Posted on 07/04/2006 4:50:08 AM PDT by HansGygi
I used to be a liberal.
I was in one of the first “open” classrooms growing up in very progressive Great Neck, New York, in the 1960s. In 1971, when I was 11, I wrote vitriolic letters to President Nixon demanding an end to the Vietnam War.
My first vote, in 1980, was for Independent John Anderson, followed by Mondale, Dukakis, and Clinton-Gore. I read Thomas Friedman in the NY Times and tried to “understand” the “root causes” of the “despair” he said the Palestinians felt that drove them to blow up innocent Israelis.
I wasn’t an overtly political person – I just never veered from the liberal zeitgeist of the community in which I was raised.
But when I was about 27, in the late 1980s, cracks in my liberal worldview began to appear. It started with an uproar from the Left when Tipper Gore had the audacity to suggest a label on certain CDs to warn parents of lyrics that were clearly inappropriate for young people. Her suggestion was simple common sense and I was surprised by the furor it caused from the likes of Frank Zappa (and others) who felt their freedoms were being encroached upon. It was my first introduction into the entitled, selfish and irresponsible thinking I now associate with the Left.
In 1989, I remember questioning whether Democrat David Dinkins was the best choice for Mayor of New York City (where I lived) over Rudy Giuliani. After all, Dinkins hadn’t distinguished himself as Manhattan Borough President while Giuliani, as a United States District Attorney, had just de-fanged the mob.
But, racial “healing” was the issue of the day, Dinkins won, and the city went straight downhill. When Giuliani beat Dinkins in a rematch four years later – Surprise! – the crime rate plummeted, tourism boomed, Times Square came alive not with pimps but with commerce. Since 1993, the overwhelmingly liberal electorate in New York City has voted for Republicans for Mayor. Yet, to this day, many of my liberal friends refer to the decisive and effective Giuliani as a Nazi, even as they stroll their children through neighborhoods he cleaned up.
"What made me leave the Left for good and embrace the Right were their respective reactions to 9/11. While The New York Times doubted that we could succeed in Afghanistan because the Soviets in the ‘80s hadn’t, George W. Bush went directly after the Taliban and Al Qaeda seriously damaging and disrupting their networks."
After moving to Los Angeles in the early 90s, I watched from the roof of my apartment building as the city burned after the Rodney King verdicts were handed down. I thought what those four cops did to King was shameful. But I didn’t hear an uproar from my friends on the Left when rioters rampaged through the city’s streets, stealing, looting, and destroying property in the name of “no justice, no peace.” And it was impossible not to notice the hypocrisy when prominent Hollywood liberals, who had hosted anti-NRA fundraisers at their homes a week before the riots were standing in line at shooting ranges the week after it.
I watched carefully as Anita Hill testified during Clarence Thomas’s Supreme Court nomination hearing, claiming Thomas – once head of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission – sexually harassed her after she rebuffed his invitations to date him. At the time, I rooted, as did all my friends, for Miss Hill, hoping that her testimony would result in Thomas not getting confirmed. In retrospect, I’m ashamed that I was ever on the “side” of people who so viciously demonized a decent, qualified person like Judge Thomas, whether you agree with his judicial philosophy or not. Condoleezza Rice, during eligibility hearings for Secretary of State, also had to deal with rude people like Barbara Boxer, who seemed not to be able to fathom that a black American could embrace conservatism.
I voted for Al Gore in 2000. When he lost, I was disappointed, mostly in my fellow Democrats for thinking that the election had been “stolen” even though three other elections in the American history had been won by the candidate who had not won the popular vote (John Quincy Adams in 1824, Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876 and Benjamin Harrison in 1888). The rush to judgment by the now conspiracy consumed Left put me off. Where, I asked, were all the “disenfranchised” black voters who would have given Gore a victory in Florida? No one could produce a single name. And how exactly were the voting machines in Ohio “rigged” in 2004? I now refer to the Democrats as the Grassy Knoll party.
