The aristocracy
"The principal feature of American liberalism is sanctimoniousness. By loudly denouncing all bad things — war and hunger and date rape — liberals testify to their own terrific goodness. More important, they promote themselves to membership in a self-selecting elite of those who care deeply about such things.... It's a kind of natural aristocracy, and the wonderful thing about this aristocracy is that you don't have to be brave, smart, strong or even lucky to join it, you just have to be liberal."
PJ O'Rourke
Thanks BARedneck
PJ O'Rourke
Thanks BARedneck
posted by Walker at 10:21 AM
3 Comments:
O'Rourke said: "It's a kind of natural aristocracy, and the wonderful thing about this aristocracy is that you don't have to be brave, smart, strong or even lucky to join it, you just have to be liberal."
To that I would add: "and stupid!" :)
I would disagree. Most liberals I've met are not stupid. Prone to hyperbole, over-emotional, invested in feelings rather than facts, yes. Often irrational (because there is no need for wasting energy on deductive or inductive logic; they already have revealed Truth from the secular goddess of Progressive Politics). But often they are very smart. They have to be brilliant about certain things, or the ideology could not survive the onslaught of opposing fact and history. The failures of socialism and communism are abundantly clear, and universal. The successes of capitalism and the free market are equally plain. That liberalism is wrong about so many clear, testable facts, yet persists--and even dominates much of the industrialized west--is a testament to the fact that liberals aren't stupid.
It just that Progressive Politics has become a God for the Godless, that those who are emotionally incapable of charity in their own lives feel assuaged by demanding it, by writ of law, from everyone else . . . and that inherent in modern liberalism is complete forgiveness for all your sins by the Secular God (indeed, you are a victim, so you should keep sinning--what a sweet deal!). And I could go on . . . .
But, the best book I've ever read on this subject is The Vision of the Annointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy by Thomas Sowell. This book is briliant, the examples are wonderful, incontrovertible, and deeply satisfying. And he demonstrates with laser-sharp precision the damage liberalism has done to the world at large and the specific causes they supposedly champion, and gets into the psychological why of their behavior. I loaned mine out and want to buy another--which should tell you what a great book this is, because I don't read much that isn't online anymore. If you haven't read it, and want some of the best examples of the failures of liberalism that never get coverage in the MSM, in addition to cogent analysis of liberal thought, get this book.
by Heather MacDonald is another excellent book on the topic of failed liberalism and the reality of press events (including a great Al Sharpton example), liberal school programs, quotas, and so on.
Okay, Keven. I conceed. I'm just exceedingly angry at liberals. Your point is well taken.
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