Breakdown of the "liberal"

Growing up in a blue-collar city just outside of Detroit and becoming a teacher, I have always known the liberal, union way. That doesn’t even include the message we are given from the “news.” The message I got growing up was as follows:

• If you’re a Republican, you are a rich elitist.
• If you are Democrat, you are for the middle class and poor. The “working man.”
• If you are not pro-welfare, you are a racist.
• If you are not pro-choice, you do not support women’s rights.
• If you are not for gay marriage, you are a homophobe.

And what came along with all of these messages was the guilt trip. My family was not well off by any means. My dad worked, my mom stayed home and raised four kids. They got divorced when I was still in elementary school, and both struggled for quite a few years before getting re-married. But still I was lead to believe that a compassionate person could not possibly disagree with any of these ideals.
Of course, I was also naive enough to believe that none of these affected me. Who am I to tell a woman what she can do with her body? Who am I to tell someone who they can and can’t marry? Who am I to think that because I may be lucky enough to find a job, that my taxes shouldn’t help those hard working people who can’t find work? Republicans were just the people who were well-off in the country and didn’t want to share with the rest of us. They believed that they had all the answers and believed they were better than “us.”
It wasn’t until I got married and became a teacher that I started to question these ideals. As a parent who tries to instill in my children values that will make them successful adults, and as a teacher who does the same with my students, it just wasn’t meshing with the value system I once thought I believed in. While I’m telling my kids and my students about:
• personal responsibility
• there are consequences to your actions
• hard work and perseverance pay off

I was voting for Democrats who believed just the opposite:
• The poor in this country are “victims” of the system and can’t do anything on their own. They need the government’s help.
• There are no consequences for your actions. If you make mistakes, we’ll clean up the mess for you.

What I realized is that liberalism is easy. It feels good. It makes people feel like they are helping each and every individual. What I also realized was that all of these “feel good” ideals have brought us to where we are today. A selfish society who thinks about themselves instead of the good of others. A lazy society which no longer values hard work and education. A society that holds no one responsible for their actions. A politically correct society that has trickled down into our school systems.

So that was me, before I started to think and educate myself. And I think many liberal Democrats are the same. But not all. Just like there are many types of conservatives (including some, I'm sure, that ARE rich and don't want to help the poor), there are different types of liberals. So I've attempted to break them down into categories.

The Naive/Uninformed- That was me. No need to go into much more description than what's written above. Everything sounds good. They don't educate themselves. Just kind of go with what sounds right, or what the media leads them to believe. Generally the youth (18-24) who want to see politics through rose colored glasses and don't realize that the Democrats are actually the party of the rich and elite now (more on that later). They don't realize that social programs actually do more harm than good.

The Victim- The benificiary of many of the social programs that liberals push. These are the people who think that they cannot control their own life. Everything that goes wrong is the fault of someone else. Women who make poor choices and do not hold men accountable (i.e. giving up the milk for free), then want to either abort the baby or have the government take care of him/her. Men who do not lead by example and show themselves and/or their family that hard work and education pay off. These are the parents of some students I've had who want to blame a teacher or school if their child is failing. Now of course the school is an integral part of student success. But the child must be taught to value hard work and education from his parents. Then, the student himself must take the initiative in school to pay attention in class, read, do his work, and learn. The teacher can make learning interesting, encourage the student further, and help develop those behaviors. But only if they’re there in the first place. Yet there’s no personal responsibility.

The Moral Elite- These are the people who like to let everyone know that their Democrats. Generally well-off, they like to think that they're better than others by "supporting" women and the poor. This person can be seen walking down the street in a rich area of town with an Obama t-shirt on and bumper sticker on his/her electric car, as to say "I get what's going on with global warning. And I'm not racist" (see: Hollywood). This makes him/her feel morally superior to some of his/her friends who happen to be conservative.

The Kennedy liberals- There is a large faction of “baby boomers” who have stayed Democrat (just watch the evening news). Why is this? My best guess is that it all goes back to the hero of all liberal heroes, John F. Kennedy. President Kennedy served as President from 1961 until 1963, when he was assassinated. This is precisely the time these baby boomers were young and impressionable themselves. And while the Bush-bashers of the last 8 years forget about the Vietnam mess we were in during the Kennedy years, many remember fondly on the Civil Right era that Kennedy presided over. What many also seem to forget, either through selective memory or because they don’t really care to know, is that Kennedy, like most politicians, was more concerned with getting votes than the Civil Rights Movement. That he backed away from trying to push any Civil Right laws on the fear that it would anger many Southern white Democrats (yes, Democrats). The same Kennedy administration agreed to allow the FBI to wiretap Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the allegations that he was a communist. But these facts are irrelevant to some. The success of Civil Rights in the United States has been credited to Democrats and Kennedy. And who cares about facts?

So think for a minute about your liberal friend. Which category does he/she fall under?