What Leftism Does to People

[Foxfyre]

Last Monday, Andrew Klaven offered a mini essay that is particularly pertinent at this time of history given the social upheavals witnessed across the country.

I fully expect the numbnuts, wingnuts, and dingbats to immediately condemn his thesis and probably some right wingnuts will immediately applaud it without thinking.

But if we could keep this reasonably civil, I think there are some people who will actually consider whether he is right. Or whether his thesis is flawed and why.

The emphasis is mine and I took some liberties with the paragraphing hoping to make the text more readable.

Leftism is bad for people. It makes them awful.

The unwashed, ill-mannered, anti-Semitic, entitled, and now violent mobs littering various parts of the nation under the banner “Occupy” believe their ideas will lead to a better society — but they actually are the society their ideas lead to. Their behavior when compared to the polite, law-abiding, non-racist demonstrations of so-called tea partiers tells you everything you need to know about the end results of statism on the one hand and constitutional liberty on the other.

This is not, of course, to say that every left-winger is a miscreant but rather that the natural, indeed inevitable, result of statism is to produce nations of miscreants. When the state is permitted to make the individual’s moral choices, the individual is forced to become either a slave or a criminal; when the state is permitted to redistribute wealth, it chains the citizen into a rigid, two-tiered hierarchy of power rather than freedom’s fluid, multi-layered rankings of merit and chance; when the people are taught to be dependent on entitlements, they are reduced to violence when, inevitably, the entitlement well runs dry; when belief in the state usurps every higher creed, the people become apathetic, hedonistic, and uncreative and their culture slouches into oblivion.

I need hardly expend the energy required to lift my finger and point to Europe where cities burn because the unemployable are unemployed or because the hard-working won’t fund the debts of the indolent; where violent and despicable Islamism eats away portions of municipalities like a cancer while the authorities do nothing; where nations that once produced history’s greatest achievements in science and the arts can now no longer produce even enough human beings to sustain themselves.
Klavan On The Culture » What Leftism Does to People

 

[JamesInFlorida]

The whole left vs right thing is just a distraction. It's what the powers at be (both sides) do in order to keep themselves in power. Whoever classifies themselves as a "leftist" or a "rightist" has already fallen for the brainwashing of the media/politicians. Is it any wonder why people who question both sides are called radicals? The real radical is somebody who believes/supports one belief system in it's entirety-because they're told to.

In other words: anybody who agrees with any set of political beliefs 100% isn't thinking. Because when the left calls Bush out on disregarding the constitution to wage war-but don't hold the same standards to Obama...it's because he's "on their side". Same thing when the right didn't mind Bush starting Iraq at that time, yet now call Obama out for Libya. It's being good little soldiers and following the orders the leaders of the parties tell you to do.

 

[rightwinger]

Really cool.....

My favorite part

.When the state is permitted to make the individual’s moral choices, the individual is forced to become either a slave or a criminal;

No wonder everyone fears Libruls

 

[Baron]

Leftism will kill America and the Western World!

 

[tinydancer]

None of the above. You keep playing the race card over and over ad nauseaum. One will never heal ever with this shit going down.

It would be nice to see an America that just focuses on economics and stops the lib bullshit for true.

 

[California Girl]

I voted 'left unchecked leftism will destroy American as we know it'. For the simple reason that I have seen what left wing policies have done to the UK. It is not a bad country, but its people have, for the most part, lost their ability to stand on their own two feet. They expect government to 'take care of' them. I constantly hear Brits wanting to 'ban' this or 'ban' that... anything they disagree with. Their concept of free speech is laughable. They are like sheep - nice people, but most definitely sheep.

Of course, there are exceptions to the rule, but many older people say the country is not the one their generation fought and died to preserve. I find that sad.

 

[California Girl]

Really cool.....

My favorite part

.When the state is permitted to make the individual’s moral choices, the individual is forced to become either a slave or a criminal;

No wonder everyone fears Libruls

And yet, that is exactly what happens in left wing societies. For example, in the UK, the Catholic Adoption Agency was forced to close - because the law in the UK is that any adoption agency must accept gay couples as parents. That is against Catholic doctrine. Now, this is probably not a big deal to you (and frankly, as an individual, I have no problem with gay adoption).... however, for the sake of political correctness... Catholics are left in much more difficult circumstances. Whether I agree with them or not, they should have the right to choose to put their child up for adoption through a Catholic agency if they want to.

