I think perhaps we’re defining liberalism differently. With the exception of how the welfare state has crippled a significant segment of black culture, most of who I would call liberals wouldn’t fit the anti-American San Francisco stereotype. What they do share is this misguided belief that government exists to take care of everybody, and no amount of reasoning seems to be able to convince them that does more harm than good.
It goes a lot deeper than that, for most. What you might think of as a “nice liberal” is only surface deep. Certainly most could not say why they embrace liberalism, only that they do.
But the same could be said about embracing real racism, that women are just objects, or that the wealthy are inherently bad. For many liberals, it is their own personal blend of what they want out of life, but that is provided by someone else.
I remember two things that left an impression on me about liberals. The first was on another, more liberal forum, where a thread was decidedly anti-Israel. Typically, those opposed to Israel would say, “I don’t hate Jews, but I despise Israel.” In rebuttal, others would point out that they were antisemitic, in the Israel and Jews are synonymous. The anti-Israel faction kept denying it.
Finally, one liberal became so aggravated that he blurted out, “Well, if hating Israel makes me an antisemite, then I am an antisemite!”
A rather cathartic moment, in that he finally said what he really thought.
The other bit was before Obama was nominated. There was an ordinary threat suggesting he might be the antichrist, which all presidential candidates get, I suppose.
Finally one Obama supporter said what he really thought, and it amazed me.
“I hope Obama is the antichrist, because if he is, he will have the power to give us what we want, and he will get revenge on the people we hate.”
An amazing thing to say, to say the least. Some terribly deep implications there.
But the bottom line of why do liberals embrace liberalism?, far too often boils down to “wanting free stuff, wanting to be taken *care* of by government, and invariably, wanting to ‘get even’ with whoever they think is a villain, most likely because they don’t embrace these beliefs.”
Funny that, all rolled up in a liberal, no matter what they appear to be, or say they are. So it is best to ignore the false front, and dig down to find out what lies beneath.
It is well worth the effort.