At the time of the election, Obama’s website said that both he and Biden supported the old Federal Assault Weapons Ban. This has since been removed, suggesting they may have changed their minds, but it was a legitimate point of concern.
Liberal equivalent to conservative preoccupation with 2nd amendment/paranoia about Obama taking guns
I can’t speak for other liberals, but I really stocked up on words and punctuation while Bush was in office.
From OP:
So I’m looking for some sort of action that can be observed on a large scale that is taken by a number of people, probably as a result of an irrational belief about the other party.
Moreover, many of the specific examples you gave are actually pretty high on the list of concerns among conservatives too. I think the difference lies in what they recommend be done about it.
Take the military industrial complex. That was a concern first voiced by Eisenhower and now given new prominence by none other than the self-described Republican SecDef Gates. I’ve seen folks like McCain, Powell, Armitage, Wilkerson, Bacevich, Ron Paul, and others all voice concern over it.
Of course it was political! Rangel knew full well his proposal would go nowhere. Nonetheless, he proposed a return to the draft so you are wrong. Rangel actually introduced a bill to reinstate the draft:
I’m not wrong. Rangel was making a point and did not want to bring back the draft. The Bush administration didn’t want to bring it back either. That was my original point: they never tried to bring back the draft, but they were repeatedly accused of plotting to do so.
I don’t know if you are referring to days of yore, but legalization of medical marijuana has considerable support any way you slice it. While legalization in general does show a partisan divide, support in general is increasing.
All of the good ones seem taken (I agree with abortion as being one of the biggies, as well as DtC’s comment about pot legalization, and the draft being a big talking point for liberals, especially when Bush was in office and things were going badly in Iraq), so how about these: The US is on the verge of invading Iran (any time now), and that Bush is planning to set aside the election and declare himself God Emperor (or something along those lines…granted, I seem to recall some loony righty types making similar claims about Clinton, but it seemed more widely circulated on the crazy liberal circuit than it was among the right wingers I knew when Clinton was in the top spot). 
-XT
From your link:
You are incorrect that I remembered wrong. So, yes, you are wrong. I showed you the evidence that Rangel introduced the bill. Rangel has also argued for the draft on Face the Nation.
What’s your point? Being drafted, even during time of war, did not mean that you would be fighting on the frontlines.
This is exactly the kind of stuff I’m talking about. I don’t doubt that a lot of self-described liberals had these kinds of sentiments, especially about the authoritarian trajectory of certain Bush policies,* but where is the evidence that large swaths or even a majority actually believed this kind of stuff? Is there any way to say, “Looking at this trend, one could make a very convincing argument that many within this political subset truly believe X”?
- A number of people within Bush’s own administration were worried about their twisting of the law. Wilkerson, Armitage, Zellikow, the Leveretts, etc.
Saying that young people would have to give “service” to their country seems distinctly different to me than saying “military service.” Unless “service” always means military service.
I haven’t read the bill.
My two comments there were more tongue in cheek. I wasn’t asserting that a large number of liberals believed either, merely that there was a fairly vocal subset on the loony fringe of the left wing that did. Heck, there were a bunch of folks on this board who believed one or both of those things (and, for all I know, still do, as they breathlessly wait for the US to invade Iran any day now, or find out that Bush is actually still in charge and Obama is merely a puppet).
Others have already brought up the stuff that is probably closer to the right wing preoccupation with the 2nd, the biggest one being abortion. Despite the Republicans having control of nearly all aspects of government (including, supposed control of the SCOTUS), the Presidency and control of the Congress, we STILL didn’t get an overturn of RvW (or prayer in school, another nail biting fear from the left after Bush’s election in 2000). It’s quite similar to the fear from the right that the gun grabbers are going to making serious plans to crank things back up, and with just as much justification IMHO (more really, since afaik there has been no serious challenge to RvW recently, while gun grabbing seems to always be on the agenda for some on the left…it’s a never ending battle).
-XT
I don’t really see a difference. Either way you are conscripted for service by your government. Is there any functional difference between service to your country and military support?
We’re talking at cross purposes here. I know Rangel introduced the bill. I was saying you were wrong about the left ‘worrying about the wrong party.’ Since Rangel’s bill and statements were a political move and not support for the draft, they had nothing to worry about.
You have a point. When I see the draft, I think of obligatory military service. I would have very little problem with with a program that required service to the country for a certain amount of time, as long as they could choose between military service, peace corps type stuff, or domestic non-profit work.
But, yes, I see your point.
Oh, that was tongue in cheek. I suppose I should have followed that comment up with a 
That being said, you should be more careful in your choice of words. Saying that I remembered wrong suggests that the facts are incorrect. If you are arguing against my comment that the left was worried about the wrong party then you are saying that I AM wrong…not that I REMEMBERED wrong.
The wording about memory came from your post, and both the bill and the worrying took place in the past. But I’m glad we figured out what we were talking about. :smack:
I agree, but it should be mentioned that the fear is that the Conservatives would restrict abortion if they get a majority. Harper’s government has shown hints of holding some radical right-wing ideas, and people are afraid of what they cannot do now, but could do if ever they get a majority government.
Of course, in the case of abortion it’s probably not a worry as Canadians seem to be mostly in favour of it being legal. Many Conservative MPs are pro-choice themselves (and of course, many Liberal MPs are anti-abortion). But this said, hasn’t there been a law passed about making it a crime to harm a fetus in the commission of another crime? While of course that’s not really close to restricting abortion, many activist groups saw it as a step in the direction of granting a legal status to the fetus.
I’d say the liberal equivalent is class warfare, anti-corporatism, and a focus on the rich.
The attention paid to CEO salaries is way out of proportion to the effect those salaries have on the lives of anyone else.
The belief that the poor cannot get ahead without government help because of cabals of rich people.
The idea that corporations have much more control over people’s lives than they do.
The belief that society’s ills are largely the fault of the ‘rich’, and that they could all be fixed by simply making the rich pay their ‘fair share’.
The belief that the rich own far more of the nation’s wealth than they do, and that they would run amok without strong government control over them.
The energy spent denouncing Halliburton during the Bush administration is a good example of the anti-corporate fetish of the left.