Posted on 06/28/2006 6:35:53 PM PDT by dnmore
I use a Dr. Thomas Sowell quote on my email signature: "The most fundamental fact about the ideas of the political left is that they do not work. Therefore we should not be surprised to find the left concentrated in institutions where ideas do not have to work in order to survive"
This may not have been a good choice because I am being challenged to quantify that.
I have never actually thought of the left versus right. My approach in the past was a little like "I don't know art but I know what I like".
Do any of you have links a good reference that would describe the political left (and/or the political right) . THis would provide me good food for thought. Thanks
Townhall.com has loads of good articles and a good keyword search.
[snip]
Do any of you have links a good reference that would describe the political left
Not to be picky, but a description is not something that will help you to quantify something.
Also try www.dradams.org
Liberalism is the art of standing on one's head then telling the rest of the world they are upside down. (See any of their various policies and ideas)
Both are quotes from JIM QUINN
Liberalism is the art of standing on one's head then telling the rest of the world they are upside down. (See any of their various policies and ideas)
Perhaps the act of standing on one's head. Art? Not.
Read any piece of garbage by Chomsky and you'll know why you don't like the left.
I want to be on that Sowell Ping List of yours.
...the one war liberals belatedly supported, because we were fighting to defend Mother Russia—World War II...Very easy to quantify and does an excellent job separating democrats from patriots and conservatives.
Add'd! You'll get your first ping whenever Tommie starts writing again. I think he's on vacation.
A liberal shall always be good enough, when your in peril, to give you the shirt off of someone elses' back
"The most fundamental fact about the ideas of the political left is that they do not work. Therefore we should not be surprised to find the left concentrated in institutions where ideas do not have to work in order to survive"
No, this is pretty much perfect. And true.
The left is fantasy, the right is reality.
This is my personal definition and is based on lots of observation and living with liberal relatives. I think it is really basic and really, really true.
My favorite is an oldie from Heywood Broun: A liberal is man who leaves the room when the fight begins.
Having spent so much time debating liberals directly and having been facinated by the mental lock they employ to avoid inconvenient facts while claiming to be of superior intellect, it finally dawned on me what was going on.
Yes. I am claiming to understand how a liberal becomes a liberal and why they continue to be liberal even when the experience of life itself would cause any rational human being to drift away from such self-defeating and self-destuctive behavior.
I'll be brief.
It begins with the basic human need to be accepted. Group affiliation to the some becomes more powerful than self-preservation. It is here where the story begins.
First, there are two classifications of Liberals: Charlatans and Dupes. To make it simple, we will henceforth refer to these and the big "D"s and the little "d"s.
The big "D"s manipulate the little "d"s in a very systematic way. The confounding nature of the big "D"s like Murtha recently, are easily explained when you understand the strategy behind the behavior. Here is the strategy used by the big 'D's on the little 'd's cast as The Left's Eight Commandments
I
Thou shalt create an illusion of invulnerability shared by most members to foster excessive optimism and encourage extreme risks taking
II
Thou shall not allow any member to question the group's inherent morality, instead members shall be encouraged to ignore the ethical or moral consequences of their decisions
III
Thou shalt promote collective efforts to rationalize in order to discount warnings, or other information that might lead members to reconsider their assumptions before they recommit themselves to their assumptions
IV
Thou shalt reinforce stereotyped views of enemy leaders as too evil to warrant genuine attempts to negotiate, or as too weak and stupid to counter whatever risky attempts are made to defeat their purpose
V
Thou shalt self-censor any deviation from the apparent group consensus, inclining each member to minimize the importance of their doubts and counterarguments
VI
Thou shalt create and maintain a shared illusion of unanimity concerning judgement conforming to the majority view
VII
Thou shalt apply direct pressure on any member who expresses strong arguments against any of the group's stereotypes, illusions, or commitments, making clear that this type of dissent is contrary to what is expected of all loyal members
VIII
Thou shalt appoint mindguards to protect the group from adverse information that might shatter their shared complacency about the effectiveness and morality of their decisions
-Eddie01 (adapted from Janis '82 "groupthink behaviors")
How does the MSM play into this? They broadcast the manipulation. The MSM is the marketing arm of the DNC; a group of ad copy writers and spokespersons posing as credentialed journalists. This is why the left gives out "prestigious" awards to unqualified recipients. The awards have no real meaning other than to acknowledge the recipients loyalty to the group in terms of false manipulative ad copy. They are, in a sense, medals of dishonesty which ordinary American's unknowingly assign credibility to.
Another curiosity - liberals use of "projection", that is stating the Right possesses the unflattering traits which you in fact possess, is nothing more than one of many tactics the big "D"s use to control the little "d"s by making them think of themselves as superior while which selfmasks the manipulation.
Everything the left does flows from the eight commandments above.
There you have it... Liberalism aka The Left
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.