efrahin, I think you are confused as to what a liberal is and stands for. Yes, we believe in individual rights. We also stand by the fact that regardless of how much we may disagree with what someone says, we will defend to the death their right to say it. Being a liberal doesn't mean giving this country away. It means respecting that people have a right to think, worship, feel as they do -- ideas on which this nation was founded.

It was our founding fathers who insisted on separation of church and state, yet this is still "one nation under God." I do agree that prayer does not belong in a public school. I also believe that if it is against one's religion, a child should not be ridiculed or forced to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

I see nothing wrong with politically correct speech. To call someone a derogatory name because of their race, religion or creed is just plain wrong. Yes, sometimes PC goes overboard but better to be overly correct than to go back to the days when hateful words were acceptable.

I'm really getting tired of the bashing liberals get by conservatives, especially here. A lot of good has been done by liberals. Some of our very best would have been considered liberals and, gasp, worse yet, radicals! Abraham Lincoln was a liberal. Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Adams, George Washington, et al. were not only liberals but radicals. Benjamin Franklin was a liberal in his time. The biggest liberal and radical of all time is probably someone most of us hold in very high regard -- Jesus Christ.

Being liberal doesn't make you stupid, at least it shouldn't. I can see the wrongs in this country. Kowtowing to foreigners who refuse to learn our language is downright stupid. People should have the right to worship as they see fit so long as they do no harm. America is not a religios state. Therefore, laws should not be made to ram one religious belief down another's throat -- whether Judeo/Christian or Muslim or pagan or any other.

Yes, we have enemies who would love to see America destroyed and they do need to be stopped -- not an easy task in a nation this large and diverse. However, to have US citizens give up right after right to accomplish this impossible goal makes no sense to me. Most conservatives actively dislike the ACLU. Yet, without it as a legal watchdog, we would not have equal rights; schools would still be segregated; innocent people would still be in jails and prisons. I don't like every cause the ACLU fights for but I understand why they fight them. If we stop a Nazi parade because it is a truly ugly concept, then we would have to stop another parade because someone else would find it ugly. This nation really is based on equality for all -- not just for when it is convenient.

This is being a liberal -- we try to see both sides of the coin. We try to respect the individual and individual rights before all else, even when we hate what that individual is doing and saying. We don't believe that the government has the right to tread on those rights just because it would be easier, safer, more convenient. Most of us do believe that we should have some programs to help people move upward and to survive -- public education (yes, another liberal idea), social security, etc.

Quit making liberal a dirty word. It isn't. Without liberals, this nation would be anything but the great and wonderful nation it is.