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March 20, 2006

If you believe in balanced budgets, competent foreign policy and equal rights for all citizens, you must be a liberal

Poor Andrew Sullivan.

He's having a tough time of it:

So let's recap: I'm in favor of Bush's tax cuts, but want spending cuts to match them; I favor balanced budgets; I favored and favor the Afghanistan and Iraq campaigns, but want to execute them competently, with enough troops, and in adherence to America's long tradition of humane warfare; I oppose affirmative action and hate crime laws; I favor privatizing social security; I opposed the Medicare prescription drug entitlement; I want more money for defense, specifically more troops; I favor states' rights; I'm a First Amendment nut; I have few problems with gun rights; I would criminalize third trimester abortions; I support marriage rights for everyone, because marriage is a critical institution fostering self-reliance and responsibility. And all of this now makes me part of the "left," equatable with individuals who betrayed their own country for Stalin's Russia. I notice that my correspondent describes conservatism as an "ideology." I think that speaks volumes about what has happened to what was once regarded as the antidote to ideology.

Dear Andrew:

I'm a bleeding heart, true believing, blue state liberal. I believe in balancing budgets and invading Afghanistan after 9/11. I believe in humane warfare and opposed the Medicare prescription drug plan passed by the GOP Congress. I'm a big believer in states rights, especially when it comes to education. I support equal rights (including marriage rights) for all citizens.I would support making third trimester abortions illegal with exceptions for the mother's health.

We disagree on some things: I think social security privatization is a disastrous idea. I think the Department of Defense is a massively wasteful institution that needs to be audited from top to bottom and held accountable, then have its budget trimmed accordingly.

Even using Bush's new math, it looks to me like we agree on a lot more than we disagree.

Embrace your inner liberal. I think its out of the closet.

Love,

Carla

Posted by Carla at March 20, 2006 04:55 PM