Seperating philosophy from party- I noticed we swipe at each others "liberals" or "conservative" philosophies "doing this or that bad thing"- and I myself, with the newer version of the conservative vs the one that existed pre-Reagan, have really only seen one philosophy ACTUALLY do any good whatsoever- something that you can PROVE causation with- i.e. "so and so built roads" vs "Reagan defeated communism" - you can prove causation with road building, but you can prove no causation with Reagan "defeating communism"-

So, liberals and conservatives alike- what has your side done, with proof, to improve our nation, to improve our lifestyle, to make freedom more free in our country etc, from a historical perspective?

I think this is a false dichotomy. Goodness knows, I'm as liberal as they come, but I would never deny the proper place of a conservative philosophy in a free society. If I seem to be wildly far to the left of the average American, it's because I have been seeing the nearly constant triumph of conservatism in the United States for a quarter of a century now, and I think a little balance in the other direction would be appropriate.

With that in mind, let me say, that in the very long run, liberalism (in the broadest sense of the word) points out the direction in which a free society shoud progress. Conservatism plays the very important part of keeping liberalism from throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

To be more specific, American liberalism can point with pride to the Civil Rights Movement, Feminism, and the Gay Rights Movement. Conservatism can point with pride to opposing the evils of Communism. Did both sides sometimes do foolish, even wicked, things in support of decent goals? Of course. That's why we keep an eye on each other. If liberalism seems to be in a nagging mode these days, that's because it's been out of power for so long.