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Left or Liberal? | 5 Minute Video

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Tell the average American you’re a liberal and they’ll assume you’re on the political left. Yet, leftists and liberals hold very different positions on key issues. In this video, Dennis Prager explains how the tenets of liberalism like a belief in capitalism and free speech have more in common with conservatism than with the identity politics and racial resentment preached by the left.
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Script:

What’s the difference between a liberal and a leftist?

This question stumps most people because they think liberal and left are essentially the same.

But they’re not. In fact, liberalism and leftism have almost nothing in common. But the left has appropriated the word “liberal” so effectively almost everyone—liberals, leftists and conservatives—thinks they are synonymous. But they’re not.

Let me offer you six examples:

1. Race:

This is probably the most obvious difference between liberal and left. The liberal position on race has always been a) the color of a person’s skin is insignificant and b) those who believe race is significant are racists. Meanwhile, the left believes the very opposite. To the left, it’s the liberal attitude toward race—it’s unimportant—that is racist. That’s why the University of California officially lists the statement, “There is only one race, the human race” as racist.

And liberals have always been passionately committed to racial integration, while the left is increasingly committed to racial segregation—such as all-black dormitories and separate black graduations at universities.

2. Capitalism:

Liberals have always been pro-capitalism, because liberals are committed to free enterprise and because they know capitalism is the only way to lift great numbers of people out of poverty. It is true that liberals want government to play a bigger role in the economy than conservatives do, but liberals never opposed capitalism, and they were never for socialism. Opposition to capitalism and advocacy of socialism are left-wing values.

3. Nationalism:

Liberals believe in the nation-state, whether that nation is the United States, Brazil, or France. But because the left divides the world by class rather than by national identity, the left has always opposed nationalism. So, while liberals have always wanted to protect American sovereignty and borders, the left is for open borders.

When the writers of Superman were liberals, Superman was a proud American whose very motto was “Truth, justice, and the American way.” But that all changed a few years ago, when left-wing writers took over the comic strip and had Superman renounce his American citizenship to be a citizen of the world.

The left has contempt for nationalism, seeing it as the road to fascism. Better that we should all be “citizens of the world” in a world without borders.

4. View of America:

Liberals have always venerated America. Watch American films from the 1930s through the 1950s and you will be watching overtly patriotic, America-celebrating films—virtually all produced, directed and acted by liberals. Liberals were quite aware of America’s imperfections, but they agreed with Abraham Lincoln that America is “the last, best hope of earth.” The left, however, believes the left is the last, best hope of earth and regards America as racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, violent, and imperialistic.

For the complete script, visit https://www.prageru.com/videos/left-or-liberal

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41 Comments

  4. I remember what a liberal stood for 60 years ago but it's not the same today. Why is that. I know but if I say everyone has a different opinion and will argue with you about the subject. I think I'm just going to try and treat people like I would like them treat me. So have a nice day.

  23. The leading republican candidate for president promises to be a dictator for one day and the right doesn’t seem to have any objections to that. History has proven that no one ever gives up newly acquired power once obtained. So this all seems moot at this point. I have seen a single PragerU episode addressing this topic.

  25. The problem is classical liberalism on paper is an idea that stems from individualism.American liberalism on the other hand is an idea that derives from things like altruism,progressivism,equity and social justice.That's why liberals are called leftists in America, even if they're not as left leaning as let's say socialists they're still not right leaning by any means.Some people say Dems would be like centre-right in Europe, no they would be a mix of centre-left and Big Tent.European centre-right liberal/conservative parties are a lot closer to Republicans than they're to Democrats.

  27. I consider this video very clarifying, except for two points:
    1. Liberals support big government: Not true. Since John Locke formulated the fundaments of liberalism, the role of government was limited to protect the fundamental rights to life, liberty, and property.
    2. Liberals fear the right: Also not correct. Liberals are overtly right wing, for defending the above mentioned principles, which left wing despises. Liberals share many common points with conservatives.

  28. You call Alan Dershowitz a liberal. He is a conservative Jewish supremacist who denies the genocide in Gaza. Watching him talk is so unpleasant, he goes through such mental gymnastics to disprove the obvious. He reminds me of Rudy Giuliani in that. And you picked him to entice liberals to fall into an alliance with conservatives? Maybe you're right. There are a handful of Democratic voters who are still feeling the bloodlust pumping through their veins for some Muslim blood. And anyway, isn't war (or genocide?) good for the economy? Horrible work Dennis.

  29. Man, Prager you are getting under my skin because you smugly simplify ever topic in the worst way. Your stupid graphic/cartoon for this video shows a (liberal) donkey hitched to a (leftist) stake in the ground. You think Biden does what leftists want? Then why does Biden give weapons to Israel and Ukraine? Why doesn't Biden move forward on universal healthcare, making university free, downsizing american military, taxing corporate profits, protect the environment, invest in affordable housing? Liberals are not tied to leftists. It's leftists who have been cowed to "vote blue no matter who" and fear Trump. Without fear of Trump (or Bush, or Reagan), Democrats (who are almost all liberals) would lose so many votes. Democrats are very good at pretending to be shy leftists, like they'll show you how leftist they are, if only you could win a chance to have coffee with Joe and Kamala (barf). Look how leftist Biden is, he has a brown woman VP! (barf). If you think Biden is a leftist or bows to leftists, you Prager are a moron.

