Inside Politics: Dream of genie

The Washington Times ^ | 11/30/04 | Jennifer Harper

[Pfesser]

Liberals have been busy warning one another to prepare for 2008.

Now conservatives are getting a "heads-up" from Time magazine's Michelle Cottle, who believes American culture will ultimately accept homosexual "marriage," stem-cell research and other "culture war" issues that irk conservatives.

"While the Bush White House may be on the side of social conservatives, time is not," she writes, later noting, "As with women's rights and civil rights, the genie cannot be stuffed back into the bottle.

"Day to day, liberals have the luxury of ignoring conservative America. ... Social conservatives, by contrast, cannot escape the world view of blue staters. Every time they go to the movies or turn on the television or open their child's schoolbooks they're reminded that traditional values ain't what they used to be."

Ms. Cottle continues, "Social conservatives don't realize the full depth of blue-state America's condescension. They assume that liberals sit around all day thinking about how much smarter or more sophisticated or more enlightened they are than social conservatives. Truth be told, most of the time liberals don't bother to think about social conservatives at all."

She concludes that conservatives "may have won the battle, but their prospects for the broader culture war remain dim."

[Pfesser]

Dream on.

[Taliesan]

Truth be told, most of the time liberals don't bother to think about social conservatives at all.

A fatal error.

[Savage Beast]

"Their prospects for the broader culture war remain dim."

What's dim is this woman's bulb.

[Pfesser]

About 12 years ago, Pat Buchanan warned us about a great cultural war. At least he was right about one thing.

[claudiustg]

They've been ignoring conservatism since the days when William F. Buckley was the lone voice in the wilderness and conservatism has overtaken and is now submerging them.

[Noachian]

Truth be told, most of the time liberals don't bother to think about social conservatives at all."

Nonsense, of course they do.

If liberals didn't think about what conservatives would do to their social experiments liberals would go through Congress to pass their pet laws instead of sneaking around Congress and going straight to the liberal/activist High Court.

Liberals worry about conservatives all the time, while most conservatives rarely give a tinker's damn about them.

[AmericanChef]

As always, lefties only live in the present. The writer assumes that the next generation is satisfied with the ethics-free adult "lifestyles" touted by liberals; coincidentally, their doctrine is bad for kids of all ages.

What messages are kids hearing today? Don't have sex, don't take drugs, stay in school (well, if you can stand it in public school). What brought on all these issues? Liberalism, plain and simple.

[NaughtiusMaximus]

Heh, heh, heh. I don't read many frenzied threats by conservatives to immigrate to Canada, France or wherever. Sip your latte and dream on.

[worldclass]

Ms. Cottle continues, "Social conservatives don't realize the full depth of blue-state America's condescension. They assume that liberals sit around all day thinking about how much smarter or more sophisticated or more enlightened they are than social conservatives. Truth be told, most of the time liberals don't bother to think about social conservatives at all." She concludes that conservatives "may have won the battle, but their prospects for the broader culture war remain dim." Actually, I think she is largely right. The culture war is lost. We may win some battles. But since the publication of the first Humanist Manifesto (1933?) the culture has gone more and more to the left. I spent this past summer on another board arguing vociferously on this topic with liberals. A few points of interest that I think reflect society: 1. Humanistic leftists don't understand us. Several times I was told that how could I, an educated person, be a conservative. Trans: they think we are dumb. 2. Humanistic leftists believe everyone thinks like them when they think at all. One of my favorites was a liberal telling me that he didn't know anyone else with my views. I told him that since we controlled the Congress and the Presidency that there are a few others and he should get out more to meet some. 3. Many conservatives, even on this board as I have witnessed, have only a fuzzy notion of the founding principles of our government and society. That to me is most disturbing. We cannot win the war without a firm base. Support for the Republican Party is not the same thing as support for conservative values.

[Taliesan]

There is something DAMNING here, and the writer's blindness in not seeing it is profound.

Liberals think they are cosmopolitan, but all that really means is that they are aware of the thinking of other liberals in other countries and cultures. In fact, liberals are actually provincial. That is, they are oblivious to the premises and thoughts of those who are different - i.e., conservatives. This writer is proud of their obliviousness, and thinks it somehow a sign of "victory". If it is, the culture war is the only war in history where ignoring your enemy was a sign of victory.

On the other hand, conservatives, who they sniff at and call backward, are very much aware of the premises and thoughts of liberals -- in fact, we watch and discuss their arguments and proposals in detail. (We simply reject them.)

By the writer's own admission, liberals are enmeshed in the worst groupthink, and conservatives are the ideological cosmopolitans.

If your group actually cultivates and brags about your ignorance of your opponents, you are either a genius or a fool. The elections of the last 30 years might be part of what you would want to consult in order to decide between these two alternatives.