Hi!
Posted on 02/18/2005 5:29:28 AM PST by SJackson
The first step in any successful recovery program, such as Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous, is to admit that there is a problem. For a leftist, then, stepping out of denial is the beginning of a journey toward clearer thinking and political sanity. I approach this topic with only a hint of humor, because I myself am a recovered leftist, with over 25 years of sobriety. Was I drunk on left-wing propaganda? Yes, and I became a user at a very tender age – as a child, in fact, in the home of my parents, who schooled me in the ways of communism and socialism.
I believe this topic is extremely important at this juncture, because the far left is finding itself on the wrong side of history yet again and many of its members are lost at sea. I try to imagine myself, had I not awakened to the wrongness of my ideology, trying to survive both the re-election of George W. Bush and the successful Iraqi election. I would be beside myself with anger and disappointment. My index fingers would be in utter fatigue from non-stop pointing to assign blame. I might even threaten to move out of the country, as my brother and his wife are doing!
I feel sad for leftists because they are stuck in their addiction. Strong wording? I think not, because I was there. Leftist ideology is a powerful and cunning potion, and if it gets into the mind at a young enough age, it can be extremely difficult to kick. Let me explain.
I was brought up in the 1950s and ’60s in a suburb of New York City by two World War II veterans whose own parents were immigrants from Eastern Europe. My mother’s father took her to Communist Party meetings when she was a youngster, and my parents attended camps in upstate New York where young “reds” congregated, and where they met. As a child I read the works of Howard Fast and the periodical entitled The National Guardian. By the age of twelve, I was completely indoctrinated into the Communist mind-set and openly debated my seventh-grade social studies teacher on U.S. policy during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
I was convinced of the evils of capitalism and believed that if the West would just not interfere, the Soviet Union would become a workers’ paradise (an old rant still mouthed today by many, including my mother and my son’s college history professor). My mother took me to various demonstrations before I left for college, at which time I involved myself in activist work against the Vietnam War, to my everlasting shame.
There is no way for a “cradle” conservative to imagine the pain that a recovering leftist goes through when the veil is finally lifted. The second step in official 12-step programs is belief in a higher power, believing that your higher power can restore you. In recovering from leftist thinking, this step is not a requirement, but for me it was essential. In fact, during my 30th year I experienced a spiritual awakening that initiated many changes in values, which in turn brought me to my first conservative action step: voting for Ronald Reagan in 1980. To borrow Michael Medved’s term, I had become a “theo-con.”
Belief in a higher power is not always the starting place for a leftist in recovery. For some, it is intellectual honesty. Most recently, the Iraqi election came under attack from the far left in the United States and abroad. British Prime Minister Tony Blair rightly opined that anyone believing in liberty and self-rule could not possibly oppose the election. But leftists were able to do so because of intellectual dishonesty and their belief in ends-justify-the-means politics. Since a successful election in Iraq means a victory for the hated Bush and a vindication of the military, the left must oppose it.
But in opposing Iraqi self-rule, the left must abandon one of its core positions: freedom from tyranny for the oppressed. Those on the left cannot have it both ways, and in continually trying to do so, they expose themselves as the intellectually bankrupt people they really are. Leftists ready to recover must use what recovering alcoholics call rigorous honesty to rid themselves of the habit of “dual think.” The fourth step in AA is a fearless moral inventory, and the folks on the far left who dare to take a fearless intellectual inventory will realize that their dual-think positions are untenable.
It can be frightening for a person to walk away from a lifetime of strongly held beliefs and into new ways of thinking. Family and close friends may misunderstand and even reject you. This happens. It is similar in many respects to what happens to individuals who leave a cult; they find themselves ostracized, ridiculed or marginalized. It is best not to engage in too many political discussions until you are sure of what you now stand for, how to defend your new positions, and who you can trust. Reading magazine articles and books to develop a knowledge base is essential.
I was in recovery for over 20 years when I read David Horowitz’s “Radical Son,” which documents his life journey from “red diaper baby” to leftist activist to highly regarded conservative scholar. It was not until I read this book that I realized that I was not alone in my “conversion” and how deeply angry I was at having been so brainwashed as a child. I now regard the politicizing of young children as a form of child abuse. This realization enabled me to deal with my anger and to begin to grow beyond it.
The 12th step in the AA program is to carry the message of recovery to others. It is a marvelous step because in doing so, you cement the fact that you have finally arrived at some place of clarity and are strong enough to spread the message. To all those whose beliefs have been shaken by recent events, to all those whose ideological houses have been built on sand: Take heart, because there is hope if you will bravely admit that you were in the wrong and move to the right. As Dennis Prager says, it is okay to be wrong; it is not okay to stay that way.
I'm not sure that freedom from tyranny was ever a core conviction of the left. Their core conviction is anti-capitalism. How can we forget their suppport of Stalin, Lenin, Castro, their love affair with Che, etc?
