Why Liberals Think What They Do

[Wehrwolfen]

Why Liberals Think What They Do​

by Victor Davis Hanson
October 30, 2012

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Note that Barack Obama is running not on his liberal record, but as a challenger against incumbent Mitt Romney who has done all sorts of terrible things like causing the 2008 meltdown and outsourcing jobs to China. In Obama’s view, given the supposedly tranquil world abroad, we must try nation building at home, and thus concentrate on bold new initiatives like stimulus, infrastructure, green jobs, and federalized health care — none of which have been envisioned before, much less funded. And to the extent Obama has a concrete example, he points to efforts of the private oil sector to find more gas and oil despite, rather than because of, his own efforts. Conclusion? Obama himself apparently has given up on liberal ideas in lieu of Big Bird, binders, bull****ter, movie stars, and hip-hopsters, which prompts the question: does anyone believe in liberal ideology anymore — and if so, why?

Did California’s redistributive elite really believe that they could all but shut down new gas and oil production, strangle the timber industry, idle irrigated farmland, divert water to the delta smelt, have 37 million people use a highway system designed for 15 million, allow millions of illegal aliens to enter the state without audit, extend free medical programs to 8 million of the most recent 11 million added to the population, up taxes to among the highest in the nation, and host one-third of the nation’s welfare recipients — and not have the present chaos?

The California schools — flooded with students whose first language is not English, staffed by unionized teachers not subject to the consequences of subpar teaching, and plagued with politicized curricula that do not emphasize math, science, and reading and writing comprehension — scarcely rate above those in Mississippi and Alabama. Did liberals, who wanted unions, a new curriculum, and open borders, believe it was good for the state to have a future generation — that will build our power plants, fly our airliners, teach our children, and take out our tumors — that is at the near-bottom in national test scores?

Do Bay Area greens really believe that they that will have sufficient water if they blow up the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir? Did Barack Obama think that the Keystone pipeline or new gas and oil leases in the Gulf were superfluous, or that we do not need oil to make gasoline, wheat to make flour, or to cut timber to produce wood?

Did liberals (and their hand-in-glove employer supporters who wished for cheap labor) think that letting in millions from Central Mexico, most without legality, English, or a high school education (and in some sense at the expense of thousands waiting in line for legal admission with capital, advanced degrees, and technological expertise), was not problematic and that soaring costs in law enforcement, the criminal justice system, the schools, and the health care industries were irrelevant?

What, then, are the motivations that drive so many to such absurdities? Note here that I am talking of the architects of liberalism, not of those who receive generous entitlements and whose desire for bigger government is thus existential and elemental.

Equality of result

Keen minds from Aristotle to Montesquieu and Tocqueville have lamented that the proverbial people sometimes prefer equality under authoritarianism to inequality accompanied by personal freedom. As long as there was grinding poverty, the liberal agenda of “leveling the playing field” made sense enough — Social Security, disability insurance, the 40-hour work week, and Medicare. But once modern mass production and consumption arose, energized by globalization and the entry of billions of new foreign workers into the equation, and high technology extended the appurtenances of the aristocracy to the poor (today’s ubiquitous smart phone is 100 times more versatile than yesterday’s $3,000 primitive suitcase cell phone), how could you keep promoting government-sponsored equality for the less well-off? Ensure no one has to drive a Kia? Petition on behalf of those who do not yet have an iPad?....[excerpt]


Read more:
Works and Days » Why Liberals Think What They Do

 

[Chris]

What did liberals do that was so offensive to the conservatives? I’ll tell you what they did. Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. Liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act.What did Conservatives do? They opposed them on every one of those things, every one. So when you try to hurl that label at my feet, ‘Liberal,’ as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won’t work, because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor.

-Lawrence O’Donnell Jr.

 

[Moonglow]

yes, I yern for the days of no healthcare, 14 hour workdays for pennies and coporate living dwellings along with the comapny store for inflated prices, not to mention child labor instead of schooling, miss a day of work due to sickness and you were fired, and no death benefits.

 

[Chris]

yes, I yern for the days of no healthcare, 14 hour workdays for pennies and coporate living dwellings along with the comapny store for inflated prices, not to mention child labor instead of schooling, miss a day of work due to sickness and you were fired, and no death benefits.

You must be a Republican.

They want to turn America into Dickinsean England.

Buy a flower, guvnuh?

 

[Mac1958]

.

Gotta love it when a partisan ideologue (Hansen, in this case) tells us what's going on in the minds of partisan ideologues on the other side of the spectrum.

But now that I think about it, such narcissistic foolery is par for the course for partisan ideologues.

Never mind!



.

