tag:dashes.com,2009:/anil//1/tag:www.dashes.com,1999:/anil//1.13- Comments for What is a liberal? A Blog About Making Culture Movable Type 4.3-en tag:www.dashes.com,1999:/anil//1.13 1999-08-06T16:00:00Z 2005-08-12T06:49:23Z 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... Anil http://anildash.com/ 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.

]]>