I could list endless examples of how their state runs roughshod over basic individual rights. But I suspect I am wasting my effort... the left will dismiss it anyway.... because they'll agree with the decisions and not see the problem of taking people's individual rights and responsibility away.

 

[The T]

I voted 'left unchecked leftism will destroy American as we know it'. For the simple reason that I have seen what left wing policies have done to the UK. It is not a bad country, but its people have, for the most part, lost their ability to stand on their own two feet. They expect government to 'take care of' them. I constantly hear Brits wanting to 'ban' this or 'ban' that... anything they disagree with. Their concept of free speech is laughable. They are like sheep - nice people, but most definitely sheep.

Of course, there are exceptions to the rule, but many older people say the country is not the one their generation fought and died to preserve. I find that sad.

Especially what they suffered in WWII at the hands of the National Socialist Party of Germany...

 

[Baron]

I voted 'left unchecked leftism will destroy American as we know it'. For the simple reason that I have seen what left wing policies have done to the UK. It is not a bad country, but its people have, for the most part, lost their ability to stand on their own two feet. They expect government to 'take care of' them. I constantly hear Brits wanting to 'ban' this or 'ban' that... anything they disagree with. Their concept of free speech is laughable. They are like sheep - nice people, but most definitely sheep.

Of course, there are exceptions to the rule, but many older people say the country is not the one their generation fought and died to preserve. I find that sad.

Unfortunately stupid corrupted Britain left "politicians" have amputated brains of Brits, the country dash to became a Muslim State probably in thirty years. Thereafter Muslims will kill the rest of Christians and other non-Muslims.

 

[Foxfyre]

The whole left vs right thing is just a distraction. It's what the powers at be (both sides) do in order to keep themselves in power. Whoever classifies themselves as a "leftist" or a "rightist" has already fallen for the brainwashing of the media/politicians. Is it any wonder why people who question both sides are called radicals? The real radical is somebody who believes/supports one belief system in it's entirety-because they're told to.

In other words: anybody who agrees with any set of political beliefs 100% isn't thinking. Because when the left calls Bush out on disregarding the constitution to wage war-but don't hold the same standards to Obama...it's because he's "on their side". Same thing when the right didn't mind Bush starting Iraq at that time, yet now call Obama out for Libya. It's being good little soldiers and following the orders the leaders of the parties tell you to do.

Do you really see it as a distraction? I see it as the principle that the body politic won't even look at, much less allow into the debate. And I see, at the heart of it, that it is whether we go with a more leftist agenda or a more conservative agenda that will ultimately determine the fate of this country.

I don't see it as a distraction at all. I see it as the elephant in the room.

 

[Luissa]

First off, he should have checked out the demographics of the Occupy movement before cOmmenting on their characteristics. Second, yes the Tea Party protests were peaceful and didn't cause any problems for anyone, which is nothing like the original tea party. The establishment doesn't listen if you are convient and polite. We are a society that was built by men who made the establishment ie The British's life uneasy, and by upsetting how they did business. The only thing the Tea Party accomplished was electing officials who have just fallen in line.
Also, the majority of OWS are self proclaimed independents.

 

[Foxfyre]

None of the above. You keep playing the race card over and over ad nauseaum. One will never heal ever with this shit going down.

It would be nice to see an America that just focuses on economics and stops the lib bullshit for true.

I haven't seen anybody dealing with racism in this particular context, TD. What promoted your observation here?

I think understanding what leftist ideology actually is can also be the basis for whatever our economic policies will and will not be.

 

[California Girl]

I voted 'left unchecked leftism will destroy American as we know it'. For the simple reason that I have seen what left wing policies have done to the UK. It is not a bad country, but its people have, for the most part, lost their ability to stand on their own two feet. They expect government to 'take care of' them. I constantly hear Brits wanting to 'ban' this or 'ban' that... anything they disagree with. Their concept of free speech is laughable. They are like sheep - nice people, but most definitely sheep.

Of course, there are exceptions to the rule, but many older people say the country is not the one their generation fought and died to preserve. I find that sad.

