Liberal Extremists

Liberals do not seem to have any boundaries.  There are apparently no behaviors—no extremes—beyond which they will not go in order to promote their ideology.  So convinced are they of their moral rectitude that they happily engage conduct that would otherwise be considered immoral.

Richard Nixon was accused of going too far in promoting his agenda, but in the end most Republicans rejected his amoral manipulations.  The same can be said of Joseph McCarthy’s excesses.  These politicians fell from grace because their conservative allies would not countenance their unscrupulousness.

With liberals it is different.  Although they routinely accuse Republicans of the vice, they are the true extremists.  Arrogantly boasting that they are “non-judgmental,” they project their own reluctance to condemn corruption onto their political adversaries.

Examples of this lack of principle are everywhere.  Thus, not long ago, when defending gay marriage, Ted Olsen declared that the sole criterion for defining marriage was love.  Asked how far this extended, he deflected the query.

Nonetheless this is a good question.  If love is all that matters, then why not polygamy?  Or child brides?  Or zoophilia?  Perhaps, gay marriage makes sense.  We might want to allow it; but shouldn’t we be willing to draw a line somewhere?

Or how about the mayor of Houston subpoenaing the sermons of pastors who disagreed with her policy of allowing transgendered persons to use restrooms of those of the opposite sex?  Had a Republican done this, the hue and cry about violating the first amendment would have been deafening.

Or consider the FCC being recruited to punish media outlets that use the name “Redskins” to refer to the NFL’s Washington franchise.  This heavy-handed attempt to stifle free speech in the name of justice would have done McCarthy proud.

Or what about the way that race hustlers like Al Sharpton and Eric Holder have used the Ferguson tragedy to divide the races and to curry favor with Black voters.  Then there is Texas’ Wendy Davis accusing Greg Abbot of being against  interracial marriage, despite the fact that his wife is Hispanic.

Or contemplate the rampant sleaze in liberal campaign commercials.  It was not enough to vilify Mitt Romney as a vulture capitalist and a probable murderer, but Republicans were also held responsible to the Ebola outbreak because they allegedly refused to fund the CDC—a base canard.

Or think of the trumped up war against women.  Mark Udall used this fiction so relentlessly that he became known as Senator Uterus.  Somehow opposition to mandating free birth control through ObamaCare morphed into opposition to birth control period.

And don’t forget about Harry Reid violating centuries of precedent to exercise the so-called nuclear option.  Not only did he refuse to allow votes on legislation he disapproved, but he also eliminated the filibuster on presidential appointments he did approve.

Or what about the IRS scandal?  It entailed a bit more than a smidgeon of corruption.  Or the budget deficit?  Our national debt has grown so large that we will soon be spending more on interest than everything else put together.

All in all, there has been a blizzard of political lies that had they originated with conservatives would have been condemned as moral turpitude.  The Affordable Care Act is not affordable.  Benghazi was not a spontaneous demonstration.  And our southern border is not secure.

By now even the president’s most ardent supporters know that he is given to exaggeration and blame-shifting.  The problem is that they do not mind.  In fact, deception and political spin are celebrated as political acumen.  So far as they are concerned what works is fair game.

Liberals are extremists.  They care nothing about maintaining our democratic traditions.  All that matters to them is obtaining sufficient power to force their egalitarian fantasies on a reluctant nation.  If they need to bend a few rules, why this is for the greater good.  Somehow I recall that Lenin and Goebbels affirmed something similar?

Melvyn L. Fein, Ph.D.

Professor of Sociology

Kennesaw State University