At least once a week I am confronted by a conservative Facebook friend who posts some nonsense that liberalism is a mental disorder. The latest was was posted by a female administrative law judge with whom I went to law school. I was astonished not that she is conservative as a quick review of her Facebook posts would easily inform you of this. Rather it was the intentional ignorance of all the liberal ideas that got her to where she is today. So to prepare by response to her, I need your help to list as many of the liberal ideas that have improved our world. I know it can turn into a flame war with my friend but it’s still worth fighting this very intentional ignorance. I will post them without comment to her post. Maybe as the song goes, she will learn something new by discovering it herself.
So, a not at all exhaustive list of all the liberal ideas that have improved our world in no particular order:
Women having the right to own property
Women’s voting rights
No fault divorce
Women fighting for equal rights to education
Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
Woman’s right to choose
Abolition
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Civil Rights Act of 1968
Desegregation
Public schools
Child-labor laws
National Parks
National Forests
Interstate Highway System
GI Bill
Workplace safety laws
40 hour work week
Overtime pay
Social Security
NASA
Rural Electrification/Tennessee Valley Authority
Public Universities
FDIC
Americans With Disabilities Act
Family and Medical Leave Act
Clean Air Act
Clean Water Act
Public Libraries
Medicare
Local and state police departments
Extending Voting Rights to 18 year olds
Right to Due Process
Freedom of The Press
Right to Organize and Protest
Americorps
Peace Corps
End of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell
LGBTQ Right to marry
Miranda Rights
The right to a proper defense in court
An independent judiciary
The Freedom of Information Act
U.S. Postal Service
Oh yeah, our modern civilization.