The Anger Of The Left

[Ishmael]

Another gem from Dr. Sowell;

The Anger Of The Left
By Thomas Sowell
Tuesday, May 15, 2007

That people on the political left have a certain set of opinions, just as people do in other parts of the ideological spectrum, is not surprising. What is surprising, however, is how often the opinions of those on the left are accompanied by hostility and even hatred.

Particular issues can arouse passions here and there for anyone with any political views. But, for many on the left, indignation is not a sometime thing. It is a way of life.

How often have you seen conservatives or libertarians take to the streets, shouting angry slogans? How often have conservative students on campus shouted down a visiting speaker or rioted to prevent the visitor from speaking at all?

The source of the anger of liberals, "progressives" or radicals is by no means readily apparent. The targets of their anger have included people who are non-confrontational or even genial, such as Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.

It is hard to think of a time when Karl Rove or Dick Cheney has even raised his voice but they are hated like the devil incarnate.

There doesn't even have to be any identifiable individual to arouse the ire of the left. "Tax cuts for the rich" is more than a political slogan. It is incitement to anger.

All sorts of people can have all sorts of beliefs about what tax rates are best from various points of view. But how can people work themselves into a lather over the fact that some taxpayers are able to keep more of the money they earned, instead of turning it over to politicians to dispense in ways calculated to get themselves re-elected?

The angry left has no time to spend even considering the argument that what they call "tax cuts for the rich" are in fact tax cuts for the economy.

Nor is the idea new that tax cuts can sometimes spur economic growth, resulting in more jobs for workers and higher earnings for business, leading to more tax revenue for the government.

A highly regarded economist once observed that "taxation may be so high as to defeat its object," so that sometimes "a reduction of taxation will run a better chance, than an increase, of balancing the Budget."

Who said that? Milton Friedman? Arthur Laffer? No. It was said in 1933 by John Maynard Keynes, a liberal icon.

Lower tax rates have led to higher tax revenues many times, both before and since Keynes' statement -- the Kennedy tax cuts in the 1960s, the Reagan tax cuts in the 1980s, and the recent Bush tax cuts that have led to record high tax revenues this April.

Budget deficits have often resulted from runaway spending but seldom from reduced tax rates.

Those on the other side may have different arguments. However, the question here is not why the left has different arguments, but why there is such anger.

Often it is an exercise in futility even to seek to find a principle behind the anger. For example, the left's obsession with the high incomes of corporate executives never seems to extend to equally high -- or higher -- incomes of professional athletes, entertainers, or best-selling authors like Danielle Steel.

If the reason for the anger is a feeling that corporate CEOs are overpaid for their contributions, then there should be even more anger at people who get even more money for doing absolutely nothing, because they have inherited fortunes.

Yet how often has the left gotten worked up into high dudgeon over those who inherited the Rockefeller, Roosevelt or Kennedy fortunes? Even spoiled heirs like Paris Hilton don't really seem to set them off.

If it is hard to find a principle behind what angers the left, it is not equally hard to find an attitude.

Their greatest anger seems to be directed at people and things that thwart or undermine the social vision of the left, the political melodrama starring the left as saviors of the poor, the environment, and other busybody tasks that they have taken on.

It seems to be the threat to their egos that they hate. And nothing is more of a threat to their desire to run other people's lives than the free market and its defenders.

He's pretty much spot on and I LOVE that last paragraph.

Ishmael

 

[Cap’n AMatrixca]

LT, UD, ThrobDownSouth, SeanH, zippy...


(Even Byron started getting prickly as the Dems amped up the volumn after using hate to win the Congressional elections.)

The never ending appeal to emotion and ceaseless ad Hominem; the assertion that because you spent a lot of time thinking about an issue that you are using reason and anyone who disputes that reason is an idiot. Hell, I have to think about everything twice as long as anyone else, and I'm considered an idiot here!

And now I hear Nancy Pelosi has talk radio in her gunsights.

The "Fairness" Doctrine.

Like I told Laurel in 2000, it's not the Right that hates free speech, it's the Left.

 

[Ishmael]

One has to look no further than the 'Hate Crimes' legislation.

The frightening thing is that so many think that that is perfectly logical and justified.

Ishmael

 

[Cap’n AMatrixca]

It got "Alice" when the same people who hate war, hate the death penalty, and hate to see any animal sacrificed just shrugged their shoulders over abortion because they didn't want to go back to the days when clothes-hangers were in high demand...



Religion! Religion!

 

[Saint Peter]

A little religion would do you good.

 

[Cap’n AMatrixca]

Okay, I'll try it.

Pray to me...

Pray to me Argentina!

 

[Byron In Exile]

LT, UD, ThrobDownSouth, SeanH, zippy...

(Even Byron started getting prickly as the Dems amped up the volumn after using hate to win the Congressional elections.)

The never ending appeal to emotion and ceaseless ad Hominem; the assertion that because you spent a lot of time thinking about an issue that you are using reason and anyone who disputes that reason is an idiot. Hell, I have to think about everything twice as long as anyone else, and I'm considered an idiot here!

