OK, so what do you see as the difference between "liberal" and "ultra-liberal"?
The difference I see is to what level one is willing to go. When I say ultra-liberal, I mean someone who has basically declared all conservative ideas to be useless. I would say nearly the liberal equivalent of Fox News.
Which question? Mine or the OP?
The OP
But why? What is it about the liberal position that you think people should stay away from? Here's what I'm getting at:
Say you have two brothers. One of them is extremely helpful. He is always around when you need to move or your car breaks down, or you are doing projects around the house. The other is never around. Even simple things like giving you a ride to work while your car is in the shop, since your office is only 10 minutes out of his way is too much for him.
Would you say that when it comes to being helpful, we should all strive to be somewhere in the middle of these two? Or do you think leaning heavily towards the position of the first brother is the way to go?
That's why I'm asking what's wrong with the liberal position. If we should try to not be too liberal, there must be something wrong with it, right?
There is a couple things wrong with it. First, we have to wonder why the one brother isn't willing to help. Is it because he simply doesn't want to? Is it because he simply doesn't have the times or means? Or is it because he wants to teach his brother a lesson?
For the brother who is always willing to help, it leaves him open to be used. It isn't a far step seeing the brother being used because he is so willing to help. It could end up leading to that brother being asked for everything, so much so it becomes a burden. That brother runs the risk of loosing everything because he is too willing to help.
At the same time, it can make the other brother become lazy. He knows he can get out of any trouble he may be in, so he doesn't work as hard. It is very possible he allows himself to simply become a slacker, because he doesn't need to do anything.
A moderate position would work perfectly. A brother willing to help, when he believes you need the help. This way, you get the safety net you want, but at the same time have the motivation one needs.
OK, but the fact that we have some liberal policies in place doesn't mean the government isn't very conservative. To me the fact that we had a ban until very recently on military members being openly gay (and it took a big fight to get rid of it), we don't allow legal same-sex marriage, and we have DOMA in place suggests the government is more than a little conservative.
Those are quite small in the big scheme of things. Especially since we see a tendency to a more liberal views. Like you said, homosexuals are allowed to be in the military. There is more support for same-sex marriages shows that there is becoming somewhat more of a liberal vote.
When we look at liberal policies, we see that abortion is legal, we have affirmative action, plus many welfare programs that were supported by liberals. Really, most of these are minor details.
It's not whether or not we have both kinds of policies that determines the answer here, though. What we need to look at is how many of each policy, and how far to one side they are.
Also, I think the reason the president is generally moderate is that that's the best way to get elected or re-elected most of the time. That way, you can appeal to the biggest group of people possible.
I believe we have a pretty equal balance here. And for the most part, especially recently, we are seeing a more evening out.
