Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Leaving the left
San Francisco Chronicle ^ | May 22, 2005 | Keith Thompson

Posted on 05/22/2005 7:50:09 AM PDT by hipaatwo

I can no longer abide the simpering voices of self-styled progressives -- people who once championed solidarity - Keith Thompson Sunday, May 22, 2005

Nightfall, Jan. 30. Eight-million Iraqi voters have finished risking their lives to endorse freedom and defy fascism. Three things happen in rapid succession. The right cheers. The left demurs. I walk away from a long-term intimate relationship. I'm separating not from a person but a cause: the political philosophy that for more than three decades has shaped my character and consciousness, my sense of self and community, even my sense of cosmos.

I'm leaving the left -- more precisely, the American cultural left and what it has become during our time together.

I choose this day for my departure because I can no longer abide the simpering voices of self-styled progressives -- people who once championed solidarity with oppressed populations everywhere -- reciting all the ways Iraq's democratic experiment might yet implode.

My estrangement hasn't happened overnight. Out of the corner of my eye I watched what was coming for more than three decades, yet refused to truly see. Now it's all too obvious. Leading voices in America's "peace" movement are actually cheering against self-determination for a long-suffering Third World country because they hate George W. Bush more than they love freedom.

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: epiphany; iraqielection; keiththompson; theleft; whiners
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081 next last
To: hipaatwo
Two events happened in in 1992 that caused me to leave the left: Bill Clinton became President, and I began listening to Rush Limbaugh on a daily basis.
21 posted on 05/22/2005 8:13:01 AM PDT by GreenHornet
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: hipaatwo
"they hate George W. Bush more than they love freedom."

Who did they hate before George W. Bush, and who are they going to hate after him?

22 posted on 05/22/2005 8:14:09 AM PDT by Enterprise (Coming soon from Newsweek: "Fallujah - we had to destroy it in order to save it.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CBart95

Yeah, but if someone like this realizes the liberals are just headed the wrong direction, then I see that as a good thing. I believe with a liberal like Dean running (trying) things, more and more people will realize how out of touch with real people the democractic party is. It's a good thing for the Republican party.


23 posted on 05/22/2005 8:15:24 AM PDT by mlc9852
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: hipaatwo
Since when has a flash of truth changed the filthy and corrupt nature of the crapweasel dem? He is in San Francisco, he works for the Chronicle, lies and deceit are all he knows.

He is what he is. The true insight gained from a batch of bad dope or the realization that the AIDS cocktail is no longer working may be ephemeral. Let's see what the guy says over the next six months (assuming, even, that he is employable) and then decide if he is really a convert.

His words are exactly what normal people of honest vision have been saying for years.

24 posted on 05/22/2005 8:16:05 AM PDT by Tacis ( SEAL THE FRIGGEN BORDER!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: hipaatwo
Leading voices in America's "peace" movement are actually cheering against self-determination for a long-suffering Third World country because they hate George W. Bush more than they love freedom.

It may take a few more years to see the entire picture clearly, but they never loved freedom.

The type of personality that calls itself "progressive" only objects to fascism and totalitarianism solely because they are not the ones in possession of the whips.

25 posted on 05/22/2005 8:16:43 AM PDT by Publius6961 (The most abundant things in the universe are hydrogen, ignorance and stupidity.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: hipaatwo

What a great, eloquent and powerful piece. I'm going to send it to every leftist friend and relative I know (and I know a bunch, since I live in Massachusetts).

Thanks for posting it.


26 posted on 05/22/2005 8:18:21 AM PDT by Maceman (uent)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Publius6961

Scratch a Liberal. Uncover a fascist.


27 posted on 05/22/2005 8:18:32 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: krunkygirl

My guess is around 50.


28 posted on 05/22/2005 8:19:09 AM PDT by jwh_Denver (BUSH (hopefully) "BUILD THOSE WALLS!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: hipaatwo
Eight-million Iraqi voters have finished risking their lives to endorse freedom and defy fascism. .....The right cheers. The left demurs.

Only because a GOP administration is responsible for it all. Had a Democrat been in the WH at the time the left would be calling the liberation of Iraq the greatest military and human rights victory since their beloved FDR saved the world from fascism, and would be trumpeting the fact that their guy "did what President (Herbert Walker) Bush couldn't do a decade earlier."

Principle means nothing to them, and party means everything.

....not unlike many who call themselves Republicans.

29 posted on 05/22/2005 8:21:05 AM PDT by Mr. Mojo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Allegra

I voted for Carter when I was 18. I come from a very liberal Jewish family and didn't know any better. Voting for Carter makes one feel as dirty as it gets.


30 posted on 05/22/2005 8:21:38 AM PDT by hipaatwo (When you're in trouble you want all your friends around you...preferably armed!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: IronJack
But to be fair, an equal hatred for Bill Clinton defined many on the Right for eight long years.

You grossly overstate reality by several orders of magnitude.

Althought this may have been true of a very limited number of people, in my case and most others it was merely indifference and disdain.

Not an all consuming 24/7 obsession that I see all around me in the losers today.
Huge difference.

31 posted on 05/22/2005 8:21:39 AM PDT by Publius6961 (The most abundant things in the universe are hydrogen, ignorance and stupidity.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: hipaatwo

Bump!


32 posted on 05/22/2005 8:22:19 AM PDT by aculeus (Ceci n'est pas une tag line.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Diana in Wisconsin

I'd like to see millions more of these "Zel Miller Wanna-Bes

There very well may be!


33 posted on 05/22/2005 8:22:22 AM PDT by hipaatwo (When you're in trouble you want all your friends around you...preferably armed!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: hipaatwo
I would like to tell him this.

Welcome to the rational world. Now stop hiding behind the rhetoric of how I came to leave the left and examine the following statement rationally.

The left has never supported oppressed people. The left has always supported the oppression of people.

The left you abhor hasn't just come into being, it has always been the way it is today. They are exposed because they cannot seduce us any longer.

Again welcome.
34 posted on 05/22/2005 8:22:42 AM PDT by Nuc1 (NUC1 Sub pusher SSN 668)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: speedy

Speedy! Long time no FReep! Good to see you.


35 posted on 05/22/2005 8:23:18 AM PDT by hipaatwo (When you're in trouble you want all your friends around you...preferably armed!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: hipaatwo

I wonder if Mr. Thompson has come to regret that he wanted the people of South Vietnam to live under tyranny and his modern estranged family wants the Iraqi to live.


36 posted on 05/22/2005 8:23:36 AM PDT by stevem
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: hipaatwo

Good find, thanks for posting this.


37 posted on 05/22/2005 8:23:49 AM PDT by jocon307 (Legal immigrant Irish grandmother rolls in grave, yet again.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Enterprise
Who did they hate before George W. Bush, and who are they going to hate after him?

Any politician of any party who has the balls to stand up to evil in the world. Foreign and domestic!

38 posted on 05/22/2005 8:23:55 AM PDT by Publius6961 (The most abundant things in the universe are hydrogen, ignorance and stupidity.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: GreenHornet

Rush is going to be fun tomorrow. Can't wait to see how he goes after Dean.


39 posted on 05/22/2005 8:24:11 AM PDT by hipaatwo (When you're in trouble you want all your friends around you...preferably armed!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: All

Thank you so much for the responses to this article. It's hard answering comment, so I'll just say I'm glad you enjoyed the article as much as I have.

Hip


40 posted on 05/22/2005 8:26:35 AM PDT by hipaatwo (When you're in trouble you want all your friends around you...preferably armed!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson