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

Skip to comments.

Leaving the left
SFC ^ | Sunday, May 22, 2005 | Keith Thompson

Posted on 05/22/2005 11:34:43 PM PDT by 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.

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


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: cary; dhpl; epiphany; keiththompson; theleft
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 61-8081-100101-120121-131 next last
To: the anti-liberal
Welcome Keith,
For being a good boy today you get a complimentary Dolly pic.



81 posted on 05/23/2005 10:18:34 AM PDT by TheForceOfOne (My tagline is currently being blocked by Congressional filibuster for being to harsh.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: claudiustg

That was good stuff! A late-blooming conservative is simply a liberal who has been smacked upside the head with reality.


82 posted on 05/23/2005 10:19:16 AM PDT by Right Angler
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Peach
He said that some leftists in the Bay area have called him and e-mailed him to say that his essay exactly captured how they feel about the Democratic party.

Thanks for being a peach.

83 posted on 05/23/2005 10:20:41 AM PDT by the anti-liberal (</liberal> It's time the left - left!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 80 | View Replies]

To: the anti-liberal
I actually view political beliefs on a circular scale. If you go far enough in either direction, you end up with anarchy. I support massive "mental" drug prescriptions for those who fall into that category.
84 posted on 05/23/2005 10:22:11 AM PDT by FreeAtlanta (never surrender, this is for the kids)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: Peach
I was just coming home in the car and got to hear him; he was great. I wish Rush had held him over the commercial break because I'd have liked to hear more about how his essay was received. It sounds like a lot of leftists agree with him.

I agree... Rush cut him off too soon. Maybe Hannity will pick up on Thompson and have him on his radio show or on Hannity & Colmes.

85 posted on 05/23/2005 10:23:17 AM PDT by nutmeg ("We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good." - Hillary Clinton 6/28/04)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 73 | View Replies]

To: the anti-liberal

Welcome to FR! Are you the author of this wonderful piece?

-- another refugee from Smartland :-) (See: Orson Scott Card)


86 posted on 05/23/2005 10:23:19 AM PDT by bootless (Never Forget - And Never Again)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: the anti-liberal

Agree - I make it a point to say The Left or Leftists, rather than liberal, because the classical liberals of our youths have become conservatives today. The Left just stole the label to try to make their brand of socialism more acceptable in polite society.

BTW, I'm in the Bay Area as well ... so far, my W'04 sticker is intact on my car. :-)


87 posted on 05/23/2005 10:25:22 AM PDT by bootless (Never Forget - And Never Again)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: the anti-liberal
Self-delusion?

Man... that's a long brain-fart.

88 posted on 05/23/2005 10:33:30 AM PDT by johnny7 (Ever wonder what's the 'crust' in 'Ol Crusty'?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: the anti-liberal

Awesome article.


89 posted on 05/23/2005 10:33:34 AM PDT by My Favorite Headache ( "I think she did too much coke, ahh you think so Doctor?")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: the anti-liberal

Wise article.


90 posted on 05/23/2005 10:34:32 AM PDT by PRND21
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: bootless
The rioting appeared to be prompted, in part, by a report in Newsweek magazine claiming military guards at Spirit Lake’s notorious Okoboji internment center had flushed lutefisk down prison toilets.

No, that would be Keith Thompson.

You're lucky your car's intact.

Lefties are emotional thinkers (as opposed to intellectual thinkers) and tend to express themselve rather... nastily- until I get a carry permit I perfer to keep my 'orientation' to myself.

Etc...

91 posted on 05/23/2005 10:34:34 AM PDT by the anti-liberal (</liberal> It's time the left - left!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 86 | View Replies]

To: b4its2late; Recovering_Democrat; Alissa; Pan_Yans Wife; LADY J; mathluv; browardchad; cardinal4; ...

92 posted on 05/23/2005 10:35:20 AM PDT by Born Conservative ("Television is a medium because anything well done is rare" - Ernie Kovacs)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 67 | View Replies]

To: bootless
Oops, somehow another posting was still in my clipboard, I have no idea how that unrelated blurb got posted in this post.

