Modern liberalism in the United States
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Modern American liberalism combines social liberalism with support for social justice and a mixed economy. American liberal causes include voting rights for African Americans, abortion rights for women, gay rights and government programs such as education and health care.
Morality
According to cognitive linguist George Lakoff, liberal philosophy is based on five basic categories of morality. The first, the promotion of fairness, is generally described as an emphasis on empathy as a desirable trait. With this social contract based on the Golden Rule comes the rationale for many liberal positions. The second category is assistance to those who cannot assist themselves. A nurturing, philanthropic spirit is one that is considered good in liberal philosophy. This leads to the third category, the desire to protect those who cannot defend themselves. The fourth category is the importance of fulfilling one's life; allowing a person to experience all that they can. The fifth and final category is the importance of caring for oneself, since only thus can one act to help others.
Modern liberal thinkers and leaders in the United States
Politicians
- William Jennings Bryan (1860–1925), 1896, 1900 and 1908 Democratic presidential nominee
- President Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919), became president upon assassination of William McKinley in 1901, declined to run in 1908, ran again but was defeated in 1912
- President Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924), elected as Democrat 1912 & 1916
- Senator Robert LaFollette, Wisconsin (1855–1925)
- Senator George W. Norris (1861-1944), Nebraska Republican
- President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) elected as Democrat 1932-36-40-44
- Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, New York City, Republican (1882–1947)
- President Harry S. Truman (1884–1972), elected as Democrat 1948
- Vice President Henry A. Wallace (1888–1965), Progressive Party presidential nominee in 1948
- Harry Hopkins (1890–1946), FDR adviser
- Adlai E. Stevenson (1900–1965), 1952 and 1956 Democratic presidential nominee
- Mayor Richard J. Daley, Chicago (1902–1976)
- Senator Ralph Yarborough, Texas (1903–1996)
- Senator Jacob K. Javits, New York (1904–1986), Republican
- President Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)
- Representative Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., New York (1908–1972)
- Vice President Hubert Humphrey (1911–1978), 1968 Democratic presidential nominee
- Speaker Thomas "Tip" O'Neill, Massachusetts (1912–1994)
- President John F. Kennedy (1917–1963), elected as Democrat 1960
- Representative Bella Abzug, New York (1920–1998)
- Mayor John Lindsay, New York City (1921–2000)
- Senator George McGovern, South Dakota (1922–2012), 1972 Democratic presidential nominee
- President Jimmy Carter (born 1924) elected as Democrat 1976
- Senator Robert Kennedy, New York (1925–1968)
- Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, New York (1927–2003)
- Vice President Walter Mondale (born 1928), 1984 Democratic presidential nominee
- Representative John Conyers, Michigan (born 1929)
- Senator Ted Kennedy, Massachusetts (1932–2009)
- Governor Mario Cuomo, New York (born 1932)
- Representative Barbara Jordan, Texas (1936–1996)
- Representative John Lewis, Georgia (born 1940)
- Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California (born 1940)
- Representative Barney Frank, Massachusetts (born 1940)
- Vice President Joe Biden (born 1942), elected as Democrat 2008
- Senator Paul Wellstone, Minnesota (1944–2002)
- President Bill Clinton (born 1946) elected as Democrat 1992 and 1996; he describes himself as a moderate
- Representative Dennis Kucinich, Ohio (born 1946)
- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton (born 1947)
- Governor Howard Dean, Vermont (born 1948)
- Vice President Al Gore (born 1948), 2000 Democratic presidential nominee
- Governor Lincoln Chafee, Rhode Island (born 1953)
- Senator Russ Feingold, Wisconsin (born 1953)
- President Barack Obama (born 1961) elected as Democrat 2008 and 2012
