The "L" Word

In my previous post, I used the "L" word ("liberal") to describe myself. Conservatives, starting with the "Reagan Revolution", have done an incredible job in making "liberal" a dirty word - so much so that even hard-core liberals like Barak Obama are reluctant to use the word.

If you check out OnTheIssues.org, there is a very predictable pattern in the categorization of Democrat and Republican candidates. Democrats are almost entirely Left Liberals (Clinton being the more moderate) and Republicans are almost entirely Right Conservatives (with the notable exception of Ron Paul, who falls squarely in the Libertarian quadrant). And given that Repbulicans have won the Presidential Election 7 of the last 10 times, you'd think the country was 70% conservative (a myth the Republicans like to proliferate).

But using the Vote Match quiz as a guide on the issues and another site - pollingreport.com - as a source of where Americans stand on numerous issues, you'll discover that Americans are Left Liberal much more so than Right Conservative.

According to OnTheIssues.org, there are 20 defining issues for determining where a candidate is on a matrix of Left Liberal, Moderate, Right Conservative, Libertarian or Populist. These issues are:

1. Abortion is a woman's right
2. Require hiring more women & minorities
3. Same-sex domestic partnership benefits
4. Teacher-led prayer in public schools
5. Death Penalty
6. Mandatory Three Strikes sentencing laws
7. Absolute right to gun ownership
8. More federal funding for health coverage
9. Privatize Social Security
10. Parents choose schools via vouchers
11. Replace coal & oil with alternatives
12. Drug use is immoral: enforce laws against it
13. Allow churches to provide welfare services
14. Repeal tax cuts on wealthy
15. Illegal immigrants earn citizenship
16. Support & expand free trade
17. Expand the armed forces
18. Stricter limits on political campaign funds
19. The Patriot Act harms civil liberties
20. US out of Iraq

(There are explanations of what it means to "favor" or "oppose" each of these issues at the site)

I used the polls recorded at pollingreport.com to get a sense of where the majority of Americans are on each of the above issues. Basically, if the polls do not show a pattern of at least 8 points in favor or opposed, I counted the issue as "no opinion". The results were as follows:

1. Abortion is a woman's right - favor (Liberal)
2. Require hiring more women & minorities - no opinion
3. Same-sex domestic partnership benefits - favor (Liberal)
4. Teacher-led prayer in public schools - favor (Conservative)
5. Death Penalty - favor (Conservative)
6. Mandatory Three Strikes sentencing laws - no opinion
7. Absolute right to gun ownership - oppose (Liberal)
8. More federal funding for health coverage - favor (Liberal)
9. Privatize Social Security - oppose (Liberal)
10. Parents choose schools via vouchers - favor (Conservative)
11. Replace coal & oil with alternatives - favor (Liberal)
12. Drug use is immoral: enforce laws against it - no opnion
13. Allow churches to provide welfare services - no opinion
14. Repeal tax cuts on wealthy - no opinion (note: polls indicate support for the tax cuts, but sense that they favor the wealthy, so this is a wash)
15. Illegal immigrants earn citizenship - favor (Liberal)
16. Support & expand free trade - no opinion
17. Expand the armed forces - oppose (Liberal)
18. Stricter limits on political campaign funds - oppose (Conservative)
19. The Patriot Act harms civil liberties - favor (Liberal)
20. US out of Iraq - favor (Liberal)

That's 10 Liberals, 4 Conservatives and 6 "no opinions'. So if the country leans that strongly left (or centrist, no opinion) - then why is the word "liberal" such a political no-no?