Monday, August 10, 2015

It was liberalism that built America (#2383)

Since the time we first began to fight and win our independence from the King of England in the Revolutionary War, it was the liberals who paid for our success with blood and treasure. The Tories, today known as conservatives, were the ones who wanted to keep England as our sovereign and fought against the liberal push to gain freedom from tyranny. Later on in our history it was the liberals who fought against our own conservatives in the Civil War and defeated them so that slavery would be abolished. Conservatives fought hard to keep their possession of the black race from Africa and the West Indies as property. It was liberalism that fought for the rights of women to vote and conservatism that fought to deny the right of the ballot. Liberalism prevailed then and it prevailed again during the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt who introduced a law that is now known as Social Security. Liberals fought hard for this program that was a relief to seniors who had little to no income in their waning years, despite conservative opposition. The effect of Social Security helped elevate our nation out of the Great Depression and raise millions out of poverty. It was the liberals who brought about into law Medicare/Medicaid and the Voting Rights Act/Civil Rights Act. Medicare/Medicaid because our older and poverty stricken generation needed medical attention for ailments that were traditionally curable but not without a way to seek and pay for the privilege, that only the wealthier among our citizenry could afford. The Voting Rights Act/Civil Rights Act that sought to protect ourselves from the malingering effects of the abolition of slavery a century earlier. Although conservatives lost the battle to keep slaves as property, they never lost their hatred to punish them for the idea of equal rights they had gained. We liberals now have the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which expands both Medicare and Medicaid opportunities to those who can least afford it. Conservatives are still fighting to end Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and although not outwardly admitting it, they want to return voting only to property owners. Conservatism is our enemy it seems when the long look at our history is done with objectivity and honesty.

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