As a former Leftist I do, however, understand the knee-jerk leap to fascism. Being a Leftist sucks when it comes to political debate. You really only have two choices to try and convince others that your progressive ideas and values aren’t toxic, and that’s emotionalism, lies, or both. I remember how frustrating that was and so it only makes sense that Leftists would find appealing everything from a literal “shut up” straight through to wishing that America wasn’t a democracy but instead the kind of country with a government willing and able to permanently silence those opinion and broadcast outlets a chosen few don’t agree with or don’t think “advances us in this country.”
Commentary and analysis on American politics, culture, and national identity, U.S. foreign policy and international relations, and the state of education - from a neoconservative perspective! - Keeping an eye on the communist-left so you don't have to!
Monday, July 26, 2010
The Left’s Default Response is Fascism
From John Nolte:
The reason so many people who are conservative, in all its various definitions, recognize and comment negatively on Liberalism, not the classical definition, and Leftism is that many of us went through this ideology when we were younger and far less governed by our intellect and more governed by our emotions about wanting to do good in the world.
ReplyDeleteWe did not take the time to ask the question as to whether the ideas we had actually made it better or as in most cases made it worse. We never extrapolated those ideas and made lists of the positives and negatives of our "do good er" thoughts. We never asked what is true compassion, such as in one's desire to help by using government were we not making large numbers of people slaves to the state. What is compassionate about creating a dependent class of our fellow citizens?
It was as we grew in experience and wisdom that we begun to see that government rarely help anyone other than those who seek power. Compassion, charity, goodness, et al come from the individual to the individual. It is that personal "touch" that really meets the needs of those who need our help.
One begins to realize that education is a tool and not an end unto itself. That wisdom is far more preferable. One also begins to see that almost nothing one attempts to do is totally positive or negative in its results and one has to take a conservative approach in order not to do more harm than good. Unintended consequences are more the rule than the exception.
That growth is why most of the true thinking individuals find Leftism to be the evil that it is. It is why, as this commenter states, that the Left is rife with name calling, demonization, et al. Many also realize that a significant number on the Left will move away if we can keep their youthful, or otherwise, damage to a minimum where it can be corrected. Anyone who can make it to a certain stage of maturity in life and still be a Leftist is truly dangerous to humanity and life itself.