Posted on 10/06/2008 5:15:11 AM PDT by Reaganesque
Anyone else who has similar conversion stories, please post them here!
I first heard about the “liberals think everyone is basically good and conservatives think everyone is basically selfish” line from Rush years ago. I’ve thought a lot about it and the older I get, the more true it becomes.
It can be a painful thing, going from a deep-seated assumption that people are “basically good” to the realization that they’re not. It requires, as my husband would say, a complete “paradigm shift” that many aren’t self aware enough to contemplate, let alone master by incorporating it into their daily lives.
Good Lord! This is as wordy and unreadable as a William F. Buckley column.
He's still got a long way to go, but the longest journey begins with a single step.
“Wordy and unreadable as a William F. Buckley.”
The only line I think that matters:
“NPR: National Palestinian Radio.”
This ‘born-again conservative’ is more driven by Zionism than American patriotism.
The belief of some that “people are basically good” and of others that “people are basically selfish” do NOT contradict each other. I believe that “people are BASICALLY good, up to that moment when that goodness comes into direct conflict with their SELFISH interests”. One may be pleased by the good fortune of another, but on realizing that the other’s good fortune does harm to MY good fortune, opinions change radically.
A civilized man does NOT set out to harm another for absolutely no purpose. However, when he sets out to further his own purpose and fortune and in the process hurts someone else...well...sorry about that. It is called HUMAN NATURE.
So true.
“A civilized man does NOT set out to harm another for absolutely no purpose. However, when he sets out to further his own purpose and fortune and in the process hurts someone else...well...sorry about that. It is called HUMAN NATURE.”
If that’s human nature, I’d rather not be human.
bump
Mamet is becoming/has become an economic conservative. Once that genie is out of the bottle and you embrace John Locke many other pieces of the conservative puzzle fall into place.
This is not to say Mamet will be conservative in all things. Many of us have a liberal bone in an vastly conservative body, but he’s heading in the right direction and publicly doing so DURING AN ELECTION CYCLE. Pretty gutsy.
I may not agree with him on those points, either.
But,that’s the way he feels.
However, this article reeks of HONESTY, which is why it’s much more important than arguing his individual points.
I thought it was just me. I hope this guy gets it figured out.
“I read about this article on another thread and sought it out.”
Link to the other article by D’Souza ....
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2098526/posts
David Mamet writes quite long and wordy essay (he is a writer after all) about the beginning of his journey from liberalism to conservatism. He is not there 100% yet, and he retains some of the old views as well. But he selected for himself quite good teachers - Thomas Sowell, Milton Friedman, Paul Johnson, and Shelby Steele - so we have a hope for him to grow over his old prejudices as well.
Speaking about prejudices - NPR’s reflexive pro-Palestinian stance begins to annoy him. And he honestly describes that in one paragraph of the quite long essay.
And you, ladyjane and Natchez Hawk cry foul because of that? On his not finished yet journey from liberalism to conservatism he, among other things, as a Jew, finds NPR stance no longer acceptable (that separates him immediately from oh too many liberal Jews that eat up whatever NPR feeds them, no problem). A logical steppingstone on his journey. I'd say: welcome home, David, no second too late (actually a bit overdue, but better late than never).
You, ladyjane and Natchez Hawk, bring canard of double loyalty. How do you like to be accused of double standard to Jews?
I don’t question his gutsiness.
Heavens knows he’s only going to get grief for this in his professional life.
That was an excellent presentation.
I had always considered myself a liberal until the 2000 election. I was uneasy and embarrassed about what was going on in FLA with the recounts and, in trying to defend it online, was getting my @ss kicked with the facts.
Being able to use the internet to research and debate both sides of an issue really has been life-changing. Once I saw firsthand and understood the vile exploitative behavior of the Dems after 9/11, the deal was done. There was no chance of ever going back.
On the day of Reagan’s funeral I watched every minute of it, crying the whole time. My own puppet-like prejudice and brainwashed hatred of him had robbed me of understanding and appreciating what a great man he was for so many years. I wasn’t only mourning him, I was mourning years of my own life, and the attendant self-destructive indiscriminate behavior that my liberal beliefs had wrought.
Evil has now gone past the point where it can cloak itself and market itself as “progressive” or “liberal”. It is what it is, and it’s now out in the full light of day with fangs bared. I pray every day that there are more people out there like myself, who recoil in disgust, and will no longer turn a blind eye to reality.
“How do you like to be accused of double standard...?”
I hold all Americans to the same standard.
Excellent, insightful post — thanks for seeking it out for all to see!
My nomination for best line in the article:
For, in the abstract, we may envision an Olympian perfection of perfect beings in Washington doing the business of their employers, the people, but any of us who has ever been at a zoning meeting with our property at stake is aware of the urge to cut through all the pernicious bullshit and go straight to firearms.
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.