Phil Ochs - Love me, I'm a Liberal.wmv

Great satirical song from a time when 'Liberals' weren't the left of the political spectrum.

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Music

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• Phil
• Ochs
• Love
• me
• I'm
• Liberal

[ABevs1]

Regarding the description of this video. Liberals still aren't the left of the political spectrum. Most people I meet who consider themselves liberals in the US are actually pretty centrist.

[farmboy10001]

@ABevs1 I don't mean to claim that liberals are the left of the spectrum. Apologies that I wasn't clear. It just seems to me that mainstream political discourse today in the US presents it as a conflict between liberal on the left and conservatives on the right and I was taking a bit of a dig at that in my description. Ochs had a very, in my view, important critique of liberals from the left that is as relevant today as it was 40 years ago.

[Mezocosm]

@farmboy10001 You miss the joke. When rubber hits the road, most liberals who fought for equality aren't willing to risk their own skin. This was the the 60's not the 1830's

[farmboy10001]

@Mezocosm I think I agree with your claim except with the phrase "most liberals who fought for equality". This might just be semantics, but the point I think is that most white liberals who supported equality in the abstract would both not fight for it concretely and actually fight against equality when it effected them personally. In any case, I don't think I miss the joke.

[TheRacistsMustDie]

@TheBabyboomkidof53 Or liberals...

(My personal favorite is "I'll send all the money you ask for. But don't ask me to come on along" b.t.w., I have the idea that the international brigades were in the back of his head when he wrote that).

[dsfsdafdsafsdaf]

Liberals STILL aren't the left of the political spectrum.

[BigJH37]

Most of the folks known as liberals back then (Like JFK) would have been called conservatives today. Any of the "Leftists" who survived the 60's just grew up. They realized it is good to strive for a peaceful world, but that there is also nothing wrong with walking softly and carrying a BIG stick. The "Leftists" that survived the 60's were smart enough to see the communist elements that actually wanted to utterly destroy the country and got out just in time.

[TheBabyboomkidof53]

I love the line..." right of center when it affects them personally." today we call these folks moderates.

[wswalcott]

The liberals are still at the center of politics. This song reminds me of a progressive group I started. When I left the group they veered right and let themselves be co-opted by the local Democratic Party. We need a real left in this country and OWS is proving to be the vehicle.

[LordGroundhog]

@farmboy10001 (et al.) This has always been a problem. In the 60s "liberals" practically threw money at what we were doing, while refusing even to wear a lapel pin in support. We did the work & took the hits, & then were labeled & blacklisted as "reds".

It's all more confusing now. In recent years the right-wing tries to smear liberals by lumping them in with "reds", so it's almost impossible to know what anyone's talking about. Now we have even more people too scared to act.

[Dclinch321]

They still aren't and never will be anything but looking both ways at once. Liberals have no conscience but claim to want to be liked, just like Phil Ochs sang all those years ago. It applies to the the Coalition of the Cutting in Britain as much now as it did in the US then.

A wonderful song. He was spot on.

[Mezocosm]

@stevevandien I saw that new documentary, I don't think he was mad...being a drunk or suicid

al doesn't mean madness, I think the man died of a broken heart., and lost his power (his singing voice) to fight.

Funny now everytime I hear someone say "I sympathize with OWS but they can't camp in the park it's unsanitary and they are hurting businesses" I think of this song.

[stevevandien]

Ochs was a genius. And there is, alas, a fine line between genius and madness, as exemplified by his sad last years.

[Mezocosm]

@farmboy10001 I didn’t quite understand what you meant about how people fight about equality because it affects them personally? But your right anyhow phil makes a strong point as always. Thanks for the upload.