[Billthedrill]

The dark recess of the soul to which the author alludes is nothing more than that it is profoundly satisfying to hate, so much so that the hatred tends to remain long after its cause is forgotten or ameliorated, if it were ever sound in the first place. It is not restricted to the political left, but when all else is drained from a body politic hatred is all that remains to define it, and at the moment hatred is, in fact, the left's sole remaining defining characteristic.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

it is profoundly satisfying to hate, so much so that the hatred tends to remain long after its cause is forgotten or ameliorated, if it were ever sound in the first place. It is not restricted to the political left, but when all else is drained from a body politic hatred is all that remains to define it, and at the moment hatred is, in fact, the left's sole remaining defining characteristic.

Whether it's hatred, or simple desire to feel important, I'm not quite sure. But it DOES seem to be a character flaw. Leftism seems to me to be some sort of default thought pattern . . . you don't explain why people are leftist, the question is more properly why people transcend leftism.