“If the consequences for this great nation of ours weren’t so serious and the policies preferred by the left weren’t so dangerous, one would really laugh, almost uncontrollably, at the beliefs and (il)logic of American liberals.”—Quin Hillyer
Laughing at the Left
If the consequences for this great nation of ours weren’t so serious and the policies preferred by the left weren’t so dangerous, one would really laugh, almost uncontrollably, at the beliefs and (il)logic of American liberals. Based on things they have actually said or done, here are some of the things they really, truly seem to believe.
They believe we can spend our way out of debt. They believe taking money from one part of the economy to give to another part somehow makes the economy bigger. They believe people who have never run a business can run a business better than people who have spent their whole lives running businesses. They believe that what appears to be a 20-year spike in global temperatures (a spike itself that hundreds of scientists dispute) can mean doom for a planet whose temperatures have swung much more widely for 6 billion years — but that an eight- or ten-year flattening or even drop in temperatures can be ignored because it doesn’t comport with the “models” based largely on the previous 20 years. They believe that punishing “developed” nations for carbon consumption is a good idea even if it means that developing countries without the same environmental controls will take over the production/manufacturing forced away from the developed countries. So, somehow, in the name of saving the environment from carbon emissions, they would create even more carbon emissions (and other, real pollution) elsewhere — and call it progress.
They believe that teenage girls who aren’t allowed to get even minor cosmetic surgery without a parent’s permission should nevertheless be able to procure an abortion without a parent’s permission. They believe that would-be parents should have the “choice” to kill their babies, but not the choice of where to send their children to school. They believe that when it comes to advising about abortions, nobody should interfere with the doctor (abortionist)-patient relationship — but when it comes to caring for the elderly, anonymous bureaucrats should dictate to doctors what sorts of treatment are cost-effective enough to be “approved.”
They believe it is unconstitutional for a legislature to mention Jesus but perfectly okay to mention Allah. They think it is offensive for mass-market movies to exhibit Christian sensibilities, but that it is perfectly okay for primetime TV shows on the public airwaves to have eighth graders decide which is the sexiest from among of contestants on MILF (Mothers I’d Like to ****) Island. They believe it disqualifies an appellate judicial nominee to joke one time about praying “please God, no more Souters” on the Supreme Court, but that it doesn’t disqualify a Supreme Court nominee to repeat in multiple prepared speeches that “inherent physiological or cultural differences… may and will make a difference in our judging.” They believe it is disqualifying for a judicial nominee to have quoted Thomas Aquinas about a Catholic duty to be good and active citizens while speaking to a Catholic high school. They believe explicit words in the Constitution protecting contracts, and gun ownership rights, and property rights against government seizure, are to be ignored; but that wholly invented “rights” that cannot be found in any words of the Constitution, but that merely “extend” from “emanations” from “penumbras” of other judicially created “rights,” are somehow sacrosanct and essential parts of the Constitution.
They believe that when a white skinhead threatens a black man, it is a sign of a vast racist conspiracy; but that when paramilitary-garbed New Black Panthers with a weapon, spouting racial epithets, stand right in front of a polling place, it is no violation of civil rights at all — even after a judge has already moved to issue a default judgment against the Panthers. They believe that blacks are suffering racial discrimination when black voters themselves choose to hold non-partisan elections. They believe white firefighters can be denied promotions specifically because they are white, and that Asian students can be denied admission to college because they aren’t black, but that black students who want to attend racially integrated private schools should be sent back to de facto segregated public schools in the name of “fairness.”
The Left thinks it is good diplomacy to insult our allies while kowtowing to our enemies and bowing to problematic rivals. They tried everything in their power to stop Ronald Reagan’s Cold War policies and yet now claim to have been part of a decades-long, bipartisan consensus on Cold War efforts. They think Afghanistan is a “war of necessity” until they are in charge of it, after which it becomes a war that must be stopped, one that was inherited from bad Republicans. They oppose missile defense because they say it will never work, and then when it works they oppose it anyway. They think that American imperialists are worse than foreign Communists. They think American servicemen should be prosecuted for (allegedly) punching a jihadist-terrorist in the stomach while capturing him — and in a military court, without civilian due process rights — but that foreign terrorist suspects are too good for military justice and instead deserve Miranda rights and other domestic American civil rights.
