.com, at +1 646 833 8659, or at anildash on Twitter or IM. Find out more »

If you're new to the site, check out my Best Of and Most Popular things I've written in the past 10 years, or explore the full archives. Browse by month or year using the calendar below.

Powered by Hunch.com

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
  Jan Jan Jan Jan Jan Jan Jan Jan Jan Jan
  Feb Feb Feb Feb Feb Feb Feb Feb Feb Feb
  Mar Mar Mar Mar Mar Mar Mar Mar Mar Mar
  Apr Apr Apr Apr Apr Apr Apr Apr Apr Apr
  May May May May May May May May May May
  Jun Jun Jun Jun Jun Jun Jun Jun Jun Jun
Jul Jul Jul Jul Jul Jul Jul Jul Jul Jul Jul
Aug Aug Aug Aug Aug Aug Aug Aug Aug Aug Aug
Sep Sep Sep Sep Sep Sep Sep Sep Sep Sep Sep
Oct Oct Oct Oct Oct Oct Oct Oct Oct Oct Oct
Nov Nov Nov Nov Nov Nov Nov Nov Nov Nov Nov
Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec