Thank a Liberal

I got a good email today from Tom, a reader of this blog. He sent me a fine piece called "Thank a Liberal." You can see it in its entirety on the following Daily Kos site. It includes 38 items that liberals have introduced, most of them over strenuous opposition from conservatives. The societal improvements range from civil rights to personal liberties, from national programs to consumer and workplace protections, or sometimes just reflect the more enlightened popular attitudes liberal thought has brought to the public forum. I'll share a few items as a sampler.

On civil rights: If you have never been lynched, or had your children firebombed in a church, thank a liberal. If you are not a land-owning white male, but have voted, thank a liberal. If you oppose political parties starting massive wars to destroy America because they lost an election, killing hundreds of thousands of Americans in the process; if you just don't have that much hatred for Lincoln's policy of restricting slavery to states where it already existed, thank a liberal.

On personal liberties: If you grew up in a family of less than 12 kids, like the idea of being able to choose if you have 12 kids or not...thank a liberal. If you ever drank a beer or a glass of wine without being thrown in jail, thank a liberal. If you have ever done anything that is a religious or superstitious taboo without being stoned to death or cast out as a heretic, thank a liberal. If no woman you know has died or been maimed in a back alley abortion, thank a liberal.

On national programs: If you're a Native American and have not been killed or died in a concentration camp, or if you live near Native Americans and are not at war with them, thank a liberal. If you have ever eaten food (agricultural subsidies), flicked on lights (rural electrification) or benefited from the Tennessee Valley Authority, thank a liberal. If you or your family have ever benefited from the GI Bill of Rights, FHA Mortgages, Medicare, Social Security and so forth, thank a liberal. If you've ever seen a national park and it hadn't been strip mined and clear cut into a desert wasteland, thank a liberal.

On consumer and workplace protections: If you do not have skin cancer, and have ever stood outside without having a peeling sunburn within moments, thank the ozone layer, thank the ban on CFCs, and thank a liberal. If your workplace is safe and you are paid a living wage, including overtime; if you enjoy a 40-hour week and you are allowed to join a union to protect your rights without being lynched, thank a liberal. If you have not died from tainted meat, been prescribed something useless or poisonous by a quack doctor, have not given your children cough syrup which turned out to have heroin as its secret ingredient, thank a liberal.

On popular attitudes: If your children go to school instead of working in coal mines, thank a liberal. If you have ever sat on a public seat, drank from a drinking fountain, stood on a bus, or done anything in public without worrying about being beaten up for being in the wrong section for your skin color, thank a liberal. If you have never been raped, and then had the rapist escape punishment on the grounds that he marry you, thank a liberal.

To see the rest of these pithy aphorisms click here. I'm sure you could think of many more to add to the list.