Their support for the oppressed has been trumped every time by their support of socialism.
You illustrate well what the problem is with our country in that you present leftism as a disease (as I have seen people on the left present the rightist view). In the end, the truth is in the middle.
Did we go into Iraq to make Democracy? No. If that were true, we'd have gone into a horde of other countries long ago.
Is it good that the Iraqis are freed from the power of a brutal dictator? Maybe. We won't know the outcome of this for years, but I'm optimistic, even as one of those diseased leftists. They may turn into a realtively free country, or they could balkanize, and be ruled yet again by dictators.
Does one vote change everything? No. If the government can take that ball and run with it, and bring real improvement in the lives of Iraqis, then we'll have something. There is ample historical evidence that Democracy is not a cure all (Zimbabwe, Haiti, etc).
Have our efforts created a breeding ground for terrorists? Yes.
The Iraq war is not simple enough to exalt as a success or condemn as a failure on the basis of what has happened so far. What the US did was set a lot of pieces in motion, and I don't believe that anybody could predict where it would go. It may turn Iraq into a beacon of hope for the rest of the middle east, or it could devolve into a region-wide conflict.
Only time will tell.
Red Diaper Doper Baby
"Radical Son" is a great book and one of the leaders into the what was a new genre at the time, "conservative books". It was widely understood by the New York publishing industry that Republicans were all stoopid and did not reed books.
Did Bush and company lie? Not precisely. I do think they honestly believe, as many did, that Saddam had some sort of weapons program. However, their belief was so strong that they ignored the evidence they had in their hands that indicated he didn't. They did exaggerate the evidence they had to make their case though. They did knowingly ignore contradictory evidence.
Excellent article. "Radical Son" should be required reading in every college US History class. I don't think anyone really understands the US in the 60's without that perspective.
I was just having a discussion with a leftist this week... they don't just deny reality in things politics, they truly do live in their own little entitlement world.
Brief story, They are tryign to sell their house, its an ok house, fixed up really nice, but its the only single family house on the street and its oddly shaped/looking, surrounded by businesses and apartment buildings... the house is priced as the 2nd highest priced house in the neighborhood, and of course its not selling.
They are adamant they aren't going to take one dime less than their new reduced price (they decided to come down 10k.. still leaving it the 2nd most pricey house in the neighborhood, and its the agents fault its not selling.
Now please keep in mind, at the price they are asking you can buy houses in the neighborhoods old millionaires row, not the only single family amoung apartment and commercial buildings. But they are going to sell it for that, period.
(as though they can force a buyer to show up willing to pay it).... Fact is simple, its not going to sell for anything near their asking price...unless they get extremely lucky.. but its not their fault for overpricing their house.. its the agents fault for not getting people into it and the markets fault for not recognizing their house is a great house.
They need that for the house, and they aren't coming down, and its not overpriced, just that the agent isn't working it. (Sorry guys, anyone lookoing for a house in that price range is going to turn onto that street and say NO... I don't care if it has italian marble and gold faucets, thats reality... they'll go over to millionaires row and buy a house thats in a residential street with other high end homes.)
Lefties... gotta love em.
It is so nice to know that one is not alone. My family didn't condone communism but they are socialist. As a child I was taught that the world should be run by Unions. My brother is a shop steward for the railroad where he works.
My father is getting way up there in years and it is doubtful that he will ever change his political beliefs. I do give my Dad credit for the fact that he says while he doesn't agree with my political beliefs he is proud of me for speaking out.
Hi!
Sort of a "False but accurate" kind of thing?
Hi, Spiff...
I was a leftist. In my late teens and early twenties I was a registered Democrat, I voted for Michael Dukakis, I supported socialized medicine, I thought former California Governor Jerry Brown would have made a great President, I hated America for dropping the A-Bombs on Japan, I liked Ted Kennedy, I was a member of Nuclear Freeze USA, I donated money to Greenpeace and Amnesty International, I thought that "choice" was a good thing, I kept a copy of the Communist Manifesto on my desk (I was a federal employee during the last years of the Cold War) just to enrage people, I thought that communism was OK but that it hadn't been done correctly yet, I liked organic foods, I hated Ronald Reagan for putting missiles in Europe and for invading Grenada, I thought the "Sanctuary" movement which smuggled illegal aliens across the border was nifty, I liked to browbeat people who were "bigoted" against gays, I railed against the prudishness of America, I wanted drugs to be legalized, and my thought process on any chosen political issue was no deeper than the last bumper sticker I had read.
Thank you Rush Limbaugh, Ezra Taft Benson, Cleon Skousen, William Norman Grigg, William Jasper, National Right to Life, Phyllis Schlafly and especially Jim Robinson and Free Republic for helping me through the painful process of awakening to the lies I had been told and for helping to set my mind straight.
place marker for later
Yeah, that's what happened.
WTF are you talking about?
Do you like cheese?
*************
You do like cheese.
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