I used to be a young idealist and thought so, but I've gotten a little wiser. Sometimes those traits are just labels and thin veneers, rather than values, and are employed to disguise ulterior motives of obtaining power and/or wealth. Marxism, which claims all those things but resulted in enslavement of entire nations and mass murder, is a good example.
You claim liberals to be free thinking, but all one has to do is read back on this thread to see how dogmatic, intolerant, and hateful they are of people who disagree with them.
You claim liberals to be humanistic, but often it's only so long as their efforts are supported with other peoples' money, of which they never seem to have enough to finish the job.
And you claim liberals are compassionate, but it can be just as often a cynical tool they use to obtain and keep power. I'll never forget Bill Clinton entering Ron Brown's funeral, laughing and smirking until he realized the camera was on. His face melted into frowns and tears of compassion.
I do like those traits when they are truly heartfelt and not simply a means of obtaining power and wealth. Today's liberals too often are the latter. CLINTON/GORE IS A PRIME EXAMPLE. |
