“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.” Frederick Douglass
Does it bother you when you hear someone say gay people shouldn’t be allowed to get married or adopt children? That somebody who was brought to America from a foreign country by their parents as an infant and can remember no other home should be deported to that foreign country? That it’s OK to deny people medical care if they are too poor to afford it? That demonstrators can only exercise free speech in fenced, restricted areas designated and kept under surveillance by the police? That companies can be allowed to hide things in fine print that let them share your personal information and commit you to things you are not aware you are agreeing to? That kids from wealthy neighborhoods in your area go to modern, well-equipped schools while kids from poorer areas go to ramshackle, poorly-equipped schools? That it’s all right to torture a suspect if someone thinks they might be a terrorist? That women, on average, still earn only 77% of what men earn doing the same job with the same number of years of experience and similar performance evaluations?
If your consistent answer to these questions is yes, you are likely a liberal. Liberals have always been in the forefront of extending and expanding human rights because liberals are imbued with a set of principles that promote freedom. These principles include equality, fairness, personal autonomy, security, community, and a priority system that places human needs first because it is infused with empathy.
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