Adam's Apple
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- Apr 25, 2004
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Liberal Attitudes
By Thomas Sowell for Townhall
April 5, 2005
Excerpt
Whatever the issue, it is usually not the principle but the attitude which determines where liberals stand. Just rattle off a list of social groups -- the police, blacks, environmentalists, multinational corporations -- and you will have a pretty good idea of which way liberals are likely to lean, even if you have no idea what particular issue may arise.
Recent liberal denunciations of federal intervention to over-ride Florida law in the Terri Schiavo case were made by the same people who supported recent federal intervention to over-ride the laws of more than a dozen states when the Supreme Court banned the execution of murderers who were not yet 18 years old.
You can count on the same liberals to cheer if the federal courts over-ride both state laws and referenda opposing gay marriage. It is not the principle. It is the attitude.
"Diversity" has become one of the crusades of liberals, especially academic liberals. But, in a country that is pretty closely divided politically, it is not at all uncommon to find a whole academic department -- sociology, for example -- without a single Republican today or for the past three decades.
Academia is virtually a liberal monopoly but they show no misgivings about the lack of diversity of ideas on campus. It is only physical diversity that arouses the passions of liberals because that engages their attitudes toward particular social groups.
Liberals have often been critical of college fraternities for being exclusive but have seldom been critical of all-black student organizations or even all-black dormitories.
Again, it is not principles but attitudes.
Among liberals' most cherished views of themselves is that they are in favor of promoting the well-being of minorities in general and blacks in particular. But here again, it all depends on which segments of the minority community are involved.
Whatever the merits or demerits of liberal principles, those principles are often far less important than the attitudes which have become the hallmarks of contemporary liberalism.
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/welcome.shtml
By Thomas Sowell for Townhall
April 5, 2005
Excerpt
Whatever the issue, it is usually not the principle but the attitude which determines where liberals stand. Just rattle off a list of social groups -- the police, blacks, environmentalists, multinational corporations -- and you will have a pretty good idea of which way liberals are likely to lean, even if you have no idea what particular issue may arise.
Recent liberal denunciations of federal intervention to over-ride Florida law in the Terri Schiavo case were made by the same people who supported recent federal intervention to over-ride the laws of more than a dozen states when the Supreme Court banned the execution of murderers who were not yet 18 years old.
You can count on the same liberals to cheer if the federal courts over-ride both state laws and referenda opposing gay marriage. It is not the principle. It is the attitude.
"Diversity" has become one of the crusades of liberals, especially academic liberals. But, in a country that is pretty closely divided politically, it is not at all uncommon to find a whole academic department -- sociology, for example -- without a single Republican today or for the past three decades.
Academia is virtually a liberal monopoly but they show no misgivings about the lack of diversity of ideas on campus. It is only physical diversity that arouses the passions of liberals because that engages their attitudes toward particular social groups.
Liberals have often been critical of college fraternities for being exclusive but have seldom been critical of all-black student organizations or even all-black dormitories.
Again, it is not principles but attitudes.
Among liberals' most cherished views of themselves is that they are in favor of promoting the well-being of minorities in general and blacks in particular. But here again, it all depends on which segments of the minority community are involved.
Whatever the merits or demerits of liberal principles, those principles are often far less important than the attitudes which have become the hallmarks of contemporary liberalism.
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/welcome.shtml