Unfortunately stupid corrupted Britain left "politicians" have amputated brains of Brits, the country dash to became a Muslim State probably in thirty years. Thereafter Muslims will kill the rest of Christians and other non-Muslims.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fx3hkajQgGk]Britain sleepwalking towards becoming an Islamic state - YouTube[/ame]

Grow a brain, idiot.

 

[The T]

None of the above. You keep playing the race card over and over ad nauseaum. One will never heal ever with this shit going down.

It would be nice to see an America that just focuses on economics and stops the lib bullshit for true.

I'll side with Liberty every time.

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

Leftism is bad for people. It makes them awful.

Goodness, ‘bad’ and ‘awful.’

…where violent and despicable Islamism eats away portions of municipalities like a cancer…

Did you read and comprehend what you linked or do you actually believe in this nonsense?

Otherwise, conservatism doesn’t ‘do’ anything to people; one is clearly born screwed up and subsequently joins the right.

When the state is permitted to make the individual’s moral choices, the individual is forced to become either a slave or a criminal…

Such as social conservatives’ effort to conjoin church and State and codify their religious dogma, one is indeed forced to become a slave or criminal, the latter with regard to abortion.

 

[Luissa]

Really cool.....

My favorite part

.When the state is permitted to make the individual’s moral choices, the individual is forced to become either a slave or a criminal;

No wonder everyone fears Libruls

He says this while praising the tea party. If I put money on it, I would bet most are against gay marriage, are pro life, and against the legalization of marijuana.

 

[Foxfyre]

First off, he should have checked out the demographics of the Occupy movement before cOmmenting on their characteristics. Second, yes the Tea Party protests were peaceful and didn't cause any problems for anyone, which is nothing like the original tea party. The establishment doesn't listen if you are convient and polite. We are a society that was built by men who made the establishment ie The British's life uneasy, and by upsetting how they did business. The only thing the Tea Party accomplished was electing officials who have just fallen in line.
Also, the majority of OWS are self proclaimed independents.

So setting their voting affiliations and/or self-described poltical group aside, what are they protesting Luissa? What solutions are they promoting? Leftist ones? Or conservative ones?

 

[Katzndogz]

The problem with the left's view of liberty is less liberty, all in the name of protecting liberty.

 

[Luissa]

Any unchecked political belief will destroy a country.

Really cool.....

My favorite part

.When the state is permitted to make the individual’s moral choices, the individual is forced to become either a slave or a criminal;

No wonder everyone fears Libruls

And yet, that is exactly what happens in left wing societies. For example, in the UK, the Catholic Adoption Agency was forced to close - because the law in the UK is that any adoption agency must accept gay couples as parents. That is against Catholic doctrine. Now, this is probably not a big deal to you (and frankly, as an individual, I have no problem with gay adoption).... however, for the sake of political correctness... Catholics are left in much more difficult circumstances. Whether I agree with them or not, they should have the right to choose to put their child up for adoption through a Catholic agency if they want to.

I could list endless examples of how their state runs roughshod over basic individual rights. But I suspect I am wasting my effort... the left will dismiss it anyway.... because they'll agree with the decisions and not see the problem of taking people's individual rights and responsibility away.

 

[tinydancer]

Really cool.....

My favorite part

.When the state is permitted to make the individual’s moral choices, the individual is forced to become either a slave or a criminal;

No wonder everyone fears Libruls

And yet, that is exactly what happens in left wing societies. For example, in the UK, the Catholic Adoption Agency was forced to close - because the law in the UK is that any adoption agency must accept gay couples as parents. That is against Catholic doctrine. Now, this is probably not a big deal to you (and frankly, as an individual, I have no problem with gay adoption).... however, for the sake of political correctness... Catholics are left in much more difficult circumstances. Whether I agree with them or not, they should have the right to choose to put their child up for adoption through a Catholic agency if they want to.

I could list endless examples of how their state runs roughshod over basic individual rights. But I suspect I am wasting my effort... the left will dismiss it anyway.... because they'll agree with the decisions and not see the problem of taking people's individual rights and responsibility away.

Bingo bango I almost choked on the last ruling. Oh that will just get children out of the system.

I know, lets bring it on. Gay couples out bid Christian couples who wish to mentor children.

Leave them in perpetuity forever while you keep your shit going on. Damn I hate politicians.