The Anger Of The Left (Thomas Sowell)

Townhall.com ^ | May 15, 2007 | Thomas Sowell

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

they see conservatives as people who are putting up road blocks as far as getting those changes enacted. It’s a very short step in seeing conservatives as not just seeing things a different way, but in opposing what the left wants, they’re opposing that which is good, hence conservatives are bad, or even evil.

It is arrogant to assume a priori that whoever disagrees with you is wrong. That is sophistry - which literally means "wisdom" - as opposed to philosophy, which literally means the love of wisdom. If you claim only to love wisdom, you are open to reason and to changing your mind if the facts and logic of the case warrant it. If you claim to be wise, why then there is nothing to talk about - everyone else should just shut up and listen to you. Or as the Lysenkoists say about anthropogenic global warming, "The case is closed."

[7thson]

And I think the left was not too worried under Reagan because they thought they controlled the media - at the time they did - but Reagan talked beyond them, directly to us. Imagine if under a President Bush we did not have the internet, talk radio, or a FNC. Bush would be relegated to Ford status. And if you think the left is bonkers now, wait till Fred Thompson gets in the race. Just the short F-U response to Michael Moore today should be enough to drive them nuts. He will be the effective communicator we desperately need.

[Tribune7]

ping

[Bonaparte]

I appreciate your post and your information, Dan.

However, the "communism" I was discussing was not the kind found in small, rural communal colonies. The Amish, Hutterites and the like, keep to themselves and do not attempt to force their ideology on others. The same cannot be said for communism.

Revolutionary Marxian socialism or Marxist-Leninist communism is a very different beast from the examples you have given.

I assumed that would be clear in my post. Apparently it wasn't.

[Dan Evans]

The Amish, Hutterites and the like, keep to themselves and do not attempt to force their ideology on others.

Yes, that is one big difference. Coercion is the problem, not that Christian churches have not engaged in the practice (the Inquisition).

But even when it is voluntary such as the kibbutz movement in Israel or the Jamestown colony, it is hard to get it right.

I think it is very important to study communal societies because under some circumstances such as new colonies with minimal populations in remote places (like Mars perhaps), it may be what needs to be done.

Notice that you very seldom see leftists pointing to Hutterites as an example of successful communism. They just can't bring themselves to admit that dedicated Christians can succeed where atheists fail.

[Bonaparte]

Bears repeating, Dan.

Thanks for an even more excellent post!

Anyway, I gotta go. On another thread, FastCoyote is caught in a whirlpool of doubletalk and is using his miracle underwear to get out of it, while God-Guy laughs at his predicament from the planet of Kolob. I just gotta see how this turns out!

[Sergio]

It isn’t the conservative choices that bush makes that enrages them. It is the fact that conservatism exists in the first place that enrages them. It is the fact that when conservatism achieves and produces, it is proof of liberalism’s lies. That’s what enrages them.

Kinda reminds you of Islam, doesn't it?

[Sergio]

The reason they’re like this? They’ve never been taught to think, they’ve never been taught self-restraint and they’ve never learned that Actions have Consequences.

Our public school system continues to create and perpetuate people with just this mind set. Why do you think the NEA and other teachers unions always endorse Democrats?