Page 1 of 1

Liberal Illiberalism

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 12:00 pm
by The Annoyed Man
http://pjmedia.com/victordavishanson/li ... epage=true
Liberal Illiberalism
March 18, 2012 - 11:30 am - by Victor Davis Hanson
The Liberal Assault on Liberalism

Conservatives are put into awkward positions of critiquing liberal ideas on grounds that they are impractical, unworkable, or counterproductive. Yet rarely, at least outside the religious sphere, do they identify the progressive as often immoral. And the unfortunate result is that they have often ceded moral claims to supposedly dreamy, utopian, and well-meaning progressives, when in fact the latter increasingly have little moral ground to stand upon.

Take a few contemporary controversies.

Radical environmentalism....

{snip}

Multiculturalism....

{snip}

Illegal immigration.....

{snip}

Affirmative Action....

{snip}

To do all the above is retrograde and ultimately nihilistic. That something so unsustainable continues then is predicated on one unspoken truth: most in the West will not act like Bay Area greens, the grand mufti, La Raza, or Lovie Smith, because for all others to adopt their favored methodology and ideology would lead to something other than liberal life as we know it. Thus they act as they do because they know others will not act as they do — at least for now.

Tit-for-tat factionalism leads nowhere but to chaos and carnage. But the Western tradition is not made of adamantine metal; it is fragile and singular. Anytime we do not stand up and defend it, however unpopular, we cede to barbarism ourselves.

In other words, the only way to question these illiberal doctrines is without apology to identify them as immoral — and to welcome the hysterical reaction that ensues.
Victor Davis Hanson is one of my favorite columnists because he brings the long view perspective of a trained historian to the table. None of what we are being dealt by run-amok liberalism is without precedence. It has all been done before, and only fools go where angels fear to tread. It is time to label deliberate folly as immoral............because it is.

Re: Liberal Illiberalism

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 6:25 pm
by texasmusic
:thumbs2: Filled with common sense... which ain't too common these days. Thanks for posting this.

Re: Liberal Illiberalism

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 6:39 pm
by Hoosier Daddy
The goal of the “liberals”—as it emerges from the record of the past decades—was to smuggle this country into welfare statism by means of single, concrete, specific measures, enlarging the power of the government a step at a time, never permitting these steps to be summed up into principles, never permitting their direction to be identified or the basic issue to be named. Thus, statism was to come, not by vote or by violence, but by slow rot—by a long process of evasion and epistemological corruption, leading to a fait accompli.
- Alissa Rosenbaum

Re: Liberal Illiberalism

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 6:48 pm
by 74novaman
Wow. Amazing article.

How dare he not be intolerant to intolerance?!?!

;-)

Re: Liberal Illiberalism

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 6:54 pm
by speedsix
...people value little what was handed to them...those who've fought for it and stood against the evil in the night hold it dear...this nation is spoiled rotten...soft and lazy...

Re: Liberal Illiberalism

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 7:28 pm
by Ed4032
Wow TAM that was great.

Re: Liberal Illiberalism

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 7:34 pm
by RoyGBiv
Image

Re: Liberal Illiberalism

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 7:35 pm
by RoyGBiv
So now that we all agree...

What (tangible action) do we do about it?
Therein lies the frustration.

Re: Liberal Illiberalism

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 9:44 pm
by FishInTx
Under the guise of liberalsim the communist manifesto comes to life in America. Lord and constitution help us. :patriot:
Immoral it is.

Re: Liberal Illiberalism

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 11:19 pm
by The Annoyed Man
RoyGBiv wrote:So now that we all agree...

What (tangible action) do we do about it?
Therein lies the frustration.
Well for starters, take our cues from the closing sentence of the article:
In other words, the only way to question these illiberal doctrines is without apology to identify them as immoral — and to welcome the hysterical reaction that ensues.
For years, conservatives have been backed into the corner of almost apologizing for their conservatism. Instead of saying, "I'm sorry, but you're wrong;" we should be saying, "You're wrong, and what you say is not just wrong it is immoral, and you should be apologizing for dragging our society into immorality. I'm NOT sorry for saying that, because you badly need to hear it! Shame on you for your intellectual dishonesty and your failure to care about and respect your fellow citizens enough to get out of their way. Instead, you impede their every effort at greatness. You force a culture of dependence upon them. You inculcate them with a sense of victimhood by convincing them that they have no power or sovereignty and you keep them on the plantation. You encourage racism and divisiveness........in the false name of phony inclusion and phony diversity. You are the modern slavemasters who imagine that we must all have your permission to possess a shadow of conservative thought. Shame on you, and SHUT UP!!! Just SHUT UP!"

That's for starters. .......not that I have that much of an opinion about it.