And now I hear Nancy Pelosi has talk radio in her gunsights.

The "Fairness" Doctrine.

Like I told Laurel in 2000, it's not the Right that hates free speech, it's the Left.

What was that about?

 

[Ishmael]

Before we get too far off track here. I think the point is that if you are not in control of your own wallet you can never be said to be truly free.

The left accuses the religious right of trying to control peoples lives. And to an extent that is true. The difference is that the religious right seeks control over only a few peoples lives based on those peoples decisions. And they have a moral underpinning for doing so. I don't agree with them in most cases, but their arguments have to be taken seriously.

The left seeks to control the very facet of peoples lives that gives them freedom and that is economic freedom. They have an ultimate goal of putting everyone on an allowance by relieving them of having to make choices regarding how they'll spend what little stipend is allowed them. And if you make bad choices, like buying beer instead of food, well, that's covered too with coupons that can only be used for proscribed food purchases.

Treating everyone like a 7 year old in training yeilds a society in which everyone acts like a 7 year old.

Ishmael

 

[zipman]

Another Gem?

Bwahahaha.

Sowell is an idiot who cherry picks one issue and extrapolates it to encompass the entire left.

And if you can't understand why even the most mild mannered liberal hates George Bush, you must have had your head up your ass for the last 6 years.

Combine a level of divisiveness rarely seen by a president and add incompetence, a disregard for the constitution and the law of the land and throw in a level of arrogance and an absolute lack of accountability that is off the charts and you can begin to understand why the left hates George Bush and his administration.

What a gem.

 

[Saint Peter]

Treating everyone like a 7 year old in training yeilds a society in which everyone acts like a 7 year old.

Ishmael

Viva The Patriot Act!

 

[Cap’n AMatrixca]

Step one: Click your heels three times and repeat...

"September tenth."
"September tenth."
"September tenth."

 

[Ishmael]

Another Gem?

Bwahahaha.

Sowell is an idiot who cherry picks one issue and extrapolates it to encompass the entire left.

And if you can't understand why even the most mild mannered liberal hates George Bush, you must have had your head up your ass for the last 6 years.

Combine a level of divisiveness rarely seen by a president and add incompetence, a disregard for the constitution and the law of the land and throw in a level of arrogance and an absolute lack of accountability that is off the charts and you can begin to understand why the left hates George Bush and his administration.

What a gem.

Yeah, Sowells "off the plantation" alright. *chuckle*

You prove his very point.

Ishmael

 

[Cap’n AMatrixca]

One Liberal's "rush to war" is the same Liberal's "Combine a level of divisiveness rarely seen by a president,..."

 

[Saint Peter]

Step one: Click your heels three times and repeat...

"September tenth."
"September tenth."
"September tenth."

Oh, that's right. The government never spied on us before the big event.

 

[Cap’n AMatrixca]

Bill and Hillary were real uniters...

 

[busybody..]

Viva The Patriot Act!

FBI Director Robert Mueller tells NewsMax that Al-Qaeda is anxiously seeking to acquire nuclear weapons and wants to explode such a device in an American city, especially New York and Washington, D.C.

 

[Cap’n AMatrixca]

The government spies on everyone which is why the Left loves it, they just like to pick who gets spied upon and that's usually Republicans, *cough* *cough* "FBI-Files" *cough*

 

[Cap’n AMatrixca]

Don't ask me who hired him, I'm just the First Lady, I'm not in on anything...

 

[RightField]

That's one of the best commentaries I've seen. It's really the only all-encompassing explanation for the lefts' histrionic behavior.

 

[Cap’n AMatrixca]

Don't forget me! It's a two-fer! I'll be the first male first lady!

I'm black, and I'm beautiful and ALL of America LOVES me! 100%!!!

I can be anything!
I'm a LAWYER!

 

[Byron In Exile]

Bill and Hillary were real uniters...

Still waitin' for your explanation of how I "got prickly" over the "Dems" "volumn" [sic]

*drumming fingers*

 

[Cap’n AMatrixca]

That's one of the best commentaries I've seen. It's really the only all-encompassing explanation for the lefts' histrionic behavior.

He fucking plagerized Rand!










Reader's Digest Version.

 

[Saint Peter]

Don't ask me who hired him, I'm just the First Lady, I'm not in on anything...

I was working, I had money, I had food...

 

[RightField]

He fucking plagerized Rand!










Reader's Digest Version.

Yes, but it was artfully done.

 

[zipman]

Yeah, Sowells "off the plantation" alright. *chuckle*

You prove his very point.

Ishmael

He doesn't really have a point, but then again he doesn't need to as long as he is bashing the left.

Funny how he neglects to mention the Terri Schiavo case when discussing how government wants to run people's lives. That was one of the most blatant acts of Congressional intrusion in people's lives that I have seen in a while.

But Bill Frist stayed at a holiday inn prior to watching a 2 minute video of her condition so all is good.