A Liberal is a man or a woman or a child who looks forward to a better day, a more tranquil night and a bright, infinite future.
—Leonard Bernstein
I’M PROUD TO BE A LIBERAL. I ALWAYS HAVE BEEN. FOR MANY YEARS as a guest host for CNN’s Crossfire, and then for three years as host of Crossfire Sunday, I ended each show with this sign-off: “From the left, proud to be a liberal, I’m Bob Beckel, good night for Crossfire.” (My cohost on Sundays was Lynne Cheney, whom I liked very much, but I can’t remember for the life of me what her sign-off was.) However, I don’t presume to speak for all liberals. Liberals represent a broad spectrum of the progressive community that can’t be distilled into a single definition, despite the best efforts of the right to do so. That said, I believe I can speak for liberals in response to several misrepresentations that have been consistently advanced (and with some success) by doctrinaire conservatives.
Liberals are patriotic Americans. As my dad, who fought in North Africa and Europe in World War II, used to say, “The blood shed in the war against fascism was not the blood of Democrats or Republicans, it was American blood.” My dad is gone now, but I remember those words every time I hear some right-wing radio hosts who have never served a day in uniform, say that liberals want to “wave the white flag of surrender.”
Liberals want every American to have an equal chance to achieve the American Dream. That was the clear goal of the Founders when they wrote that all people have a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Like the Founders, liberals believe that equality and democracy are a journey, not a statement; that our democratic institutions must continually promote these ideals if every American is to receive the rewards set forth in the Constitution.
I’m a liberal because I believe in a government of the people, by the people, and for the people—all the people, not just some. I believe in the American Dream: a promise that every American has an equal opportunity to achieve his or her greatest potential. Along with protecting our nation’s security, that promise must be a priority of the government.
Unlike my friend Cal, I do not believe all people in America have equal opportunities. You can’t persuade me that a brown kid born to a poor single mother in the South Bronx has the same opportunity as a white kid born to a wealthy family in Scarsdale. I believe the government, especially the federal government, has a responsibility to ensure that both kids, to the fullest extent possible, have an equal chance to achieve success in America.
To have that equal chance, every child under eighteen is entitled to decent medical care (including prenatal care), housing, clothing, education (including preschool and Head Start), and to grow up, to the greatest extent possible, in a safe environment. As a liberal, I believe unequivocally that if a child’s parents are not capable of providing for these basic needs, then the government needs to provide for them. Who should pay for this? You and me and any other American who was fortunate enough to have his or her basic needs met and to have succeeded financially in our society.
Sure, I’d like to believe that a level playing field for success can be provided without government intervention, but overwhelming evidence shows that this will not happen without the influence of a strong central government. My family was privileged to play a small part in the great struggle for civil rights in education, voting, and housing in the 1960s. Looking back, I cannot imagine that progress in these areas could have happened without government action.
Would it have been possible over a period of time for these problems to self-correct? Perhaps, but it would have taken several generations for citizens, particularly in the South, to determine that segregation was wrong, and perhaps several more for institutional change to occur.
In fact, it took the federal courts and strong actions by the executive and legislative branches of the government to mandate that institutional change come sooner than later. Despite the very real progress this intervention created, racism is alive and well in America today. Therefore, we need more, not less, enforcement of federal civil rights laws.
I’m a liberal because I believe in a progressive tax system, wherein higher incomes are taxed at a higher rate than middle and lower incomes. That doesn’t mean I am for bashing the wealthy. I don’t dislike wealthy people, nor do I envy them. I believe most liberals feel that way. In fact, there are lots of wealthy liberals in America today. The difference in perspectives between liberals and conservatives is that wealthy liberals don’t resent a progressive tax system. Most wealthy conservatives do. Liberals take to heart the biblical message “To whom much is given, much is expected.”
I grew up in a family with very little income. My father left home when I was fifteen, leaving my family with no breadwinner. My mother, brother, sister, and I were fortunate to find enough work to keep our family together. For most of my adult years, I have been blessed with a sizable income and, as a consequence, pay lots of taxes. But I don’t mind paying high taxes if they are used for the right reasons: helping to level the success playing field; assisting the poor and the elderly; and, yes, funding a strong national defense.
