Shot In The Dark: Autopsy

February 28, 2005

Autopsy

John Leo on why liberalism has become irrelevant to so many Americans:

Liberals have been slow to grasp the mainstream reaction to the no-values culture, chalking it up to Karl Rove, sinister fundamentalists, racism, or the stupidity of the American voter. Since November 2, the withering contempt of liberals for ordinary Americans has been astonishing. Voting for Bush gave "quite average Americans a chance to feel superior," said Andrew Hacker, a prominent liberal professor at Queens College. We are seeing the bitterness of elites who wish to lead, confronted by multitudes who do not wish to follow. Liberals might one day conclude that while most Americans value autonomy, they do not want a procedural republic in which patriotism, religion, socialization, and traditional values are politically declared out of bounds. Many Americans notice that liberalism nowadays lacks a vocabulary of right and wrong, declines to discuss virtue except in snickering terms, and seems increasingly hostile to prevailing moral sentiments.

Sounds like a day on the Daily Kos.

It's a point that I don't think can be made too often; modern, small-"l" liberalism is inherently autocratic, with the autocrats being those who believe they're entitled to power - political, social, edia (vide the bleating about the crumbling credibility of the media), cultural - by virtue of education, credential, or the pure goodness and superiority of their motives.

And as we've seen in the past few years, autocrats don't like being challenged.

Posted by Mitch at February 28, 2005 05:11 AM | TrackBack

Comments

I define modern, mainstream liberalism (or leftism) as "ruled by your betters."

How is it that the party that's oh-so-hip and anti-establishment is the most paternalistic in ideology?

Posted by: Mark at February 28, 2005 10:31 AM

In my experience of watching "leaders" for the past 19 years, I have discovered that those who feel entitled to lead because of their position and those who are good "snipers" make the absolute worst leaders.
Leaders who have worked hard to attain there position seem to inherently understand the results of their decisions/positions.
Elitest "snipers" usually have no clue when it comes to getting people to roll up their sleeves and get to work, so they usually wind up letting someone else lead by default and then, as is their nature, back-stab that leader the entire way. If the result is a product despite their best efforts to delay/disrupt/demoralize, they are the first to step in and take credit where it isn't due!

Posted by: fingers at February 28, 2005 12:10 PM

Mark must have pulled his thoughts out of his kiester. Hip? Anti-establishment? Where are you? 1967? Liberalism is progress, conservatism is stagnation. It's true, look it up in the dictionary! Al Gore fought for the funding for the ARPAnet, the precursor to the modern internet. Its what makes Marks' comments on a blog on the internet possible. Mark probably wont ever acknowledge that though. Mark, liberals arent better than you, they just like to find out the reasons why things happen. It's not acceptable to us to believe things for face value. Many leftists consider the right wing anti-intellectualists. Consider the argument of evolution versus creationism. With all the science available (and not available if you're into stem cell research, gotta protect those pharmacuetical profits you know) why would you believe in creationism? For crying out loud a virus mutates to survive thats why we need more than one vaccine! I'm also sick and tired of the Right claiming God is on their side. Jesus was a liberal for Pete sake. All the tax savings in the world wont change that.

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