Still, I approached the 2004 primaries with an open mind. I was still a Democrat, still hoping that leaders like Sam Nunn and Scoop Jackson would emerge, still fantasizing that Democrats could constitute a party of truly progressive social thinkers with tough backbones who would reappear after 9/11.
I was wrong. The Left got nuttier, more extreme, less contributory to the public debate, more obsessed with their nemesis Bush – and it drove me further away. What Democrat could support Al Gore’s ‘04 choice for President, Howard Dean, when Dean didn’t dismiss the suggestion that George W. Bush had something to do with the 9/11 attacks? Or when the second most powerful Senate Democrat, Dick Durbin, thought our behavior at the detention center in Guantanamo was equivalent to Bergen Belsen and the Soviet gulags? Or when Senator Kennedy equated the unfortunate but small incident at Abu Ghraib with Saddam’s 40-year record of mass murder, rape rooms, and mass graves saying, “Saddam's torture chambers have reopened under new management, U.S. management"? What Democrat could not applaud the fact that the President had, in fact, kept us safe for what’s going on 5 years? What Democrat – even those who opposed the decision to go into Iraq – wouldn’t applaud the fact that tens of millions of previously brutalized people had the hope of freedom before them?
What made me leave the Left for good and embrace the Right were their respective reactions to 9/11. While The New York Times doubted that we could succeed in Afghanistan because the Soviets in the ‘80s hadn’t, George W. Bush went directly after the Taliban and Al Qaeda seriously damaging and disrupting their networks. Although many on the Left claim to have backed the President's actions, the self-doubt leading up to it, crystallized my view of the Left as weak and terminally lacking in confidence.
I supported President Bush’s hard line against the father of modern terrorism, Yasir Arafat, remembering that Bush’s predecessor hosted Arafat at the White House 13 times, more often than any other world leader. I applauded Bush’s unequivocal support for Israel, which every day faced (and faces) suicide attacks against its people. But I was most disappointed with liberal Jews who don’t understand that their very existence is rooted in Israel’s existence and that George W. Bush has been the best friend that Israel has ever had. But because they are less Jewish than they are liberal, they didn’t reward Bush with their vote in 2004.
Finally, I supported President Bush’s decision to oust Saddam and make possible the only democracy (other than Israel) in this crucial region of the Middle East. Post 9/11, we had to figure out a way to lessen the chances of more 9/11s. Democracy is a weapon in that war. If people are free to build businesses, buy homes, send their children to schools, pursue upward mobility, live their lives without fear, read newspapers of every opinion, vote for their leaders, resolve differences with debate and not bombs, they will have no reason to want to harm us.
In response, the Left offered bumper-sticker-type arguments like, Bush lied and thousands died. But Bush never lied. He, like Clinton and Gore and Kerry and the U.N. and the British and French and Israeli intelligence services affirmed that Saddam’s WMD were a vital threat – a threat, that post- 9/11, could not stand. An overwhelming number of Democrats voted for the war – but now the Left says they were “scared” into their votes by Bush. What does it say about Democrats if the “dummy” they think Bush is can scare them so easily?
Iraq is the “Normandy” of the War on Terror. The hope, once Iraq and Afghanistan are more stable, is that the nearly 70 million people in Iran will look at those countires (on it's left and right borders) and say: “Why do these people get to enjoy the fruits of freedom and we don’t?” – and then topple their Mullah’s dictatorial regime. The President understands the big picture -- that if the U.S. doesn’t help to remake that volatile region, we will face a nuclear version of 9/11 within the next two or five or 10 years. He is simply being realistic in his outlook and responsible in his actions. Iraq is succeeding, slowly but surely, but that’s not a sexy enough story to lead the news with: the relatively small amount of casualities are. Don’t forget, we occupied Germany and Japan for seven years and we still have troops there, more than 60 years after World War II ended.
