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Why Liberals Think What They Do
pjmedia.com ^ | Victor Davis Hanson

Posted on 11/03/2012 9:01:56 PM PDT by Iam1ru1-2

Weighing over 250 pounds, not rickets, is a national plague. Riots target sneaker stores, not food bins. Sandra Fluke naturally become the epitome of frustrated liberal-mandated equality. We are to believe that an upscale white law student, who by choice enrolls at a Catholic university, is deprived because her university will not pay for her condoms or abortion pills. Her cell phone no doubt costs more than a year’s supply of prophylactics. The result is psychodrama, not class struggle, as liberals strain to find ways in which America is Les Misérables rather than the Kardashians, plagued by this obsession to step in and make everyone (except themselves) the same.

Voters

Romney almost forfeited the election when a video was leaked about his honest, though inexact, admission that 47% of Americans would, by needs, be unsympathetic to any agenda that cut spending and taxes, given their dependence on government “stuff.” Borrowing money to pay for more entitlements for the liberal mind is good politics, killing two birds with the proverbial one stone. The less well-off are indebted to those who gave them subsidized food, health care, shelter, even cell phones and will vote accordingly to ensure the liberal political class remains in power. And as deficits grow, the calls for higher taxes on those who “didn’t build that business” and are “fat cats” and never knew when they should stop profiting only increase. Liberalism is about power and influence, impossible without millions of dependent constituents.

“Them”

Liberals believe that there are lots of crass and greedy one-percenters who live to profit, and as refined Greeks expect grubby Romans to work while they think and plan. Like cockroaches, you cannot get rid of the one-percenters, given their elemental grasping. They will always get up at a 5 a.m. to chase the next superfluous buck in carbon-polluting oil exploration, Wall Street speculation, smoky trucking, or unsustainable farming. They are sheep with inexhaustible fleece. So liberals do not really believe that anyone will stop working due to Obamacare or a 40% income tax rate. Jerry Brown might say of overtaxed Californians, should his 13% income tax rate pass, “Where else could they go?” For those who cling to their profits, you could tax them at 90% and they would still scheme to find a way to have more than others — so what does it matter if they pay more?

Exemption

Liberals believe that abstract caring allows them seclusion and cocooning in the real, material world. Private schools, tony upscale suburbs, nice Volvos and Lexus SUVs, jet travel to Tuscany, a fine Napa $100 wine, Harvard or Stanford for junior — all that reeks of privilege and exclusivity, and can prompt remorse. In some sense, Costa del Sol and Martha’s Vineyard, like John Kerry’s yacht or John Edwards’ home, are antithetical to the entire liberal value system. But if one is loudly for “pay-your-fair-share” higher taxes, or for affirmative action, or for more deficit spending, then one feels absolved from guilt over his isolated privilege — and can enjoy it without lamentation. And if one makes enough money not to worry about a few more taxes or fees, then a mind at peace is a pretty good deal. Lots of those who now reside in Portola Valley and the Berkeley hills helped to promote policies whose deleterious results fell on distant others, out of mind, out of sight, far away in Porterville and Stockton. Liberalism is an elite person’s psychological investment in enjoying a guilt-free affluence.

Naiveté

Large percentages of the population now work for government — federal, state, or local. Millions more are divorced from the tragic world of mining or drilling where nature is unforgiving. That distance has allowed Americans in droves to disengage from both the private sector, where one either makes a profit or goes broke, and the grimy processes by which we live one more day. A San Francisco professor, a Monterey lawyer, and a Sacramento bureaucrat do not know how hard it is to raise beef, grow peaches, find and pump oil and gas, and haul logs out of the forest and into Home Depot as smooth lumber, or what it takes to build a small Ace Hardware business. The skills needed to keep a 7-Eleven viable in a rough neighborhood, I confess, dwarf those of the classics professor.

In the elite liberal mind, there is instead a sort of progressive Big Rock Candy Mountain. Gasoline comes right out of the ground through the nozzle into the car. Redwood 2x4s sprout from the ground like trees. Apples fall like hail from the sky; stainless steel refrigerator doors are mined inches from the surface. Tap water comes from some enormous cistern that traps rain water. Finished granite counter tops materialize on the show room floor. Why, then, would we need Neanderthal things like federal gas and oil leases, icky dams and canals, yucky power plants, and gross chain saws — and especially those who would dare make and use them?

Anger, envy, and the primordial emotions

For some, especially those who are well-educated and well-spoken, a sort of irrational furor at “the system” governs their political make-up. Why don’t degrees and vocabulary always translate into big money? Why does sophisticated pontification at Starbucks earn less than mindlessly doing accounting behind a desk? We saw this tension with Michelle Obama who, prior to 2009, did not quite have enough capital to get to Aspen or Costa del Sol, and thereby, despite the huge power-couple salaries, Chicago mansion, and career titles, felt that others had far too much more than the Obamas. “Never been proud,” “downright mean country,” “raise the bar,” etc., followed, as expressions of yuppie angst. The more one gets, the more one believes he should get even more, and the angrier he gets that another — less charismatic, less well-read, less well-spoken — always seems to get more.

