Posted on 12/01/2006 2:52:46 PM PST by Hillary'sMoralVoid
Inside the Liberal Mind – A Zero Sum Game
I have spent much time contemplating why liberals and conservatives think so differently and what the defining issue is. After much consideration, I realize that there is one simple truth about liberals – they view the world as a zero sum game.
What I mean by a zero-sum game is that the net result of any action is zero. When one person or group of persons wins, it can only mean that another group loses. Sometimes these activities are disparate, in other words, not directly related by cause and effect. For example, a huge oil discovery in the mind of a liberal means a huge environmental disaster looms. Let us illustrate the concept with a few examples.
The most obvious example is that of income distribution. A huge income is viewed by the conservative as an indication of how much an individual has contributed to the economic well-being of the country. To the liberal, a huge income means that money has been stripped from the poor by the powerful and must be redistributed. Never mind the energy, innovation, and hard work that went into creating the wealth. In the liberal mind the money must be redistributed from the hands of those who best know how to grow and nuture it, and placed into the hands of those who are less capable of doing this. The conservative sees a win-win when the rich get richer, because that accelerates the general economy that affects everyone. Liberals only see it as a win-lose, they cannot fathom the concept that everyone gets richer when the best and brightest have greater access to the income that they earn.
The next example is affirmative action. Liberals see the admission of a talented Caucasian individual into a prestigious school as a potential threat to minorities rather than an opportunity to make a great institution even better. Liberals support racial quotas, but mostly when they are politically advantageous, but do not support them when they are not. Where are the liberal cries for equal opportunity for Asians, Hispanics and even Whites in the NFL or NBA? What about the height or size challenged?
The same thinking applies to foreign policy. The United States simply cannot make policy decisions based on national interest. All the opposing views and reactions must be considered, even the feelings of our enemies, who play the zero sum game mindset of the Liberals like a fiddle. These considerations render the United States powerless in the multi-national environment. Anything that gives this country power in the world is to be avoided, because the zero-sum antipode is that the rest of the world feels threatened.
Of course, global resources are also a zero sum game. As I cited in an earlier example, exploration of any kind is a zero-sum outcome because of the threat to the environment. Even environmentally-friendly activities such as wind farms are discouraged because they kill birds and insects.
Of course, human life is just another pawn in this huge game. Every child born is seen as displacing an opportunity for someone else by taking up their space, eating their food, consuming their resources, ad nauseum. Never mind that the world has never been better fed than it currently is. Does this explain why Liberals have a significantly lower birth rate?
Finally, the zero-sum game extends to optimism versus pessimism. A liberal dare not find optimism in anything, the liberal mind must always find the black lining in the cloud, no matter if involves war, the economy, or society in general. Liberalism is democracy gone amuck, where major issues can never be resolved for the general good, because some minority, the environment, or the feelings of even our enemy might be affected.
Sounds like a self-destructive frame of mind.
Historically, such modes of thinking usually get chucked into the wastebasket after some time...unfortunately, after a "critical mass" of people have been damaged or hurt.
Unfortunately, that wastebasket is really a recycle bin, so these types of ideas generally get reincarnated in new forms.
That is cynicism in it's highest form.
"Inside the liberal mind" - How can anything be inside something which is not there, and does not exist anyway? It is a logical impossibility, unless that "anything" be "nothing".
This is the rational of the zero sum game. In a fantasy dream, a utopia, an alice in wonderland, this might work, in the world of humans, it doesn't stand a snowball's chance in hades.
Liberals are emotional, hence their tendencies to out-shout, protest and break laws; many Liberals hold weak belief in a higher being. Conservatives are logical and tend to debate and defend points, giving way if they are wrong and keeping a civil tone; many Conservatives hold strong belief in God or at least respect ones right to worship. Conservatives beleive in a Freedom Of Religion whereas Liberals beieive in a Freedom From Religion!
'Inside the Liberal Mind,"
It's very dark, your voice echoes, and the chirping of crickets can be heard.
Very good, and true. And, it all stems from lack of belief in a higher Creative Power.
Leftists pretty obviously see economics as zero sum, but I hadn't thought to extend that idea into other areas as you have done here. Good food for thought...
If you try to apply my nonsense to me, I'll sue!!
The real danger of liberals is not that they have trouble understanding that win-win situations exist; It is that they do not understand lose-lose situations also exist.
Yea I agree I know ever time I hear a liberal talk for a few minutes I say to myself "man, this guy is sum zero"
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