Tweak this please.

[flamin lib]

What a liberal believes.

Modern Liberal thinking in the United States springs from a single source: the Preamble to the Constitution; “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

Central to liberal philosophy is the promotion of the general welfare. We believe that phrase still means exactly what the founding fathers meant when they wrote it in 1787; that it is the duty of government to promote those things that are good for the country at large and for its people. All other things: national defense, infrastructure and protecting liberty are part of the general welfare of our country. We believe that those things which can be done to improve our lives should be done. If it is within the power of government to provide things that contribute to our health, well-being and freedom the government should and must provide those things.

To that end liberals believe the judiciary has a robust role to play in protecting the rights of the individual from both government and civil intrusion. However, your rights end at my nose. Everyone should be free to do as they please as long as it doesn’t harm others but it is the purview of government to regulate those things that affect the public.

Everyone has the right to expect a safe workplace, the right to expect products sold to us be safe to use, the right to fair and equitable treatment by all we interact with. We believe that it is the duty of our judiciary to protect those rights and the responsibility of our legislators to pass laws ensuring those rights are respected.

Liberals understand the importance of diversity of opinion and belief, that all ideas should be represented and protected. We also believe that no one segment of society should be allowed to prevail over others in civil or criminal matters. We believe that a threat on the liberty of one is a threat to the liberty of all.

A well-informed and educated people are necessary for a free and open society. To that end we believe that a free and independent press is essential and to maintain that independence a diversity of media ownership is vital. It is the duty of government to see to it that every idea has a fair and open debate and to that end see to it that the public trust is represented in the printed word and on the public airways. It is the responsibility of government to provide open access to information, not to define truth or allow others to define it for us.

To be safe from threats to our liberties from within we must defend against threats from without. A strong diplomatic corps backed by a fierce and ready military is necessary to the preservation of our way of life. We believe it is best to befriend other nations instead of fight them militarily but should the need to do so arise there should never be a doubt as to the outcome. We understand that the backbone of military force is a soldier on the ground with a gun to take the gun away from the other soldier on the ground. We believe it is the people of our military that are its strength, not the machines of war. We believe it is the way we treat our veterans that is the measure of our greatness.

Finally, we believe that those things we want to accomplish as determined by the will of the people must be paid for. The costs of these things should not become the burden of our children or grandchildren. We believe that to those whom much is given much is expected. Fair and equitable taxation of individuals and businesses alike is necessary to provide for the general welfare. We believe it is the duty of citizens to pay the taxes to support what we ask our government to provide.