Stick a fork in it…its dead…for now.
Mark this well, “Liberalism” and what it has morphed into is dead in American politics. The pendulum has been slammed back by a public disgusted with what has occurred.
The radical fringe, which has always been a small non-representation group, has put the knife in the body politic of classic liberalism.
The name “liberalism” has now drifted so far from its moorings that it has turned into a lie. Anybody who uses “liberal” these days is trying to put one over on you. It’s like Florida swampland peddlers talking about their “beautiful lakeshore.” You can stop listening at that point, because nothing you’re going to hear is true. Liberalism used to mean something. Today, it’s pure Florida swampland, complete with snapping alligators.
The l-word still has a positive flavor from the old days, when it meant tolerance, open-mindedness, and the active defense of freedom.
A big chunk of the Left has always despised liberalism anyway. Marx and Lenin made a big thing out of sneering at soppy liberals. Those are the kinds of folks who raised and befriended Barry Soetoro. Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn were never liberals. They’re maybe New Left Mao Zedong-worshipers, or some such thing.
On the other side of the world, Obama likes to show public contempt for the Brits, who are the source of American ideals of liberty. It was the Royal Navy that halted the African slave trade, albeit belatedly, and it’s Muslim Africans who still own black slaves today, two hundred years after the Brits swept slavery from the oceans. And it was Abe Lincoln, an American Republican, who ended slavery in America.
But mere facts don’t mean diddly to the Left. Facts and scholarship used to be important for liberals – Lionel Trilling, Walter Lippmann, and Patrick Moynihan were academic liberals. Traditional liberals would be scandalized by the P.C. reign of intimidation in the academic world today, just as they would be shocked by the massive scientific corruption of the Global Climate Fraud. Not anymore. If the Left still uses the l-word, it’s pure Florida Everglades they’re selling.
There’s always been a huge amount of totalitarianism on the Left, all the way from Karl Marx onward. On the real Left, the lust for power always wins out over sucker slogans like democracy and peace. The real Left isn’t against the Ruling Class; it just wants to be the new Ruling Class. Obama is the perfect example. When Lenin took over in Moscow, it was the Russian liberals who got a single bullet in the head.
Jonah Goldberg’s book Liberal Fascism points out a lot of similarities between the modern Left and fascism – they are only slightly different brands of Control-Freak Statism, alternative brands like Coke and Pepsi. I think he is right on the facts, but not on the labels. “Liberal fascism” sounds like a contradiction because the Left is no longer liberal. That’s all there is to it.
The name “liberalism” should be put in a museum of out-of-date political labels, like the Whigs and the Wobblies. If there is ever a real democratic rebellion in the Democrat Party, then maybe real liberalism will come back. But until such time, we can only wish that the l-word will Rest in Peace. The Left has killed it. [/quote]…excerpted to catch the high points of the piece. Read it all for the details.
Obama is not a socialist/communist. His policies right now are not noticeably different from those of Bush during his second term. Bush was not a fascist or a Nazi. Bush passed the pharmaceutical drug coverage bill. Obama is trying to reform health care. Bush tried to reform Social Security. Wherein lies the difference that makes one a socialist/communist to certain groups and the other a fascist/nazi to others? Both are remarkably close in so many regards that this excessive partisanship just appears to be stupid. Bush negotiated to get out troops out of Iraq by 2011. Obama is still standing by our security commitments to Iraq while ramping up our efforts in Afghanistan. Bush tried to shut down Guantanamo during his second term and reform the way we dealt with suspected terrorists (renditions/waterboarding), Obama is facing the same challenges and dealing with them in much the same way as Bush did during his second term. I struggle to see, therefore, how Bush can be a Nazi/Fascist to Democrats while Obama is a sellout or weak on terrorism to the right. Where are the objectives on this? Let’s have one standard and then judge. Bush started the bailout/stimulus package; Obama continued it. Obama is an American citizen; he is not a Muslim. Bush is not illiterate or stupid; he is not a monkey.
[quote=“Maoman”]Yawn. A no-name writer from a no-name blog: “American [strike]Stinker[/strike] Thinker” :snore:[/quote]Yes, attack the messenger rather than the message…
Unfortunately, fo some, the same message is being carried by other well-entrenched Demos…“The Demo party has been hijacked by the fringe elements…move to the center”
"If staunch lifelong Democrat and son of a staunch lifelong Democrat Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana is doing it, then it must be OK.
He’s not yet joined the no-you-didnt-yes-we-did-why-didnt-you-call-for-help-sooner-well-hello-we-did-but-you-weren’t-listening-because-of-that-inside-DC-healthcare-dance-Obama-wants-so-badly.