Intellectuals
- Lester Frank Ward (1841–1913), sociologist
- Thorstein Veblen (1857–1929), economist
- John Dewey (1859–1952), philosopher
- Herbert Croly (1869–1930), political scientist
- Vernon Louis Parrington (1871-1929, historian
- Charles A. Beard (1874–1948), historian
- Alvin Hansen (1887–1975), economist
- Reinhold Niebuhr, (1892–1971), theologian
- Lionel Trilling (1905–1975), literary critic
- John Kenneth Galbraith (1908–2006), economist
- C. Vann Woodward (1908–1999), historian
- Richard Hofstadter (1916–1970), historian
- Arthur Schlesinger Jr. (1917–2007), historian
- John Rawls (1921–2002), philosopher
- William Appleman Williams (1921–1990), historian
- Richard Rorty (1931–2007), philosopher
- Garry Wills (born 1934), historian
- Robert Reich (born 1946), economist
- Amy Gutmann (born 1949), political scientist
- Henry Louis Gates (born 1950), Black studies
- Cornel West (born 1953), philosopher, theologian
- Paul Krugman (born 1953), economist
- Roberto Unger, (born 1947), philosopher
- Melissa Harris-Perry (born 1972), African American scholar
Jurists and the law
- Justice Louis Brandeis (1856–1941)
- Justice Felix Frankfurter (1882–1965)
- Chief Justice Earl Warren (1891–1974)
- Justice William O. Douglas (1898–1980)
- Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. (1906–1997)
- Justice Thurgood Marshall (1908–1993)
- Judge A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr. (1928–1998)
- Ronald Dworkin (born 1931), jurisprudence
- John Hart Ely (1938–2003), jurisprudence
- Lawrence Tribe (born 1941), jurisprudence
- Harold Koh (born 1954), jurisprudence
- Pamela Karlan (born 1959), jurisprudence
- Jeffrey Toobin (born 1960), lawyer, legal analyst, author
Template:Col-break Writers, activists and commentators
- Samuel Gompers (1850–1924), labor leader
- W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963), Black writer
- John L. Lewis (1880–1969), labor leader
- Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962), writer; Democratic leader
- Rachel Carson (1907–1964), environmentalist
- Walter Reuther (1907–1970), labor leader
- Betty Friedan (1921–2006), feminist
- Gore Vidal (1925–2012), author
- Coretta Scott King (1927–2006), Black leader
- Cesar Chávez (1927–1993), Chicano leader
- Harvey Milk (1930–1978), gay rights
- George Soros (born 1930), financier, philanthropist
- Susan Sontag (1933–2004), writer
- Ralph Nader (born 1934), consumer advocate
- Gloria Steinem (born 1934), feminist
- Bill Moyers (born 1934), journalist, political commentator
- Bill Press (born 1940), journalist, political commentator
- Jim Hightower (born 1943), columnist, author, activist
- Faye Wattleton (born 1943), feminist
- Patricia Ireland (born 1945), feminist
- Arianna Huffington (born 1950), political commentator
- Lawrence O'Donnell (born 1951), political commentator
- Bill Maher (born 1956), comedian, political commentator
- Amy Goodman (born 1957), journalist, columnist, author
- Keith Olbermann (born 1959), journalist, political commentator
- Katrina vanden Heuvel (born 1959), journalist, political commentator
- Tavis Smiley (born 1964), political commentator
- Cenk Uygur (born 1970), radio host, political commentator
- Rachel Maddow (born 1973), political commentator
- Ezra Klein (born 1984), columnist, blogger
Religious leaders
- Anna Pauline Murray (1910–1985), reverend, lawyer, civil rights activist
- Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968), pastor and civil rights activist
- Arthur Waskow (born 1933), rabbi, political activist, author
- Jesse Jackson (born 1941), reverend and civil rights activist
- David Saperstein (born 1947) rabbi, political activist
- Jim Wallis (born 1948), Evangelical pastor, founder and editor of Sojourners
- Al Sharpton (born 1954), reverend and civil rights activist
- Welton Gaddy, pastor, religious commentator, radio host
- Michael Lerner, rabbi, political activist
- Lennox Yearwood, pastor, activist
Blogs
Magazines and publications
Think Tanks
See also
- Economic interventionism
- Progressive Christianity
- Progressivism in the United States
- Conservatism in the United States