Break out your computer and hit up YouTube.comto catch all the great things that Jon Stewart, Bill Clinton and others have said. Break the glass that surrounds us and regain your voice as the free people of the United States, instead of bleating sheep who watch as our credibility and respect as a nation is set afire by some (shall I be charitable?) misguided political figures.
I won’t lie. I’m quite liberal. I’m not ashamed of it, either. I believe that people deserve to know what choices their government is making for/about them. I believe that we gain more by assisting those who are less fortunate and by helping the whole society to succeed than we do by helping millionaires and billionaires find more tax loopholes. I believe that women should have control of their choices, and their body (with or without a baby in it) should not be under the jurisdiction of anyone else. Men do not have anyone hovering over them to keep them from being sperm donors, if they want to, or from going out and knocking someone up. They can make a choice to put it in or not, protected or not, and they are the other half of a baby’s genes, you know, so although that doesn’t mean they get to say what a woman chooses to do if she does get preggers, it DOES mean that they bear at least equal blame…
Ok, before I get totally sidetracked into why women deserve to be free and autonomous humans with equal rights, let me return to my main subject: aquiring information and hearing those who oppose our current climate of war, destruction of social programs, and tax breaks for the wealthy, amongst other hard-to-swallow ideas.
You have several options for seeking alternate opinions and views that are, perhaps, not voiced as often as we need, and for remembering the past and what principles were set forth at the beginning.
- To start with the basics, here is the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, which despite some flaws of gender-specific pronouns and lack of true freedom for ALL at the time, still set forth an ideal that is as relevant to us today. That all should be equal, with the rights to speak their minds, keep the State from religious control, and other vital human rights. The Seneca Falls Declaration sought to address some of those omissions and to seek a true equality for all beings.
- The magazine The Week which has articles about people and events all over the world, and which does a good job of representing both sides of the political sentiments surrounding us. My grandparents have a subscription and they enjoy it, and I have read it as well and find it to be fairly well balanced.
- For those of you who listen to the radio, check out WBAI. They promote social justice, organize protests, have informative shows on a plethora of topics, and are as different from Fox news as night is from day. Even if you find them to be a bit further down on the socialist scale than you’re comfortable with, they are such a huge, refreshing change from the typical news/talk radio station. They’re also listener-supported, so no ads and no corporate owners they have to please.
- And now, for the clips on YouTube that I have found to be so inspiring.
- The infamous, brilliant and scathing side of Jon Stewart.
- Bill Clinton, calling Fox on their hypocrisy.
- Jon Stewart’s observations on the conservative news media’s response to Clinton’s interview.
- Olbermann taking everyone to task for their treatment of Bill Clinton. And also, his previous razor-sharp criticism of our President’s choice of words in his speech censuring Colin Powell.
As a person who believes in abstract ideals like Justice or Equality or Truth; as a person who believes in the sovereignty of each human and their rights to personal and social freedom; as a person who believes that promoting the “sanctity of life” should be about protecting the environment, helping eradicate poverty, social reform, and working for global peace and prosperity; as this kind of person, I don’t choose to be liberal because I hate Republicans or the US, or whatever the smug, narrow-minded rhetoric is these days. I choose to be liberal because I deeply believe in these ideals, and I see many who espouse conservativism make laws and statements to the contrary.
I believe in the ultimate right to choose, the ultimate right to life: that of human beings to choose to have a dialogue with each other, for people to negotiate with words and only resort to force when every other path is blocked and for people to feel safe and secure and live in the best way they see fit to.
In Case of Emergency, Break Glass 