Leaving the left

SFC ^ | Sunday, May 22, 2005 | Keith Thompson

[the anti-liberal]

Leaving the left
I can no longer abide the simpering voices of self-styled progressives -- people who once championed solidarity

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.

[claudiustg]

Welcome to the club!

[thoughtomator]

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.

Welcome to the Right. There are a thousand more reasons just like that.

[martin_fierro]

Keith Thompson. www.thompsonatlarge.com

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Welcome to FR! Great post!

[Khurkris]

Those first few steps are the hardest...

[DTogo]

Wow, I wonder what readers in San Fran have to say.

[freebilly]

Holy moly-- a Sonoma County writer who can actually think rationally....

[ConservativeMind]

That is a great set of insights he's had. A very cogent and well-written editorial.

Thanks for the post.

[the anti-liberal]

This isn't my opus, that's yet to come...

Thanks everyone, for the welcome, :^)

[the anti-liberal]

I'm not sure what I find more attractive, the shirt or what's in the shirt... But I just love this pic.

ACLU: Enemy of the State

[lowbridge]

bump

[uglybiker]

Lookin' at post #11, I think it should be 'bumpS'.

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

Yep i suspect alot will be doing this for awhile at least the ones with common sense anyway ...

[the anti-liberal]

All we can do is hope and pray, and keep hammering away at the folks until they do get it.

[skr]

Welcome to FR and thanks for the post. Mr. Thompson's site has been added to my list.

[Sam Cree]

The guy seems to be what's sometimes known here as a "classical liberal," which is naturally at odds with the Left. Don't know if he's aware of the term, but he's figured out that leftists aren't really liberal. Nice article.

[the anti-liberal]

leftists aren't really liberal

Extreme Left = Total governmental control (Totalitarian Communist)
Extreme Right = 0 governmental control (anarchy)

Where would you place 'liberalism' in this scale?

[Cincinna]

Congratulations to this courageous man who can actually write.

He really does put his finger on an important fact:

"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."

[Prophet in the wilderness]

It's wonderful to watch, when one of these Liberals have " SEEN THE LIGHT " and have thrown off the Liberal shackles and lies that have kept them in bondage for so long, and start to walk in truth and think for themselves.