Apart from extremism, there is a lot of relativity between what is liberal, socialist, capitalist, communist, conservative etc.

Bailing the Banks was giving welfare to Corporations that tend to be socialist or communist!

Being compassionate is a socialist Christian virtue that spreads wealth around in alms etc. Spreading wealth is also capitalist if it encourages and facilitates the relatively poorer vast majority to create their own wealth as stimuli.

To do the most good to the vast majority while protecting and preserving the rich few will not be a bad idea.

Baptize the act the way you will, I pray Obama’s Administration be guided by GOD and not by GREED of for me, myself and I.

I was hungry and you fed me. I was naked and you clothed me. I was homeless and you sheltered me…

This sounds like radical socialism to me! The eye of the needle is very small.

Pragmatic Progressive is a more fitting label than liberal. We must move from seeing black and white — the US should be seen in shades of browns. Helping the masses through access to health care and progressive tax policies will be the path to improving the quality of life of our society.

GO BOLD OBAMA! The electorate is behind change … so do it. Caution will cost you momentum and political capital. Support state run programs when possible. Build our infrastructure for the future, not just repairing the existing roads … Go for broadband, the energy grid, clean public mass transit, too.

If we are going to loan or bailout the auto industry, let’s demand safer and more efficient cars now that the lobbyists and special interests are declawed.

Can Tom and his guests talk a little about his possible choice of Lawrence Summers as head of the Fed? Not exactly a “liberal” choice…..

I just don’t see how the country can afford everything Obama promised, not where debt levels are currently and with the dollars that have to be devoted to the credit and housing crisis.

Raising taxes in a severe recession seems counter-productive.

How long before the word “liberal” — reduced to a mere insult during Reagan-Bush — can return to its proper place along the ideological spectrum? Is the word so tainted that knees will jerk for generations to come?

In reference to a caller to your program, it is confirmation of the ignorance of many Americans that he was afraid of Obama’s policies because they would turn the United States into a communist country like Germany.

Germany is not communist. Although it is one quarter of the population of the U.S. and is half the size of California it is the largest exporting nation in the world. Has anyone heard of Braun, Krup, Bayer, Mercedes and, and, and?

What is really disturbing is that he was not corrected by Mr. Ashcroft or his guest and therefore continues his ignorance.

Now if the caller does not want universal healthcare and five weeks paid vacation – that’s fine – but it would be difficult to find a German who’d trade those and other benefits offered by their government for those received by Americans by their government.

Thank you.

Majawill your comments are counter-productive.

I like the idea of Americans living within their means; consuming less and saving more. However, this would lead to additional hardship for our economy. The present economy’s capacity has grown to meet the demand created by a consumer who has been partying for the last four decades.

I would be interested in how raising taxes on capital gains, interest and dividends encourages savings. Perhaps what is needed is a consumption based tax as opposed to income.

from time to time we see outrageous comments about socialist medical care like Canada, UK, France, and so on. A study of the results of the systems would be more productive than damning them. In canada we have a system that while not perfect does provide acceptable services to EVERYONE! no one is left behind. Yes we pay taxes to support it and the rich automatically pay a higher burden thando the poor. However this aging population in North America generally,we have a very active elective surgery policy which allows many of us to get knee and hip replacements under the system at no extra cost. the greatest benifit however is the psycological factor where we all can heave a great sigh of relief knowing that th system works to the benifit of all

Interesting Discussion. unfortunately for Obama and his minions of change, there will be a distinct limit on what he can accomplish as well as what he will be willing to attempt. Right or Wrong our citizens are fairly well divided on how to approach the major issues and the current economic crisis we face. 47% of the electorate voted against President Elect Obama, and as he well knows the time to campaign for his second term starts now. I hope he will be bipartisan in his efforts to undo some of the damage from the last decade, but I worry that his only true ability (and proven success) to date is running little more than a campaign.

Mr. Ashbrook’s moderated discussion of the shape of liberalism in the new Obama administration inspired me to offer (1) a recommendation to Mr. Ashbrook for a future show along with (2) a quote from the great American philosopher John Dewey regarding “renascent liberalism.”

