Talk Elections

You can only choose from both houses of Congress and any governor of any U.S. state.

When I said "Economically Liberal" I mean someone who supports an economic policy that favors ordinary Americans at the expense of the rich. I guess Chris Smith (Representative from NJ-04) would be a viable option. It's sad that there are very few economically liberal Republicans left after Reagan and Bush Sr. purged most of them from the party or forced them to change their economic positions and embrace "trickle-down economics." Back before Reagan there were many economically liberal Republicans: Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford, Rockefeller, and even Bush Sr. (before he flip-flopped his positions) come to mind. I'm sure there were much more than that, though.

Maybe Cao? By American definition at least.

Otherwise Coburn.

That's sad when you can link Coburn and the word liberal in any sense.

Yeah it is actually a crime to connect him in any way with liberalism, but he would meet my definition of economic liberalism.

Cao

I wonder if he would be more or less economically liberal than me?

More of course, you support a lot of Democratic programs and regulation.

This is BS, there were many Rockefeller and Goldwater Republicans long after the Reagan/Bush Sr. Reagan trully beleived in a big tent party and brought in members from all across the party like Sen Mark Hatfield and John Chafee into the discussions and meetings. Unlike Bush who ostracized on purpose Jim Jeffords speeding up his leaving the party and began the era of purge the moderates in 2001.

Goldwater Republicans are NOT liberal on economic issues. As for the Rockefeller Republicans that remained after Reagan/Bush Sr., they were mostly moderate/liberal on social issues, but became very conservative on economic issues (even though some of them might have been more liberal on economic issues before Reagan/Bush Sr. came into power).

Tough to beat Coburn on this front.

     Coburn by the sensible definition of the term. I guess Cao is a good contender for the American definition.

By the American definition, it's probably some nominal Republican holding some small office somewhere.

Tom Coburn is not a liberal either even by European definition, under which even that there is a different between liberal and conservative. You don't see Coburn fitting well in the Liberal Democrats or Democrats 66 even economically do you? A European economic liberal would be like Mark Kirk (at least before he started running for Senate and got all teabaggy.)

That's an insult to european liberals.

Kirk is an asshole.

Obviously Coburn wouldn't fit well in a liberal party, but nobody's calling him a liberal. His economic policies, howeber, are extremely neoliberal.

ron paul

Not counting his anti-free trade votes.  It's not his intention to protect labor in those cases.

lol

Far right economically != neoliberal. Lots of extremist libertarians hate neoliberals. I know Bono does.

Is Bono really a libertarian? I thought he was a liberal.

     He is a liberal. At least, in the same sense I'm a liberal, Libertas is a liberal, & Einzige is a liberal. If you mean you thought he was economically leftist, he's easily the most right-leaning of the forum libertarians.

Actually, I'm pretty sure Philip qualifies as the most far-right libertarian on the forum, and he's so far right that I'd never live in any country he governed. Mech and I probably tie for most left-leaning.

     In my experience, Philip tends to be more balanced in the positions he endorses while Bono mostly fights his battles over economic issues (he once professed to not caring about same-sex marriage).

He does, however, have a lot of that HURR CHRISTIANITY HURR attitude that's common among those on the paleocon spectrum.

     I don't know if I've ever seen Philip post anything on the topic of religion, but Bono is someone who seriously takes part in theological discussions. I don't recall what his theological leanings are, though.

There is nothing liberal about the greatest patriot in the Senate.  Coburn is anti welfare, anti nanny state, anti liberal in every way.  Plus like a true conservative he wants every dime accounted for and he wants people to answer for how they spend.

He is the anti pork crusader.  How can you call that liberal.  Liberal = pork.

Ever heard of Thad Cochran, or Saxby Chambliss? Both are conservatives, both are porkers.

Interesting thread to read!

Jim Douglas, maybe Cao

John Hoeven has never particularly shied away from fiscal spending, especially for education and infrastructure projects.

Based on support of the stimulus and at least passing support of health care reform, Snowe.

North Dakota is certainly better off for it. Hoeven for President in 2016!!!!

Corrected.

To make an rather boring and predictable point, it depends on definition of "liberal", assuming we are using the term to mean "left-wing", I can't think of many. I know Cao voted for the stimulus, but I can't think of any current Republican that would fit in with the *old Republican party of the mid to late 1800's (pro-tariff, anti-trust, anti-big business).


*I understand that these aren't universal principles of that century's Republican Party (namely the likes of Rutherford Hayes and James Garfield)

late 19thc GOP: anti-monopoly? yes. anti-big business? no.

as for the original question: Snowe.

Pro-tariff equals anti big business?
Are you f***ing kidding me? I thought the point of a high protective tariff was to make American business bigger.

Does not follow.

Using that definition, Ron Paul.

Haha very funny.

I'm still not clear but what "economically liberal" means in the context of this thread.

Are "ordinary Americans" small businesspeople, middle class, working class, the poor, or what?

I would say Ron Paul for non-corporatist definitions, but he would certainly seem to favor businesspeople over workers.  Not sure if we're using a more left-leaning populist definition.

Yes it is.

Yes, ordinary people are small businesspeople, middle class, working class, and the poor in the context of this question.