And what have the Democrats contributed to the war effort since 9/11? Democrat Sen. Russ Feingold has suggested censuring our president; Former President and Vice President Bill Clinton and Al Gore, while visiting foreign countries, have blasted President Bush – acts of unconscionable irresponsibility; Democrat Sen. John Murtha, has invoked a cut-and-run policy in Iraq, supported by Democrat Senate Minority leader Harry Reid and Democrat House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi. Do they think the Middle East and the World would be safer if we had cut and run, as Murtha’s plan wanted us to do? Under that plan, our troops would have been out of Iraq by May 18th and al-Zarqawi wouldn’t be dead, but pulling the strings in an Iraqi civil war. With these kinds of ideas and behaviors, I just don’t trust Democrats when it comes to our national security.
And so, as any reader of this article can well understand, it became impossible for me to relate to the modern Democrat Party which has tacked way too far to the left and is dominated by elites that don’t like or trust the real people that make up most of the country.
Although I haven’t always agreed with President Bush, I proudly voted for him in 2004 (the only one of the four presidents not elected by the popular vote to win re-election). And I now fully understand Ronald Reagan’s statement, when he described why he switched from being a liberal to a conservative: “I didn’t leave the party – It left me!” ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Seth Swirsky is a songwriter, author, recording artist and memorabilia collector. His hits include "Love Is A Beautiful Thing" for Al Green, "Tell It To My Heart" and "Prove Your Love" for Taylor Dayne, "Instant Pleasure" for Rufus Wainwright amongst others. His trilogy of bestselling books consisting of his correspondence with baseball players are called "Baseball Letters" (Crown, 1996), "Every Pitcher Tells A Story" (Times Books, 1999) and "Something to Write Home About" (Random House, 2003). His personal collection consists of the ball that went through Bill Buckner’s legs in the 1986 World Series and the letter banning “Shoeless” Joe Jackson from Baseball. His own CD, "Instant Pleasure", won Best Pop Album at the 2005 L.A. Music Awards. Currently, he is making a bookumentary called Beatles Stories. His eclectic world can be seen and heard at his site, Seth.com.)
A very well written article. Thanks for posting it...
Wanting war to end is not a sin, being an ass about it is! Welcome Aboard! HG
"A true liberal today is a combination of socialist, fascist, and hypocrite. They are also rabidly anti-America!"
...let's not forget "arrogant ignorance"...this identifies them to the core.
I was a liberal in the early 70's until a radical feminist accused my father, (who she had never met) of being a "baby-killer" because he had served in Vietnam. I realized then that liberals specialized in spouting uninformed hatred.
LOL
(The Palestinian terrorist regime is the crisis and Israel's fist is the answer.)
Great article. Thank you!!!
I will pass this one on!!!
Typical college liberalism hung over me for a while in the 70's, but Rush came along in the 80's and Clinton ticked me off. I realized I'd been fed a load of liberal crap for years and years by Walter Cronkite and company at which time I went firmly conservative.
It's grown to feelings verging upon hate for liberals now. It really got serious when the New Jersey Supremes pulled that Torricelli/Lautenberg switcheroo TOTALLY ignoring the rule of law. That slap in the face was probably the day I signed up for FR, after a few years of lurking.
The 2004 re-elect of W, I thought, would shut the libs down, since it would put an end the 2000 "stolen election" BS. Ahhh, soooo wrong. I did some journalism work and voted democratic and am now embarrassed by, and despise both institutions.
I am Dear Mr. PRESIDENT,
Respectfully Yours,
(Signed) Ho Chi Minh
It sounds great, but if it's not a forgery, it's propaganda. Ho Chi Minh was one of the founding members of the French Communist Party, in the 1920s. The idea that he would have repudiated communism in favor of the US is ridiculous.
Liberal Jews are, indeed, a great mystery.
85% of Jews vote for Democrats and it's difficult to understand why.
Usually one would find they are more "conservative" than typical Democrats.
They are family-oriented, very intelligent and their children are required to stay in school.
