REPOST: Principles of Conservatism: The Duplicity of Modern Liberal Thought

Modern liberalism allows flawed logical thought by holding on to ideals that are duplicitous. What does that have to do with this baby? Nothing at all. I just liked the photo.

If you've read many of my posts, you'd know that the duplicity of modern liberalism (with its plethora of related "isms") irks me to no end. Duplicity, in this case, is the deceitful ability to apply one standard to liberals and a different standard to everyone else. While most liberals aren't aware of the duplicity, and thus inadvertently deceive others, many core values of liberalism are quite flawed. Here are some examples.

Liberals Think Government Is the Solution to Modern Problems

Any American conservative will tell you that governments are a necessary evil and should be held in check by the will of the people. The (then) liberal (now conservative) founders of the US understood the problem well, having won independence from the English monarchy. The sad lesson of history tells us that governments must be held in check, or government power will grow to eventually take away the happiness and liberties for which purpose governments are created in the first place. (See John Adams.)

Enough of the civics lesson.

Most liberals agree that governments regularly fail to protect the public interest. Think back to the years under the Bush administration. Liberal media and politicians were on the front line telling us every day how evil Bush was and what a rotten administration he'd created. Heck, Obama still blames him for nearly anything that goes wrong with the current administration.

Liberals in California felt their system of government epically failed when voters created a constitutional amendment to define marriage.

Yet, once liberals are in power, all's well with government. Why? The duplicitous definition prevails: Governments fail unless liberals are in power and liberal ideals are upheld. No other politician has the compassion and care to run the government properly like a president and Congress full of liberals.

Liberals Think Their Social Programs Always Work

If the program doesn't seem to be working, we obviously need to throw more money at the problem. This is a modern liberal axiom. No matter the social program, no matter the cost, no matter the lack of success, liberalism thrives on creating and maintaining programs that self-support the ideals of liberalism. Even programs which are shown time and again to fail, to have detrimental effects, to become prohibitively expensive, liberalism will always blame the failures on the lack of funding.

The liberal darling - the federalization of education - is a perfect example of a failed program. As a college professor, it is obvious to me that the vast majority of students who come to my classes are ill prepared and poorly educated. Most of them can't read college-level material or write complete paragraphs. Yet, these come from public school systems that spend more money per student with fewer results than even ten years ago.

Yet to liberals, it's not the programs at fault, it's the lack of funding. Liberalism cannot see the faults and damage for the money trees growing in the way. If there is to be a slow death of the United States, we can surely blame the waste heap of liberal programs and entitlement spending. Yet, as long as these programs sound compassionate and helpful, liberals will continue to support them and will continue to waste billions and trillions of taxpayer money.

Liberals Believe That They Can Change Human Nature

Liberalism preaches the modern gospel that all people must eventually convert to liberalism and accept the doctrines of hope and change. It is all so compelling and deterministic (much like Marxist doctrine is). We of the US are all foreordained to become one, big, happy people who will all sing the praises of an all-caring government.

Pipe dreams. (And yes, I understand that I've created a straw man argument merely for the purpose of exaggerating the liberal view.)

Here are some examples: Obama has opined that the American people would accept nationalized health care if only he had explained it better to us. Al Gore pleads with us, with all the zeal of any Sunday morning preacher (yet without any of the charisma), to allow government to tax us to death over carbon credits. As a prerequisite to a true understanding of equality in this country, same sex marriage advocates think that Americans will come around and accept gay sex as a basis for marriage.

Yet, these views come with the price tag of duplicity. Americans can change, but homosexuals can't. Americans can change, but conservatives are darned forever to the pits of heck. Americans can change, but pro-marriage advocates are bigots and homophobes.

To liberals, hope and change is only granted to those who accept the doctrines of liberalism. All others need not apply.

Liberals Pick and Choose Fundamental Democratic Principles

To the liberal mind, equality is the highest virtue, a virtue which stemmed from an unfortunate past written by ignorant cavemen who all happen to be old, white, European, male, and dead. Liberals will defenestrate any ideals of the Constitution or Declaration of Independence if they happen to disagree with them, yet cling to those same ideals in order to protect their own way of thinking.

Thus, equality becomes the watch word of a new generation, while liberty gets buried. Diversity replaces free speech, tolerance replaces rule of law, political correctness replaces democracy.

Yet these same proponents of the new ideals refuse to acknowledge that it was the very same old-fashioned ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that allows them to hold and express their ideals. It must stick in their craw that they owe their very views to a bunch of old, white, European, dead males.

Liberal Morality Is Fundamentally Immoral

The basic problem with the liberal concept of morality stems from a lack of any foundation or basis. Liberalism is ultimately a morality fundamentally based on the philosophy of relativism. This is the idea that there are no absolutes, so whatever is acceptable is moral.

Yet, liberals do hold absolutes. Some liberals decry religion precisely because it holds absolute values. Some decry conservatism because it holds to the absolute values of the Constitution and not the ideals of a "living" Constitution. Some gnash their teeth in rage at people who want to hold on the to the moral position of marriage between a man and a woman. Some grieve that people exist who don't think abortion is moral.

What do these have in common? The absolute moral that leftist morality is the one and only system that makes any sense. This is, of course, a duplicitous and dangerous world view.

Liberals Believe That Being Liberal Makes Them Good

By corollary, anyone who disagrees with liberal ideals is evil. Hence Obama is good (even though his policies look a lot like Bush's). Bush is evil (even though he looked a lot like a liberal). Clinton was good. Reagan was evil. Olbermann is good. Limbaugh is evil.

Thus the peccadillos of Ted Kennedy (including manslaughter) are forgiven under the gospel of liberalism (and powerful relatives). Bill Clinton's abuse of power and obvious sexual escapades are private matters that don't affect the man. Any liberal politician's blatant lies are ignored. Obama can break every campaign promise and rise to the top as a bastion of liberalism. Harry Reid can use politically incorrect speech with no consequences.

Hence, liberalism becomes a means to its own end. Liberalism substitutes as its own virtue instead of being just another political ideology. Liberals have created an action in which their doctrine is inherent. Liberalism has transcended party lines as a system of education, and as a discipline. It is a spiritualized conception, a general reaction of modern times against the flabby materialistic positivism of the nineteenth century. It is an ethical conception, covering the whole of reality. It is a religious conception where humans bow to the superior law and objective Will that transcends the particular individual and raises him or her to conscious membership of a spiritual society. It is against individualism and for the all-serving state.

If this sounds all-too familiar, there's a reason. Extra credit goes to any of my readers who can identify the originator of the liberal ideals expressed in the last paragraph.