  30. He pretends to understand the difference between liberal and leftist in the beginning of the video. By the end, he calls the "mainstream media" "leftwing media". Well bro, for your information, leftist ideas aren't hardly shown on mainstream media. Mainstream media is liberal media. This video is garbage. He can't even keep his terms straight for a 6 minute video.

  31. Prager, you moron. Which "christian civilization" are we talking about protecting and defending? Which "western" civilization are we talking about protecting? The late Roman empire? Charlemagne? The Nazis? Do the Russians count as western? Does the Spanish Inquisition count? Do the Levellers of England count, or are they too leftist for him? Does Karl Marx count as Western? He's from Germany. Does Rosa Luxembourg count? What, does he think leftists want to burn Beethoven records, ban Charles Dickens? What the hell is he babbling about?

  32. First campaign to censor speech in modern American history? I recall the McCarthy era when leftists were essentially banned. Does Prager know nothing of the Red Scare? Is Prager unaware of the FBI deliberately infiltrating and sabotaging leftist groups in the US? And we're supposed to think a handful of leftists, who are eating out of the liberal hand on race and sexuality at the expense of talk of class and empire, are somehow winning a war on racism through censorship? They don't even hold the levers of power. What is Prager even talking about? Has he seen the diversity of views available today on the internet?

  33. The comments here just show how many people live in their own little worlds, and believe it all… we're the special ones, because we listen to our media-masters.

    Wikipedia:

    Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics and civil liberties under the rule of law, with special emphasis on individual autonomy, limited government, economic freedom, political freedom and freedom of speech.[1] Classical liberalism, contrary to liberal branches like social liberalism, looks more negatively on social policies, taxation and the state involvement in the lives of individuals, and it advocates deregulation.[2]

  34. Prager, you moron, you say the leftists criticize the US for being violent and imperialistic. Do you remember the Vietnam War, the Korean War, the Iraq War, deposing leaders in dozens of countries (Guatemala, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Libya, etc. etc. etc.). So, are you going to have a debate about how violent the US is or are you just going to pretend the left is all wishy washy with accusing the US of being violent? Look at the history of the US empire. Seems extremely violent to me. US endorses dictators when they're convenient, Islamic extremists when it's convenient, Jewish extremists, but never supports leftist governments, demonizes them. Every time. Sanctions them. A good quote of Madeleine Albright is that after questioned about the deaths by starvation of 500,000 Iraqis (or was it Iraqi children), were the sanctions worth it? She answered: yes, they were worth it. That's a liberal for you. Not much different from a conservative at all. Not at all. But Prager doesn't consider that attitude fascist, he considers it worthy of celebrating on July 4. Moron. (to be clear, I am not suggesting that Hussein was a leftist, I don't think he was, nevertheless, look at the consequences, the hell on earth the US sows.)

  35. Dennis Prager is a moron. He is correct though: liberal doesn't mean leftist. But his idea of "liberal" and "leftist" being immediately about their ideas of race? No dummy, that's not it. You do have liberals and leftists who might see the race issue either "color blind" or "identity politics". In the current moment, liberal and leftist is actually about 1. how they see capitalism, 2. how they view corporate influence over government, 3. how they view US imperialism. Liberals are 1. fine with capitalism, though they might be okay with tinkering to keep the masses away from their mansions, 2. fine with corporate influence over government, but pretend it's not good, but that they get corporate money only because the bad guys, the republicans, are doing it, and 3. they are okay with US imperialism doing any number of bad things around the world, just don't talk about it and everyone will be happy.

    Leftists think 1. capitalism is bleeding poor people at home and abroad dry, and is destroying our planet to enrich rich people who constantly lie about how indispensable they are to society when society is really a group endeavor, 2. they hate corporate influence over government, want to abolish the 2 party system, want ranked choice voting, and want to socialize various aspects of society, and 3. they view US imperialism as mostly evil, and our bloated military budget as a combination of a lust for power, and a lust for contracts for military contractors.

  37. Go look up Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speech on white liberals and how dangerous they are. Liberal, democrat, republican what ever they are calling themselves now if you are not standing to end oppression you are standing in support of it. Stand and make this money while others suffer is the name of the game we all play. Yay. 🎉🎉

  39. Classical liberalism, which sought liberty from government oppression, evolved an offshoot called modern liberalism (social liberalism in Europe), which added the goal of protecting from private oppression. Since these modern liberals were to the left of conservatives, "liberal" became shorthand for everything left of conservatives. When "liberal" got turned into an epithet, those to the left of modern liberals started calling themselves "progressives." In other news libertarian lite types started confusing things by calling themselves liberals as though they were original classical liberals. But many of us are still proudly modern liberals.