I gave you my views of liberal and conservative in a post which I wrote before I got to this post, so will wait for your responses to my descriptions. I don't, however, agree with you about the flabby centrism. I do, as I said in another post, agree that many classic liberal positions have become conservative positions.
I will, however, disagree on your suggestion that "Liberals" are tolerant. Many liberals are highly intolerant. They are intolerant of what they view as the religious right (and in many cases of religious believers at all) -- this we can see right here on this thread; a high degree of intolerance by people here I believe would-self define as liberal. They are intolerant of affirmative action opponents, of pro-lifers, of 2nd amendment advocates, etc.
When it comes to the college campus, it is generally the conservative speakers who are either prevented from coming to campus by student protests (usually by students who would self-define as liberal or radical), or are shouted down rather than listened to -- there is a strong bias that these people should not even be allowed to present their views.
What tolerance means to many liberals is "tolerance of views and people that I approve of or agree with." Or course, that isn't tolerance at all. |