They are diligent workers who save and invest and many are financially well-off. Many Jews are religious and they "succeed" in the United States without any welfare hand outs.
Many Jews own and direct huge interests in banks, in the Hollywood movie-industry, in radio and television,in the stock-market and, lastly, as lawyers.
That's it. In every large Jewish family there exists their share of dentists, medical doctors and LAWYERS!
Oy!
Never so evident as these past few weeks with the Libs sloppy logic over the Swift banking leak. Keller and Lichtbau claim it's no big deal.."everybody knew" ...while their headlines and story said exactly the opposite.
My God. They obviously have no clue as to what they believe, or even what they themselves write.
Lincoln was the Great Emancipator while Lyndon-Bird was the Great Escalator!
We were doing just fine, fighting Russia through their Viet Cong proxy, acting as MAAG, training and fighting alongside the patriots from the South.
Johnson, whose Great Society caused the chaos we see in America today with welfare,kept shipping troops until South Vietnam was overrun. Many of our troops had too much time on their hands and too much tension and began doing drugs and fragging their junior officers.
Nixon (not our greatest president, by far) pulled the plug on the circus making us the losers. This was pretty much what happened in Korea with the "armistice."
Great thread on a great day!
Happy Fourth of July!
Great piece. It shows there are still some people who can think.
What concerns me is knowing millions of public school kids are being brainwashed into becoming good little socialists....uh, excuse me....liberals.....and I'm wondering what kind of voting block they're going to present in a decade or two.
85% of the Christian kids attending public schools are losing their faith by high school graduation. We fool ourselves if we believe conservative principles will continue to prosper once the majority of voters become politically correct robots.
The West Wing actor Josh/Brad was on Bill Maher berating some conservative about abortion. He asked the conservative who supported protecting the unborn; "Do you believe in the death penalty"...as if to ask "how can you condone killing in one case, but oppose it in others, you hypocrite."
He was so full of himself, as if he'd caught the conservative contradicting himself. What went COMPLETELY over his head was his own faulty moral equivalence. In his mind, an innocent unborn life = a murderous criminal. Breath taking. That typified the depth of thought I see in liberalism every friggin' day.
["I was surprised by the furor it caused from the likes of Frank Zappa"
"Why are we outlawing words - they are only WORDS".]
Ah, another of the things they just don't get - no one was outlawing anything, just warning us of its existence.
I believe everyone on this site (with, perhaps very few exceptions) understand what this day means and has meant to generations of Americans.
Many of the weasels who keep getting reelected and "kept" in our nation's capital have sold their souls to satan and have disavowed practically every tenet of what was sculpted for us by our founding fathers.
They won't last until the Second Coming, but I honestly believe this nation will. We just have to work hard to cast these traitorous liars into the Dustbin of History.
God Bless America and God Bless Our Troops!
Ive always been a conservative, almost surely resulting from being raised in mid-Michigan where - at the time - everyone was. I recall being totally entranced with the 1960 race. I was only eleven at the time, but I remember thinking that Kennedy was smooth, a pretty boy; Nixon clumsey, but serious, believable.
The first election I was eligible to vote in was 1972, voted for Nixon. Have voted Republican in every election save 1980, when I couldn't bring myself to vote for RR as I had no confidence in an actor/Govenor from CALIFORNIA!!
That year I voted for Larry Holmes and Gloria DiRiva as a protest vote against "the system".
In 76' I knew enough about Jimah Carter as the GA Guv (I was in the USN stationed at NAS Albany GA, formerly Turner AFB) to recognize how lame the Dems had become by nominating such an incompetent.
And though I have some disagreements with GWB on some issues, I find it hard to believe that anyone else could have led this country as capably. I mean, look at the pool of people on both sides of the aisle that claim the presidential material high ground. I am particularly impressed with the relative overall stability of this administration.
As I review this thread I am gratified by the words of those who have seen through the lies and deception and left the party of slavery. They are an encouragement for me to pass Seth Swirsky's testimony on to a few who need to read it and hope for the best.
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