Phil Ochs -- Love me, I'm a liberal

İ cried when they shot Medgar Evers
Tears ran down my spine
I cried when they shot Mr. Kennedy
As though I'd lost a father of mine
But Malcolm X got what was coming
He got what he asked for this time
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

I go to civil rights rallies
And I put down the old D.A.R.
I love Harry and Sidney and Sammy
I hope every colored boy becomes a star
But don't talk about revolution
That's going a little bit too far
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

I cheered when Humphrey was chosen
My faith in the system restored
I'm glad the commies were thrown out
of the A.F.L. C.I.O. board
I love Puerto Ricans and Negros
as long as they don't move next door
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

The people of old Mississippi
Should all hang their heads in shame
I can't understand how their minds work
What's the matter don't they watch Les Crain?
But if you ask me to bus my children
I hope the cops take down your name
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

I read New republic and Nation
I've learned to take every view
You know, I've memorized Lerner and Golden
I feel like I'm almost a Jew
But when it comes to times like Korea
There's no one more red, white and blue
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

I vote for the democratic party
They want the U.N. to be strong
I go to all the Pete Seeger concerts
He sure gets me singing those songs
I'll send all the money you ask for
But don't ask me to come on along
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

Once I was young and impulsive
I wore every conceivable pin
Even went to the socialist meetings
Learned all the old union hymns
But I've grown older and wiser
And that's why I'm turning you in
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

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[akumakorgar]

Liberalism has a clear enough meaning in American political discourse - it's the left wing of capitalist ideology. Phil Ochs is not just a frustrated liberal in this song - Ochs was a radical, a socialist. An anti-capitalist.

American liberals and progressives have been laboring under the two-party system for so long that they have a hard time understanding that there are people further to the left of them, to whom they are in fact fairly conservative in comparison.

[shatakan]

He was a socialist, mocking those on the centre left.

[Mike Armstrong]

Goddamn, people are fucking idiots. Reading the comments I can't believe how many people think Ochs is a right-winger. Dumbasses! This guy, like myself, was a lifelong socialist.

[Geo2640]

love that a republican singer can rly stick it to those fucking liberals lol

[Isabella Marcos]

This song comes from the days when leftists used "liberal" as a bad word. ;)

[Dealit707]

Liberals are to the left of center, and beyond. The further left they go, the more unstable they become, until they're in a whole new world that only exists in their minds. It's really quite odd. I think it's an inability to come to terms with the world as it exists.

[MrCaarlho]

Or cunts.

[Matthew Christensen]

Then what does he think about Republicans? Lol

[Christian Soc]

Okay there seems to be some confusion about where Liberalism is on the political spectrum. At the time Ochs wrote this song American Liberalism was moving from its traditional center left position that is now occupied by what Americans call: "progressivism" (aka "social democracy"). To its new position of centrism in the political centre. That is why people (who are not insane) call Clinton and Obama centrists. What people need to start doing is calling all self-identifying liberals: "centrists"

[HP Spacecraft]

That's great! Keep at it and record it.

[drakesdrum1]

... i kinda want to hear this now