 

[LilOlLady]

Why Liberals Think What They Do​

by Victor Davis Hanson
October 30, 2012

Page 1 of 3 Next -> View as Single Page


Note that Barack Obama is running not on his liberal record, but as a challenger against incumbent Mitt Romney who has done all sorts of terrible things like causing the 2008 meltdown and outsourcing jobs to China. In Obama’s view, given the supposedly tranquil world abroad, we must try nation building at home, and thus concentrate on bold new initiatives like stimulus, infrastructure, green jobs, and federalized health care — none of which have been envisioned before, much less funded. And to the extent Obama has a concrete example, he points to efforts of the private oil sector to find more gas and oil despite, rather than because of, his own efforts. Conclusion? Obama himself apparently has given up on liberal ideas in lieu of Big Bird, binders, bull****ter, movie stars, and hip-hopsters, which prompts the question: does anyone believe in liberal ideology anymore — and if so, why?

Did California’s redistributive elite really believe that they could all but shut down new gas and oil production, strangle the timber industry, idle irrigated farmland, divert water to the delta smelt, have 37 million people use a highway system designed for 15 million, allow millions of illegal aliens to enter the state without audit, extend free medical programs to 8 million of the most recent 11 million added to the population, up taxes to among the highest in the nation, and host one-third of the nation’s welfare recipients — and not have the present chaos?

The California schools — flooded with students whose first language is not English, staffed by unionized teachers not subject to the consequences of subpar teaching, and plagued with politicized curricula that do not emphasize math, science, and reading and writing comprehension — scarcely rate above those in Mississippi and Alabama. Did liberals, who wanted unions, a new curriculum, and open borders, believe it was good for the state to have a future generation — that will build our power plants, fly our airliners, teach our children, and take out our tumors — that is at the near-bottom in national test scores?

Do Bay Area greens really believe that they that will have sufficient water if they blow up the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir? Did Barack Obama think that the Keystone pipeline or new gas and oil leases in the Gulf were superfluous, or that we do not need oil to make gasoline, wheat to make flour, or to cut timber to produce wood?

Did liberals (and their hand-in-glove employer supporters who wished for cheap labor) think that letting in millions from Central Mexico, most without legality, English, or a high school education (and in some sense at the expense of thousands waiting in line for legal admission with capital, advanced degrees, and technological expertise), was not problematic and that soaring costs in law enforcement, the criminal justice system, the schools, and the health care industries were irrelevant?

What, then, are the motivations that drive so many to such absurdities? Note here that I am talking of the architects of liberalism, not of those who receive generous entitlements and whose desire for bigger government is thus existential and elemental.

Equality of result

Keen minds from Aristotle to Montesquieu and Tocqueville have lamented that the proverbial people sometimes prefer equality under authoritarianism to inequality accompanied by personal freedom. As long as there was grinding poverty, the liberal agenda of “leveling the playing field” made sense enough — Social Security, disability insurance, the 40-hour work week, and Medicare. But once modern mass production and consumption arose, energized by globalization and the entry of billions of new foreign workers into the equation, and high technology extended the appurtenances of the aristocracy to the poor (today’s ubiquitous smart phone is 100 times more versatile than yesterday’s $3,000 primitive suitcase cell phone), how could you keep promoting government-sponsored equality for the less well-off? Ensure no one has to drive a Kia? Petition on behalf of those who do not yet have an iPad?....[excerpt]


Read more:
Works and Days » Why Liberals Think What They Do

At least Liberals think. Right shoot off and think later and that's where they thinking system is.

 

[BallsBrunswick]

This thread is as silly as that political correctness thread a few days ago.

 

[LilOlLady]

yes, I yern for the days of no healthcare, 14 hour workdays for pennies and coporate living dwellings along with the comapny store for inflated prices, not to mention child labor instead of schooling, miss a day of work due to sickness and you were fired, and no death benefits.

Moonglow, you are much too kind.

 

[naturegirl]

yes, I yern for the days of no healthcare, 14 hour workdays for pennies and coporate living dwellings along with the comapny store for inflated prices, not to mention child labor instead of schooling, miss a day of work due to sickness and you were fired, and no death benefits.

Moonglow, you are much too kind.

The fact the moonglow and LilOlLady believe this crap is very telling.

 

[martybegan]

What did liberals do that was so offensive to the conservatives? I’ll tell you what they did. Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. Liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act.What did Conservatives do? They opposed them on every one of those things, every one. So when you try to hurl that label at my feet, ‘Liberal,’ as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won’t work, because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor.

-Lawrence O’Donnell Jr.

The change came when liberals stopped advocating for increasing peoples freedom, and started advocating for restrictions on said freedoms. They also stopped worrying about how to pay for all the nifty programs they wanted, and figured they can keep raising taxes on someone else to fund them forever and ever.

 

[Neurotika]

Why Liberals Think What They Do​

by Victor Davis Hanson
October 30, 2012

Page 1 of 3 Next -> View as Single Page


Note that Barack Obama is running not on his liberal record, but as a challenger against incumbent Mitt Romney who has done all sorts of terrible things like causing the 2008 meltdown and outsourcing jobs to China. In Obama’s view, given the supposedly tranquil world abroad, we must try nation building at home, and thus concentrate on bold new initiatives like stimulus, infrastructure, green jobs, and federalized health care — none of which have been envisioned before, much less funded. And to the extent Obama has a concrete example, he points to efforts of the private oil sector to find more gas and oil despite, rather than because of, his own efforts. Conclusion? Obama himself apparently has given up on liberal ideas in lieu of Big Bird, binders, bull****ter, movie stars, and hip-hopsters, which prompts the question: does anyone believe in liberal ideology anymore — and if so, why?