It does bother me when my tax dollars go for wasteful spending on defense ($200 hammers and no-bid contracts) or for pork-barrel projects. Earmarked contracts and spending projects are a disgrace. The only reason for pork is to help a member of Congress get reelected. Why should I be forced to support an incumbent whom I might not even be willing to vote for? Incumbent members of Congress already have taxpayer-funded advantages over any challenger. On this subject, most conservatives and liberals agree.
Most liberals believe in free trade. We recognize that the economy is now global. However, many, like me, are also “jobs liberals.” We believe that good-paying jobs should be kept in this country, not shipped abroad, as so many have been under so-called free-trade agreements. “American-made” means made by American labor. Given an equal opportunity to compete, I believe the performance of American labor can keep the better-paying jobs available in this country, where they belong—in this country.
American workers should not be forced to compete with exploited foreign workers. The only thing cheap about so-called cheap foreign labor markets are the cheapskates running the companies that underpay and often abuse workers. Fair trade agreements should be fair for workers and companies alike. Our trading partners should be required to provide the comparable wages and safe working environments that are (or at least used to be) enjoyed by American workers.
Regardless of worker conditions, businesses that ship American jobs abroad to foreign labor markets should pay higher taxes or be subjected to duties on the imports shipped back to the United States for resale.
I know conservatives hear this and think “union sympathizer.” Well, you’re right; I do favor strong labor unions and have been a union member for twenty years. Conservatives have, over the years, done a good job of bashing and demeaning labor unions. Most of the bashing has not been honest. Americans need to remember that it was the union movement that brought them the five-day workweek, paid vacation, child labor laws, workplace safety rules, the minimum wage, unemployment insurance, and much more.
The reason the union movement had to fight, in many cases literally, for workers’ rights and benefits is that many businesses adamantly refused to provide them. Unfortunately, the union movement is currently neither as large nor as powerful as it once was. That’s why, as a liberal, I believe the federal government must ensure that these hard-won employee rights remain just that—rights, not merely privileges that can be taken away. Just as we are admonished to defend freedom around the world, we must remember that freedom in America includes labor rights.
As I said previously, I support a strong national defense policy. I initially supported the war in Iraq because I believed the Bush administration’s case for the war. We were told there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, that Iraq was developing a nuclear weapons program, that Iraq had been involved in the 9/11 attacks. None of these turned out to be true. Some people in our government lied to Congress and to the public, and those who misled us need to be punished. Liberals believe in accountability, a word often used against us by the right. Apparently, to most conservatives, accountability does not extend to the Bush administration.
In hindsight, it is clear the decision to go to war was based on faulty (or altered) intelligence. Liberals are not opposed to going to war, but it should be as a last resort, only after all diplomatic means are exhausted and a clear case is made that any war we fight is to protect our national security interests. As a liberal, I support the war against terrorism, and believe that expelling the Taliban from Afghanistan was necessary to protect our national interests.
The war in Iraq is not a war on terror; it is a civil war. We have no reason to be involved in this war. Our military, despite pathetic civilian leadership, freed Iraq from a brutal dictator and helped the Iraqis create a constitution and elect a democratic government. We have done our part; now it is Iraq’s business. Let me be clear on where I and most liberals stand on the Iraq war: if, by the time you read this, the United States still has combat forces actively fighting in Iraq, they should be withdrawn as quickly and as safely as possible. For America, this war must end now so we can get back to the real war on terror.
As a liberal, I believe gay men and women should have the same rights and standing as any other Americans. I believe in reasonable federal environmental regulations. However, those regulations should not be so restrictive that they cost people their jobs, unless a very strong case can be made that irreparable damage will be done to the environment. I believe that we need immigration reform that provides a route to citizenship to those illegal immigrants already in the United States, greater protection of our borders to stop further illegal immigration, and severe sanctions against those businesses that knowingly employ illegal immigrants.
Here are a few outside-the-box beliefs I have as a liberal, which are not universally accepted in the liberal community:
These may come as a surprise to some conservatives. They shouldn’t. Many liberals would disagree with these positions. That makes my point. All liberals are not alike, despite the conservative right’s nonstop campaign to convince Americans otherwise.