The liberalism of my time was all about feelings and guilt. One quick example. I was once aboard a gorgeous yacht, in a fairly rarified MA harbor, getting ready to watch a private fireworks display. The hostess said she was going to “pour” (the champagne). I mistook her comment for a reference to the “poor” - and felt such relief. It was good to know that even in the midst of such opulence we, good liberals that we all were, had not forgotten the poor.
When I realized she meant ‘pour’, I didn’t think, ‘X, you miserable liberal. Can’t you get past your guilt long enough to enjoy one night of fireworks?’ Rather, I thought, ‘What a shame, that we aren’t thinking of the poor after all’.
It’s a mindset where your feelings of guilt comingle with feelings of moral superiority—WE are the ones who think about the poor—to produce a non-functioning brain. Sad but true.
As for a cult, the liberalism that superseded that of my day is much more cultish. It is far stricter, in terms of what kind of thinking is ‘allowed’, and it relies far more heavily on hatred of ‘them’ (vs us). So to me it is the more cultish version of the ideology. Ymmv.
You've got their number Fantasywriter...
We should NEVER forget the poor. That is, the legitimately poor and less fortunate.
I my experience:
A conservative is a person who actively helps the poor. On the other hand, a Liberal expects someone else, for example the government, to do it. Actually that is exactly the definition of conservatism and liberalism — the individual helping the individual versus the collective helping the individual and it is pretty obvious which is better.
It is unfortunate that the Democrat party and Liberalism don’t allow true free thinkers. Because that would help to set the party on the right track.