Posted on 08/12/2003 7:16:34 AM PDT by Mudcat
Why do people hold liberal-left positions? (Liberal and left were once very different, but not anymore.)
This question has plagued me because I have long believed that most people, liberal or conservative, mean well. Very few people wake up in the morning planning to harm society. Yet, many liberal positions -- I emphasize liberal positions rather than liberals because most people who call themselves liberal do not hold most contemporary liberal positions -- have been wreaking havoc on America and the world.
How, then, can decent and often very smart people hold liberal positions?
There are many reasons, but the two greatest may be naivete and narcissism. Each alone causes problems, but when combined in the same person, they are particularly destructive.
At the heart of liberalism is the naive belief that people are basically good. As a result of this belief, liberals rarely blame people for the evil they do. Instead, they blame economics, parents, capitalism, racism, and anything else that can let the individual off the hook.
A second naive liberal belief is that because people are basically good, talking with people who do evil is always better than fighting, let alone killing, them. "Negotiate with Saddam," "Negotiate with the Soviets," "War never solves anything," "Think peace," "Visualize peace" -- the liberal mind is filled with naive cliches about how to deal with evil.
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
On the contrary -- I nominate that the one common theme is smugness, arrogance, self-righteousness, and an annoying belief that the state is superior to the individual.
Please explain what you mean by fear because I have yet to meet a liberal that is fundamentally afraid.
The unconditional love BS was the first liberal foray into the cult of self-esteem. Dr. Rogers has since repudiated his earlier work, stating that endless support of a child's ego (unconditional positive regard) causes children to have no conscience or empathy.
I'm not sure what unconditional positive regard is being replaced with, but I'm hoping its a big stick.
"... I have long believed that most people, liberal or conservative, mean well."
Liberals quit being "people who mean well" when they granted Clinton one free grope, dropped principles of protecting the powerless (slammed Paula) and used lies and intimidation to further morally bankrupt causes.
Second mistake:
At the heart of liberalism is the naive belief that people are basically good.
Wrong. Liberals new belief is "corrupt people are a special interest group that votes". They court those who prey upon the hard working and decent. It's not your Daddy's Democrat Party.
"... I have long believed that most people, liberal or conservative, mean well."
Liberals quit being "people who mean well" when they granted Clinton one free grope, dropped principles of protecting the powerless (slammed Paula) and used lies and intimidation to further morally bankrupt causes.
Second mistake:
At the heart of liberalism is the naive belief that people are basically good.
Wrong. Liberals new belief is "corrupt people are a special interest group that votes". They court those who prey upon the hard working and decent. It's not your Daddy's Democrat Party.
Disagree - it has nothing to do with "good" - liberals think eveyone not liberal is a hopeless, helpless failure, or devastatingly dangerous, and must be helped or controlled by big, intrusive, liberal, anti-constitutional gov't.
While it is true that liberals think nobody is accountable for any evil they might perpetrate on civilization, it is based on the idiotic premise that a real enemy could not possibly exist. To liberals, this means that there must be some other reason than the perpetrator might actually hate someone and actually want to cause harm, death, meyhem, etc.!
There is an upside to this - liberals, when attacked by infidel-hating muslims will, as the softest targets, be the first to die, and while the enemy is killing them, it'll warn the rest of us, giving us a better chance to take defensive measures! Then, since they are so full of manure, their carcasses can be used for compost to fertilize fields and gardens.......
Please explain what you mean by fear because I have yet to meet a liberal that is fundamentally afraid.
There's no contradiction between your observations (with which I concur) and my belief that fear underlies liberalism. They might do a good job of hiding that fear, but I still think it's there.
What I'm talking about is a basic lack of self-confidence and distrust of others. Examples: fear of failure - make a huge government with all kinds of social and wealth-distribution programs, fix prices on labor (unions, minimum wage); fear of crime - gun control & other behavior modification; fear of rejection - be "politically correct," don't ever judge or condemn objectionable behavior, etc.
Another thread I've observed in liberals is the need to control, both people and surroundings. But again I think this is fundamentally based in fear.
Okay, now, here's another question for all to chew on:
What Makes a Conservative?
“Liberals quit being "people who mean well" when they granted Clinton one free grope, dropped principles of protecting the powerless (slammed Paula) and used lies and intimidation to further morally bankrupt causes. “
Think of a dog cowering in a cornor he will bit out of fear alone.
“At the heart of liberalism is the naive belief that people are basically good.
Wrong. Liberals new belief is "corrupt people are a special interest group that votes". They court those who prey upon the hard working and decent. It's not your Daddy's Democrat Party.”
Again this is an act of fear. Germans put people into the concentration camps because they feared them not because the individual did wrong. Once a group is feared they are on longer good people in the minds of a libreal.
Again this is an act of fear. Germans put people into the concentration camps because they feared them not because the individual did wrong. Once a group is feared they are on longer good people in the minds of a libreal.
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