Angry Liberals

Why are liberals so angry?
Robert A. Hall

Have you noticed that even though they have put Barack the Unready in the White House, and the League of Leftwing Lawyers in firm control of the Congress, a lot of liberals are still very angry? They can’t stop kicking Sarah Palin. They are still seething at Bush. And don’t you dare tell a mild joke about The One.

I sent my family leftie a version of the joke about not tipping waiters to “spread the wealth around” by giving the tip to the poor. He snarled about what a “sore loser” I was. I responded that I would be as gracious and cooperative with President Obama as he had been with President Bush. Maybe even a tad more.

Sure, there are lighthearted liberals. But many respond to any conservative joke or comment the way rioting Muslims responded to a few cartoons about the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be Upon Him—and Especially upon his Followers). Why fury and outrage instead of laughter, debate and discussion?

We often hear how the “Religious Right” has joined politics and religion at the hip, to force us to accept the tenets of their faith as, well, gospel. The Westboro Baptist Church being an extreme and disgusting example. As a conservative centrist with a libertarian bent, who doesn’t believe in proselytizing my faith, I understand the concern. I have the same concern about black churches and ministers like Rev. Jessie Jackson, Rev. Al Sharpton and Rev. Jeremiah Wright, or about Catholic Bishops, who tell people how God wants them to vote.

Religion should be about faith; politics about opinion, facts, debate, discussion and outcomes. When politics becomes about faith, political apostates get stoned.

While some on the right have entwined religion and politics to the detriment of both, the Angry Left has replaced religion with politics. Thus, political questions are no longer open to discussion, to a review of what the policies results actually are for real people. I notice that the angriest liberals are the most secular. Political cant has replaced liturgy in their lives.

That’s why they become angry at mild jokes, the way millions of fanatical Muslims responded to the Danish cartoons. The Liberal Faith cannot be mocked!

If you point out that liberal policies have bad outcomes for the people they are supposed to help, you are a heretic.

The Liberal Faith was that the Vietnam War was evil. Mention that twice as many people were reportedly murdered by the Communists in SE Asia in the first two years after the war, as died in the eight years we were involved, and they become enraged.

The Liberal Faith was that the Shah was evil and we had to stop supporting him. Mention that replacing the Shah with the current theocrats in Iran resulted in a war that killed millions, or that Iran is hanging Gays, stoning women, and developing an atomic bomb to exterminate Israel, and they become enraged.

The Liberal Faith was that white rule in Zimbabwe was evil and everything must be done to bring about black rule. Mention that black life expectancy under black rule has dropped from 63 to 36, that millions have died, and millions more now starve in a country that used to export food, and they become enraged.

No one pretends that South Vietnam, Iran under the Shah or Rhodesia were slices of democratic heaven. But did tens of millions have to die so liberals could feel good about instituting the Liberal Faith?

The Liberal Faith was that DDT had to be banned to save the birds and prevent a “Silent Spring.” Mention that this resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of black, brown and yellow children from Malaria, and they become enraged.

The Liberal Faith is that black illegitimacy and thus poverty is a result of slavery and discrimination. Mention that a generation after the Civil War, blacks had slightly higher rates of marriage than whites, that the trend of black fathers abandoning their children exploded after the cultural change of the 1960s and the expansion of welfare, and they become enraged.

The Liberal Faith is only responsible for good intentions; they take no responsibility for bad outcomes.

Mention any fact that might conflict with the Liberal Faith’s fervent belief in anthropomorphic global warming, and they become enraged. Facts, free debate and open discussion are the stuff of science, not religion. The Faith cannot be questioned.

I was an early supporter of Gay rights in my senate career (when a lot of liberals ran for cover), though I was single and representing a 4-1 Democrat district in 1973. That libertarian departure from conservative orthodoxy buys me nothing with liberals. With religion, you must avow the entire catechism, or you are an evil sinner, outside the circle of love and respect.

For the Angry Left like MoveOn, as opposed to pragmatic left-center politicians like the Clintons, policy is not politics, but piety. It can’t be that you simply have a different worldview, and thus believe that different policies have preferred outcomes for the polity and the public. They are the wise and faithful. If you do not believe all they believe, you must be stupid, evil or both. And your impiety makes them angry.

Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam veteran who served five terms in the Massachusetts state senate.