Did California’s redistributive elite really believe that they could all but shut down new gas and oil production, strangle the timber industry, idle irrigated farmland, divert water to the delta smelt, have 37 million people use a highway system designed for 15 million, allow millions of illegal aliens to enter the state without audit, extend free medical programs to 8 million of the most recent 11 million added to the population, up taxes to among the highest in the nation, and host one-third of the nation’s welfare recipients — and not have the present chaos?

The California schools — flooded with students whose first language is not English, staffed by unionized teachers not subject to the consequences of subpar teaching, and plagued with politicized curricula that do not emphasize math, science, and reading and writing comprehension — scarcely rate above those in Mississippi and Alabama. Did liberals, who wanted unions, a new curriculum, and open borders, believe it was good for the state to have a future generation — that will build our power plants, fly our airliners, teach our children, and take out our tumors — that is at the near-bottom in national test scores?

Do Bay Area greens really believe that they that will have sufficient water if they blow up the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir? Did Barack Obama think that the Keystone pipeline or new gas and oil leases in the Gulf were superfluous, or that we do not need oil to make gasoline, wheat to make flour, or to cut timber to produce wood?

Did liberals (and their hand-in-glove employer supporters who wished for cheap labor) think that letting in millions from Central Mexico, most without legality, English, or a high school education (and in some sense at the expense of thousands waiting in line for legal admission with capital, advanced degrees, and technological expertise), was not problematic and that soaring costs in law enforcement, the criminal justice system, the schools, and the health care industries were irrelevant?

What, then, are the motivations that drive so many to such absurdities? Note here that I am talking of the architects of liberalism, not of those who receive generous entitlements and whose desire for bigger government is thus existential and elemental.

Equality of result

Keen minds from Aristotle to Montesquieu and Tocqueville have lamented that the proverbial people sometimes prefer equality under authoritarianism to inequality accompanied by personal freedom. As long as there was grinding poverty, the liberal agenda of “leveling the playing field” made sense enough — Social Security, disability insurance, the 40-hour work week, and Medicare. But once modern mass production and consumption arose, energized by globalization and the entry of billions of new foreign workers into the equation, and high technology extended the appurtenances of the aristocracy to the poor (today’s ubiquitous smart phone is 100 times more versatile than yesterday’s $3,000 primitive suitcase cell phone), how could you keep promoting government-sponsored equality for the less well-off? Ensure no one has to drive a Kia? Petition on behalf of those who do not yet have an iPad?....[excerpt]


Read more:
Works and Days » Why Liberals Think What They Do

im kinda new here but i'll bite.

i grew up southern conservative..

when i was 5 years old the county [citrus co florida] decided to ship the black children into our schools...the town folk wouldnt have that so they set our school on fire..it was put out by the fire department only to be reset and burned to the ground.

we then had to be shipped to the black kids school while ours was being rebuilt

when i went to that school i was immediately told i could not play with or associate with the black kids cause it wasnt 'right'

my best friend was a little black girl.

when i was growing up and started loving music..the beatles abby road was my fav album and the song 'come together' i loved..

i was told i couldnt 'play that ****** music' while i was staying there.

when i saw abuse and sexual molestation by the men in the family.

i was told not to 'make trouble' or i would get the 'switch'

as i got older and i saw more of 'these things' that i knew in my childs heart were wrong..i slowly and completely morphed into the left leaning flaming liberal woman i am today.

conservatives and republicans turned me into a liberal..had they not been so offensive and extreme..i would most like still be a conservative republican today.

that is why this liberal woman thinks as she does.

 

[Katzndogz]

I have lived in California for decades. The liberals believe they are right. Letting farmland go fallow will produce more food than a growing field. Illegals are more valuable than educated Americans. Jerry Brown has always felt that too many people have jobs and the way to prosperity is more on welfare. The more business that leaves the state, the better off the state is.

That's why California is the way it is, and why the rest of the nation will follow if liberals are given the chance.

 

[lukelk]

yes, I yern for the days of no healthcare, 14 hour workdays for pennies and coporate living dwellings along with the comapny store for inflated prices, not to mention child labor instead of schooling, miss a day of work due to sickness and you were fired, and no death benefits.

Moonglow, you are much too kind.

The fact the moonglow and LilOlLady believe this crap is very telling.

The fact you don't is also very telling

 

[lukelk]

I have lived in California for decades. The liberals believe they are right. Letting farmland go fallow will produce more food than a growing field. Illegals are more valuable than educated Americans. Jerry Brown has always felt that too many people have jobs and the way to prosperity is more on welfare. The more business that leaves the state, the better off the state is.

That's why California is the way it is, and why the rest of the nation will follow if liberals are given the chance.

If I'm not mistaken a republican gov. Was and has been sittin in cali for the better part of a decade, no?