Welcome to FR! Are you the author of this wonderful piece?

This is what I meant to paste.

93 posted on 05/23/2005 10:37:28 AM PDT by the anti-liberal (</liberal> It's time the left - left!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 86 | View Replies]

To: bootless
"The Left just stole the label to try to make their brand of socialism more acceptable in polite society."

To the best of my knowledge you are exactly right on this. I am absolutely sure that a good many people who call themselves "liberals" would not be in the leftist camp if they did not have such an appealing sounding name as "liberal," with its connotations of liberty, to use for personal identity. If they had to use something more accurate, like leftist, the totalitarian nature of the philosophy would be much more obvious. But the American Left has a fairly long history of double speak.

94 posted on 05/23/2005 10:38:22 AM PDT by Sam Cree (Democrats are herd animals)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 87 | View Replies]

To: martin_fierro

If that's him, he's too cute to be a liberal anyway.


95 posted on 05/23/2005 10:45:08 AM PDT by RushCrush (Never give in. Never, never, never, never!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Sam Cree
This post from the Senate Filibuster thread:

"all the libs are falling all over themselves, kissing the ring of the new Latino mayor in LA -- Newsweak giving BIG kudos -- and a "get used to it" tag?? The message is clear -- ANY ethnic is just fabulous UNLESS they're conservative -- hyprocritical maniacs!!

A LATINO POWER SURGE

See the LIBS DROOL

Excerpt:

"Antonio Villaraigosa's cell phone was trilling incessantly. Every Democrat in the nation, it seemed, wanted a piece of the newly elected mayor of Los Angeles, the first Latino to win the office in 133 years. John Kerry phoned to congratulate him, as did John Edwards, Howard Dean, Al Gore and Sen. Chris Dodd. Driving to city hall last Friday as he spoke by phone with a news-week reporter, Villaraigosa interrupted the interview to field yet another call on a different phone.

"Yes, I would like to speak to Senator Clinton," he said. "Can I call you back?" he told the reporter. Afterward, Villaraigosa recounted his exchange with Hillary: "She said that she and President Clinton were just elated with my victory," and "if they could be helpful in any way in the coming weeks and months," they were eager to do so. Villaraigosa said he had responded with a few admiring words of his own. She was "an example of what I need to do as mayor of the city of Los Angeles," he had told her. "Not get so caught up in all of the national attention and focus on my job."

303 posted on 05/23/2005 10:25:40 AM PDT by STARWISE

96 posted on 05/23/2005 10:47:45 AM PDT by the anti-liberal (</liberal> It's time the left - left!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 94 | View Replies]

To: 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.

Shirt? What shirt??? ;)


97 posted on 05/23/2005 10:50:24 AM PDT by Dr._Joseph_Warren
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: All
This sentiment expressed on the Senate Filibuster thread:

I would love to wake up one morning in America and discover that there are no liberals in America. Just hard working, God-fearing, Patriotic, Flag waving Americans!

306 posted on 05/23/2005 10:27:29 AM PDT by defconw

Deserves repeating.

98 posted on 05/23/2005 10:56:13 AM PDT by the anti-liberal (</liberal> It's time the left - left!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 96 | View Replies]

To: claudiustg

Another Anikin saved from the Dark side of the force!


99 posted on 05/23/2005 10:57:22 AM PDT by mdmathis6
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Sam Cree
But the American Left has a fairly long history of double speak.

Good post! It's pretty much all they have. They don't have facts, logic, history or the ability for their ideas to hold up in a debate without ad hominem attacks. In short, they got nuthin'.

BTW, check out Mr. Thompson's blog on his website - it's fascinating. He had to turn the Comments feature off because he was flooded with obscene and, yes, hateful replies by the Tolerant Left(tm).

100 posted on 05/23/2005 11:00:23 AM PDT by bootless (Never Forget - And Never Again)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 94 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 61-8081-100101-120121-131 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