So do not discount the envy of the sophisticated elite. The unread coal plant manager, the crass car dealer, or the clueless mind who farms 1000 acres of almonds should not make more than the sociology professor, the kindergarten teacher, the writer, the artist, or the foundation officer. What sort of system would allow the dense and easily fooled to become better compensated (and all for what — for superfluous jet skis and snowmobiles?) than the anguished musician or tortured-soul artist, who gives so much to us and receives so much less in return? What a sick country — when someone who brings chain saws into the Sierra would make more than a UC Berkeley professor who would stop them.

Nihilism

Finally, we come to a small subset that simply does not like America’s wealth and capitalism, supremacy overseas, and ubiquitous global culture — or at least believes that anything not his own must be far better (an oikophobia or hatred of one’s own household). He bores us with lectures on the wonderful EU, the superior La familia romance of Latin America, the “it takes a village” values of Africa, or the Cairo speech mythologies of the Middle East. Because America is so affluent, it allows so many the luxury to dream of how our wealth is so ill-gotten — as long as quiet others in the shadows ensure that life remains pretty good in San Francisco and Madison. Contrarianism is an innate characteristic, but one indulged without risk, only when the larger tribe is safe and secure.

In short, twenty-first century elite liberalism has become a psychological condition, not a serious blueprint on how to solve real problems. The president knows that — and so without ideas has been reduced to name-calling and sermons on Big Bird.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: johnkerry; liberalism; liberals; nottooswiftboat; taxevasion; vdh; victordavishanson; yacht

1 posted on 11/03/2012 9:02:00 PM PDT by Iam1ru1-2
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To: Iam1ru1-2

Why Liberals Think What They Do

Stupidity knows no bounds!


2 posted on 11/03/2012 9:04:16 PM PDT by Jim from C-Town (The government is rarely benevolent, often malevolent and never benign!)
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To: Iam1ru1-2

Lots to think about, THANKS!


3 posted on 11/03/2012 9:06:47 PM PDT by Graewoulf ((Traitor John Roberts' Obama"care" violates Sherman Anti-Trust Law, AND the U.S. Constitution.))
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To: Iam1ru1-2
But if one is loudly for “pay-your-fair-share” higher taxes, or for affirmative action, or for more deficit spending, then one feels absolved from guilt over his isolated privilege — and can enjoy it without lamentation.

A lot of people miss the guilty liberal aspect, but VDH certainly gets it.

4 posted on 11/03/2012 9:19:46 PM PDT by Rockitz (This is NOT rocket science - Follow the money and you'll find the truth.)
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To: Iam1ru1-2
Articles that explain how modern liberals suffer from a mental disorder.


5 posted on 11/03/2012 9:36:27 PM PDT by TigersEye (dishonorabledisclosure.com - OPSEC (give them support))
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To: Iam1ru1-2

Thanks, good read. In summary:
“Helpers are con-men who promise something for nothing, spoil you and keep you dependent.”
Fritz Perls said that.


6 posted on 11/03/2012 9:42:03 PM PDT by Anima Mundi (ENVY IS JUST PASSIVE, LAZY GREED)
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To: Iam1ru1-2
Here is some more insight on liberals:
_____________________________________________

The differences in the way liberals and conservatives reach conclusions comes down to far more than simply differing opinions - - it actually comes down to entirely different thought processes. Conservatives tend to think linearly: “If this, then this”; “Here is what was attempted, here are the results”; “Based on experience, this works and this does not work”. Etc.

Liberals do not think that way. Liberals are easily conned, easily manipulated, and utterly unwilling to admit when they are wrong. (Their obsession with constantly attempting to elicit “apologies” from GOP leaders is an offshoot of these strained thought processes.) Liberals, when confronted with bare-bones truth that contradicts their irrational world view, will essentially scrunch their eyes shut, shake their heads, and chant “nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah” until whatever truth it is they find offensive “goes away” rather than adjust their thoughts and beliefs to conform to the truth that is slapping them in the face. Liberals simply do not have the capacity to adjust their thoughts and beliefs to conform to the truth before their very eyes if that truth contradicts the foundation of the beliefs they irrationally hold onto as a weapon in the constant struggle against their own insecurity.

Certainly, there are notable exceptions such as David Horowitz, PJ O’Rourke, Bernie Goldberg, Michael Medved and others who were smart enough to lift themselves out of the mire of self-loathing liberal stupidity. But such folks are, unfortunately, rare exceptions.

