I was a conservative through high school – even had the Reform party (Canadian) stickers up in my window.

However as I grew up, experience with different cultures (coming from a white bread Canadian suburb it was a nice change); a chance to visit other countries, being the only white guy in a sea of black people in Zimababwe (and having street children call me “baas” – Afrikaans for “master” unnerved me tremendously); and seeing the pain a gay man had at being apart from his long-term partner for 6 weeks while studying overseas showed that the conservative ways were not the direction I wanted to go.

(That being said, many Canadian Conservatives (esp. from the old Progressive Conservative party) are more liberal than many American Democrats). The line with the corporatists and conservatives has been blurred immensely over the last 25 years.

When I lived in Austria, people asked what colour the respective American parties would correspond to in Austrian politics. We figured that most Dems would usually be similar to the black of the Christian Conservatives (though there would be a few red socialists in the mix). As for the Repubs, many would be on the right side of the Christian Conservatives. However we figured many wouldn’t be out of place in brown – the party colour of that failed Austrian meglomanical painter.

Conservatives often don’t know any better – the traditional isolationists don’t know the reality outside of their boundaries, and others are sheep wanting much more help from the government than their mantra portrays. And after seeing the clusterfuck of the last 6 years in America (plus living through a ‘conservative revolution’ in Alberta that saw thousands lose their jobs, a lack of planning, tuition hiked 10% a year for over a decade and voting electoral twits who took the punishment), I have often asked myself, “historically speaking – how often have the conservatives come out on the right side of society moving forward?”

Hell, we’d still be serfs serving the manor before King John signed the Magna Carta at Runnymeade. (Oh wait…the Magna Carta is out of service in the USA)

Isn’t it interesting that America looks like England prior to 1215:
“John had incurred general hostility. His expensive wars abroad were unsuccessful, and to finance them he had charged excessively for royal justice, sold church offices, levied heavy aids, and abused the feudal incidents of wardship, marriage, and escheat. He had also appointed advisers from outside the baronial ranks.”
“Magna Carta.” The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. http://www.answers.com/topic/magna-carta

I was raised in a community of Catholic nuns and was taught in Catholic school. I’ve had a lifelong obsession (?) preoccupation with spiritual matters. Only now I’ve become obsessed with politics which lately I’ve come to believe has to do with cyclical, universal archetypal forces manifesting through individuals, history and the cultural zeitgeist. For me there is a link between spirituality and politics, that the political is an expression of the spiritual. As an example, my feeling is that the Holy Spirit pervaded and inspired the civil rights movement. Vaclav Havel, Martin Luther King, and Gandhi are my heroes representing the integration of the spiritual and the political.

I’m a liberal because I believe in a level playing field, that everyone share in the prosperity of a nation. I believe in social and economic justice, and the rule of law. I’m a liberal because I believe we are all in this together and are responsible for one another, which is a spiritual principle behind policies like social security, etc.

Main Entry: liberalism
Pronunciation: ‘li-b(&-)r&-”li-z&m
Function: noun
1 : the quality or state of being liberal
2 a often capitalized : a movement in modern Protestantism emphasizing intellectual liberty and the spiritual and ethical content of Christianity b : a theory in economics emphasizing individual freedom from restraint and usually based on free competition, the self-regulating market, and the gold standard c : a political philosophy based on belief in progress, the essential goodness of the human race, and the autonomy of the individual and standing for the protection of political and civil liberties d capitalized : the principles and policies of a Liberal party

Katie Jensen — I don’t know where you live, but please look into NACA, which is a program that will help you refinance a predatory loan, if they’re in your state. Go to their web site and see if they’re near you. This is a program that sounds too good to be true, but it’s not.

http://www.naca.com/index_flash.pbl

I got my first house as a single woman aged almost 60 through them. I never thought I could buy a house, but they made it possible for me. Please, please, please check it out.

Everything you mentioned about his (Jesus’) teachings and the concern he showed for “the least of these” colors my politics.

I don’t know if you can be a Republican and be a Christian or a democrat. Jesus’ teachings define most of the principles that democrats stand for. Where did we start going so wrong? Ronald Reagan?

I could no more be anything other than a liberal than I could stop breathing – all because of my faith in Jesus Christ.

“Face the Nation” Ch. 5, 8:30 a.m. Guests: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco.

Others may have noticed this, but when did San Francisco become a state?

it’s been a state of mind since, oh, back about…
Meteor Blades will have the exact date, I’m sure.

That’s Hotflash’s blog quote! Not a bad germ to engender a blog with!

Link? I googled but did not find . . .

Update: Never mind, I found it
HotFlash