Saturday, February 04, 2006

A Speech on Liberalism - Well Done

I heard a great speech on liberalism from an unlikely place tonight. A TV series called "The L Word" had one of their characters go to Washington to lobby for better funding for the arts. Bette, the character was being berated for artwork that a Senator pointed out that could be considered obscene to some.

Bette's speech in front of the Committee was outstanding. Here it is:


"You're just the latest reigning vigilantes. You're just a distraction. A wanton distraction. Let's just be forthright and honest about what is truly unpatriotic. Abject poverty is unpatriotic. The failure of our education system is unpatriotic. Lies told by presidents as justification for war is unpatriotic. It is unpatriotic that elected lawmakers fail to acknowledge, let alone address real desperation."


Liberalism is often tough to put into words. I think this show did it pretty well.

You probably know by now that I don't consider myself to be a liberal nor a conservative. I was born and raised in Western Canada, where our politics would be considered left of the American lefties and right of the American righties.

We believe in the free market, in small government and personal and fiscal responsibility. We believe in helping the poor, keeping religion separate from government and preserving the environment.

Name a party in the U.S. that fits that. I don't think there is one. In Canada, the closest thing is the current government (as of last week), the Conservative Party of Stephen Harper (the first Albertan Prime Minister, as far as I know...).

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ever heard of the Libertarian Party? You said,

"We believe in the free market, in small government and personal and fiscal responsibility."
-- That is us to a T.

"We believe in helping the poor, keeping religion separate from government and preserving the environment."
-- Religion from government, another yes. But if you are interested in helping the poor and preserving the environment with government regulation, we would not be in agreement.

Daryl Kulak said...

I think the Libertarian Party is very cool. As you pointed out, my only issue with them would be that a true Libertarian would do away with services that help the poor and enforce regulation to protect the environment.

To me, the Libertarian Party seems to be based on an important ideal, but perhaps it sticks to that ideal too rigidly. You're right, if I go down the list, I would probably be much, MUCH closer to being a Libertarian than a Democrat or Republican.

The Green Party is attractive to me, except when they get into the massive government program ideas, like universal healthcare.

Thanks for posting!

Daryl Kulak said...

Jon,

I have a question for you. What would be the Libertarian approach to medical boards? As you can see in my latest posts, I have significant frustrations with them and I feel like we need a viable alternative.