Being an unabashed liberal is a matter of character (or more accurately, lack of character). Liberals are generally humorless and bitter because, you see, everybody else is (richer, happier, luckier, prettier, fill-in-the-blank) than they deserve to be and that is just not “fair”. (Words like "fair", and meaningless phrases such as "social justice", are common favorites used by liberals.) Liberals are social duds who are either chronic malcontents or simply that guilt-ridden subset of white liberals who feel that their own good fortune (and by extension the good fortune of others) is somehow undeserved. Think "Kennedy". In any event, liberals usually see themselves as "victims". They always see anybody beneath their station as "victims". And they love to help those victims - - with other people's money.

In our world there are people (most people, in fact) who look at all other people as their equals in every way; as people who are capable of realizing their personal aspirations and doing the right thing; as people who should be treated as equals. Alternatively, there are people who look up adoringly at people they view as somehow better (for liberals, that usually means richer) than themselves. Conversely, these are the same people who, of course, look loathingly down on other people they view as their lessers. Guess which kind of people liberals tend to be?

Interestingly, true liberals are often physically slow and unathletic. They were always picked last for playground basketball games. They have absolutely no interest in competetive sports, especially team sports. “Competetive sports” is, in fact, very much an alien concept to them. To be blunt, true liberals (genuine socialists) are almost always physically clumsy and slow.

Additionally, true liberals are humorless. Seething, deep-seated anger causes an entrenched bitterness that ends up defining them. The evidence of this abounds and can be seen on certain TV stations every day. The liberals have no Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter or Mark Steyn or Howie Carr or Dennis Miller or Ronald Reagan... They have Keith Olbemann and Helen Thomas and Ed Shultz and Lawrence O'Donnell and Barack Ubama. Think about it... there is simply not a lot of laughter there. Liberals, in fact, find laughter uncomfortable. (What's there to laugh about? Look at all the suffering in this horrible, unjust world.) True liberals don’t “get” jokes, even if they chuckle as if they do. (Test this for yourself - - tell a true liberal a joke. For additonal laughs, ask the liberal if he/she/it has a good joke to tell you.)

Liberals can appear to be normal people and are often able to handle their jobs and academic endeavors competently. They can usually fake normal socialization with other people, even if their self-centeredness prevents them from ever establishing true friendships. Liberals do not have true friends, merely acquaintances who can be used in some way, especially to affirm their own bizarre political notions.

But it is their sociopathic selfishness that is the most troubling thing about liberals. They see absolutely no problem with walking into the polling place on election day and voting for big government to confiscate more money at the point of a gun - - from their friends, neighbors, and complete strangers. Normal people view this kind of behavior as boorish and rude, but liberals apparently convince themselves that they are somehow accomplishing something; perhaps the exercise soothes their irrational guilt under the tragic misbelief that they are somehow “helping” others (using other people’s money, of course), notably, “the poor”.

So in summation, by voting for thuggish big government to take more money from their neighbors in order to further enable Democrat politicians to buy the votes of society’s losers, bums, and parasites, liberals feel better about themselves. (Don’t ask me about this mindset - - figuring out liberals would best be left to a team of very good psychiatrists.)

Anyway, I believe that the percentage of true liberals in this country is actually very low - - far less than a typical Democrat election-day turnout would indicate. The rats run a good con and there is no shortage of fools littering the countryside (not to mention the concentrated Democrat parasite nests known as "cities") who will continue to buy into the con.

Think about this - - how gullible did you have to be in 2008 to fall for a campaign that could have been formulated by a boardwalk psychic; a campaign based primarily on two essentially meaningless words, “hope” and “change”, words that sound so... positive... but that allow the smiling, naval-gazing listener’s imagination to turn them into whatever he or she wants? Unfortunately, in today’s soundbite world such a campaign can be (and was!) successful. And so we ended up with an African communist, the “community organizer” Barack Hussein Obama, as President of the United States and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.

Pray for America. In less than one week we shall see if Americans are insistent on committing national suicide. We will see if the parasites outnumber the hosts.

7 posted on 11/03/2012 10:05:05 PM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: Graewoulf

Seriously?
I will never waste a moment of thought on liberals other than their utter destruction.


8 posted on 11/03/2012 10:07:48 PM PDT by brickdds
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To: Iam1ru1-2

I don’t care why anymore.


9 posted on 11/03/2012 10:30:02 PM PDT by combat_boots (The Lion of Judah cometh. Hallelujah. Gloria Patri, Filio et Spiritui Sancto.)
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To: Iam1ru1-2

BTTT


10 posted on 11/04/2012 11:39:02 AM PST by spodefly (This is my tag line. There are many like it, but this one is mine.)
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To: Lancey Howard

Nail on the head...!

Thanks!


11 posted on 09/08/2014 9:26:01 AM PDT by Dr. Pritchett
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To: Iam1ru1-2

“11/4/2012”

So true to this day.....


12 posted on 05/25/2023 9:32:04 PM PDT by Paladin2
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