Liberalism-A short answer

[Narkos]

Like many liberals, when someone asks why I am a liberal, I
have ready a whole host of reasons dealing with government,
economics, national security, etc. Most people who ask are
conservative, and don't have the attention span for the real
answer. I've thought about better, one liners like "I
believe in good governance" or "I believe that it's
the job of the government to actually help people" etc,
but they just don't have that zing. I'm sure this has been
discussed elsewhere, but does anyone have any ideas?

[nightrider767]

1. Seems like a waste of time....

If people don't get it by now, I don't think they ever will. I don't think explaining will help. You'd have better luck trying to teach your dog how to win at Pac-Man. It's really a mental state.

But the way I describe it is:

liberalism= open minded, critical thinking

Conservatism= steadfast regurgitation and rumination of a tired old song

[fenriswolf]

2. side note

coincident that your post number and handle have the same digits?

[nightrider767]

3. Yes Thank you very much

I noticed that too.

Slowly chugging along, working my way to 1000...

[RaleighNCDUer]

4. Just say "You wouldn't understand."

They'll get all huffy and insulted and insist, whereupon you can then expound on as long-winded an explanation as you like.

They are conservative and want everything in simple, one-line answers, so you have to create a situation where they will force themselves to listen to real, in depth answers.

[izquierdista]

5. Bill Maher has a good line

About how can you vote for a party that doesn't believe in government. Or a variation that conservatives are the party who believe that government doesn't work, and when they get elected, prove it to be so.

Or just turn it back on them and ask them what conservatives did to win them over? Was it triple the price of gasoline? Was it get stuck in yet another land war in Asia (this works on people who like 'The Princess Bride'). Could it be that free-market health insurance that is working so well for them?

Take an interest in them and find out what makes them tick. Are they the "don't-take-away-my-guns" conservative? Ask them if that includes letting the mentally ill keep their guns too.

[Narkos]

6. Yeah, it probably is a waste of time..

looking at the fMRI stuff, words will never change a person's political orientation. It still fun to jab the wingnuts from time to time though, since one-liners are all they understand!

[rucky]

7. Judging from the responses...

no wonder liberals are marginalized and demonized. The fact is, liberalism is not "obvious" or comes naturally to some people. We DO need to take the time to bust the myths and explain our guiding principles - otherwise Limbaugh will just do it for us.

Welcome to DU, BTW!