First, as a professional social-political philosopher and ethicist, it goes without saying that I appreciate rational analysis of the ideals that should guide President-Elect Obama’s administration. But as one among tens of millions in the U.S. and abroad undergoing a visceral, deeply felt thawing of cynicism due to Barack Obama’s election, I find myself searching to give some sort of coherent form to these emotions. So I’ve been turning to poets as much as to political analysts. I recommend to Mr. Ashbrook that he invite a number of poets to the show to discuss their own pressing struggles to give artful form to this maelstrom of emotions. Jamaica Kincaid, Billy Collins, and countless others would have a perspective to offer that is equal in import to the sort of analytical angle folks like me can offer. Indeed, in my more misty-eyed moments of late, I’d have to say their perspective is more important.

Second, the American philosopher John Dewey, regarded in the mid-20th century as “America’s philosopher” by the New York Times, powerfully defined liberalism in his 1935 book Liberalism and Social Action. I’m unaware of a more precise, or a more inspiring, attempt to explain this ideal that has been so badly tarnished by trickle down conservatism. The Obama administration should aim for this ideal as it contemplates its economic plans: “Liberalism is committed to an end that is at once enduring and flexible: the liberation of individuals so that realization of their capacities may be the law of their life. …[The liberal spirit's] present need is recognition that established material security is a prerequisite of the ends which it cherishes, so that, the basis of life being secure, individuals may activitly share in the wealth of cultural resources that now exist and may contribute, each in his own way, to their further enrichment.”

Steven Fesmire, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Environmental Studies, Green Mountain College, Vermont

Environment policy changes is what I want to see President Obama make. If you calculate the economic impact of environmental loss it’s a very pressing matter for the world and our country. I would like him to take the lead while he has the world looking up to him and support him to make a significant step forward dealing with this global crisis.

I agree we have been living way beyond our means.
In Europe quite a few countries have a VAT, or consumption based tax. It effects the poor and lower wage earners the most. It has done nothing to curb the same situation we have here, look at Great Britain they have the same credit problems we have.

Dividends is income is it not? So it should be taxed.
Capital gains is one that I would not be in favor of raising as it’s already to high.

I must say that taxes as an electoral issue is vastly overrated. Unless we are talking 90% tax rate versus 10%, I don’t think it matters that much. What gets individuals and businesses alike in trouble is healthcare costs, overspending, overextension, spikes in fuel prices, bad product that sells poorly, etc. Taxes? Whether the tax rate is 33% or 38% I don’t think makes a difference. Imagine if the government was reposnible for people’s healthcare? GMs and Chryslers of this world would not be saddled with huge costs of those benefits and individuals would not have to run to bankruptcy court when they get ill. It is not the tax liability that puts airlines, car companies and financial instituions out of business.

I’m delighted that Obama won. The guest today claims his victory is as big as Reagan’s in 1980. Is that true? I think that Reagan’s victory was much greater than Obama’sg I agree with the larger point that Obama has a mandate.

I missed hearing this program live, but am now podcasting it, moments after reading Packer’s article in my NEW YORKER…all while responding on this site and replicatinig a copy on my computer printer. What a mind-bogging technological confluence is that?
As a life-long liberal who lived through FDR’s era, I so appreciated reading, hearing and printing the words of that great President who, along with Lincoln should serve as models to Obama. Even given Packer’s point that the past cannot be directly followed, both Roosevelt and Lincoln called on us to be sacrificial and fearless in face of national problems. At a minimum, these two attributes deserve copying no matter what ideological label is attached to Obama.

Will Obama get someone from the Rocky Mountain Institute (or a similar outfit) to advise him on energy issues? If so, I will consider him liberal on that issue. Otherwise, it’s more of the same nuclear energy bigwigs who have his ear.

The only issue I really know about is health care, being a medical professional. Packer mentioned the government being a safety net. I would like to see one questioned answered: why are health insurance rates going up, insurance plans covering less or costing more in co-pay and co-insurance, while the health care providers are being reimbursed less every year? Where is the money going?

Little people? What was that caller referring to, midgets, dwarfs? People are using catch phrases like socialism, Communism like its all bad. Vs capitalism, all good. Silly monkeys blindly repeating their fear mantras. This must be a sign of the poor state of education in the U.S.

Obama and the dems may have a mandate, but I’ll be disappointed if they start taking shots at the second amendment. I love my guns like I love my freedom and I am not giving up neither. My forefathers fought in the war of independence. I’d say its ‘we the people’ that are the original home land security.