They support jail sentences for mere paperwork violations of environmental laws, even of foreign environmental laws or regulations, but they think even violent criminals should be let free if police make unintentional mistakes in paperwork or procedure.
They also think it is dangerous to the point of being an existential threat for ordinary citizens to challenge office-holders at town hall meetings, but perfectly okay for those same powerful office-holders to call their critics “un-American.” They believe in the secret ballot for Mexicans, but not for American workers who are considering unionization. They say, against all evidence, that far more ballots are kept from being cast due to utterly unspecified “intimidation” than are cast fraudulently in the names of people who actually go nowhere near the polls, of dead people, and even of pet dogs …and of dead pet fish!!!
And, finally for now (this could go on for page after page), get this: They actually think most Americans agree with them. Now that isn’t just laugh-inducing; it’s worthy of a roll-on-the-floor, guffaw-til-you’re-blue-in-the-face, uncontrollable laughing fit.
Quin Hillyer is a senior editorial writer at the Washington Times and senior editor of The American Spectator.
Jerry,
The Americans who “count” agree with them. Not the unwashed rabble who, say, agree with that ignorant Sarah Palin (and every president from Truman through GWB!) and disagree with President Obama that a nuclear response to some grave non-nuclear threats should not be taken off the table. We worms don’t count. MR. Obama says he’s taken his advice from the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Chiefs. But, as the Commander in Chief,
Mr. Obama knows that these people follow his lead: they know their place in the chain of command. If he says, “Don’t say ‘Islamic Radicals’ anymore.”, they will stop. If he says, “No first use of nuclear arms”, they’ll say, “Yes, sir.” They know what “Commander in Chief” means under the Constitution, whether he does or not.
One need not be educated at Harvard to see the sense in not telling the bully to bash you in the face, whether you know alot about nuclear arms or not.
Nor is it wise to say, “I have 3 guns and you have 2. Let’s each promise to get rid of all but one gun and the neighborhood will be saved. Sign here, Mr. Bully, sir.”
Nor is it prudent to say, “Attention all bullies: if you merely spray me with mace or rub your used hanky on my face I won’t punch you. But if and only if you haven’t signed the “No Punching Contract” and you punch me (and I’m still standing) I reserve the right to punch you back. That’s how fair I am.”
I hear echoes of spiritual mentor Jeremiah Wright, who claimed that we nuked Hiroshima and Nagasaki (on December 7, 1941, by the way!) “without batting an eye”, in his famous post-9/11 “chickens coming home to roost” speech. But, of course, Mr. Obama missed that sermon, along with any other controversial homilies Rev. Wright may have given.
The important thing is to understand people, deterrence and appeasment. Idiotic Sarah Palin, who can’t even say “nuclear” right seems to have a grasp of these things. Most brilliant Harvard-educated Mr. Obama says “nuclear” right but doesn’t seem to understand people, especially people who are not like-minded leftist ideologues, very well at all. Diplomacy and strategy are, in the end, a test of reading the people who make the life-or-death decisions. Mr. Obama is an amazing phenomenon of a person who receives adulation from millions but doesn’t come across as truly liking anyone. When it comes to true empathy and not party-line lipservice and pander-bearing, I don’t sense there’s any “there” there. How about you? The only president who comes close in this regard in my lifetime might, might be Nixon.
A certain democratically elected 20th century leader whom Rev Louis Farrakhan characterized as “great” was once asked if he paid any attention to the opinions of the common folk. The leader asked why he should be bothered with the thoughts of worms.
Please don’t misunderstand me, but I start to feel a bit “wormy” when President Obama mischaracterizes the opinions of people who believe as I do about the role of government, personal freedom and responsibility, the Constitution, economics, you name it. His batting average is 1000.
Ladd