But he is warning that, assuming Coakley the Democrat is electoral toast come balloon-dropping time tonight, Democrats need to learn an important lesson – and learn it quite quickly. Bayh, who is one of those gutless moderates who just keeps on winning because he listens and stays connected back home, says his party and president have simply abandoned moderation to push a far-left agenda that alienates moderates and, hello, independents, who happen to make up about half of the Massachusetts electorate.
"Bayh, once discussed as a VP for the next-door smooth-talking guy from Illinois, predicts fellow Democrats will go into denial tomorrow if state Sen. Brown becomes U.S. Sen. Brown.
“The only we are able to govern successfully in this country,” Bayh warns, "is by liberals and progressives making common cause with independents and moderates., Whenever you have just the furthest left elements of the Dem party attempting to impose their will on the rest of the country – that’s not going to work too well.”
Ironically, that’s the same argument Democrats made successfully in 2008 to dump all those GOP suits over on the far side of the other side."[/i][/quote]
Look for more Dems to echo these words.
As tip whether their actions will reflect this…well…politics is a crap-shoot…we’ll (meaning the USA) see what happens.
Gee, first history ended and now liberalism is dead too. Funny old world. Even stranger, I actually agree with Fred Smith, to a point. Yes, Bush certainly did try to clean up a godawful mess, unfortunately it was pretty much all his own creation.
Bush negotiated to get troops out of Iraq - Why the hell did he send them there in the first place?
Bush tried to shut down Guantanamo - Bush opened Gitmo.
And reform the way we dealt with suspected terrorists (renditions/waterboarding) - Which Bush initially allowed.
See how it works? You make up a word by attaching and ism to it and then claim that is it dead. The assertion is vacuously true.
Dumbassism is dead.
Republicanism is dead.
Deadism is dead.
First off, Americans do not even know, nor have they ever experienced, the true meaning of the world liberal, small or large ell. Second, of course: true liberalism is dead, as are true conservatism, true republicanism and true anarchism. etc. Third, anyone that has an nagging affliction for such terms, needs more than nuance.
Of which, there are at least, 18 shades of gray. It has never been, nor will it ever be, save for the thrust of the moment, such a black & white wurld.
Selah!
TGM -
The death of classic liberalism is not the OT. The reference here is to the form of fringe liberalism which has hijacked the Demo party.
And yes, the USA has experienced statesmen who were true classic liberals. Several examples were noted in the piece.
As to “…true conservatism, true republicanism and true anarchism…” you are misled here. The USA, in its short but eventful history, has known all of these in both their development and implementation during the course of its political life.
Political Factions have always been part and parcel of USA politics. Our political history and landscape is a bit more varied that might first be surmised.
Right on. Whenever I hear someone claim that “the left” or “the fringe” hijacked the Dems I just start laughing: here is a person who has no idea how the US works. Moreover, here is a person who cannot be convinced of how the US actually works, because the US they look at is a fantasy-construction. The reality is that the progressive wing of the Dem party has almost no power or influence; the Dems are controlled by the corporate center-right establishment Dems.
As Fred Smith noted, Obama is a center-right tool of the corporate capital. Bush was a right-wing tool of corporate capital. The difference between them to date on important issues such as corporate control of the US economy, global warming, health insurance, Wall Street, our Middle East war insanity, Guantanamo, the Bush-era war crimes, the US surveillance state, etc, is not all that great. More of degree than of kind.
[quote=“TainanCowboy”]TGM -
The death of classic liberalism is not the OT. The reference here is to the form of fringe liberalism which has hijacked the Demo party.[/quote]
If so, that went out the window with Andrew Jackson.
Rot. That whole piece was almost unreadable. The only real reference to liberals was the like of Walter Lippmann? Proves my point entirely!
The piece also mentions “Marxism”, that evil spectre that they can’t define, nor envisage same in that ‘piece’. Again, North America has never really experienced total war, now has she? At least of the same real Marxist kind with hundred of thousands exterminated?
That piece, that would be, is a haven of shite!
Known? Felt? Perhaps by none but a few, before they were stamped out like the heresies they appeared to be. American History does not trickle down, like they want that of the rest of the world to do.
Bollocks. That shit went out the window with the demise of the Whigs. Compared to the rest of the democratic wurld, you lot are on the dimensions of the fourth rag.
Your fucking liberals are our damn conservatives!
Red Tories, mate!
Pick Up The Pace, Texas!
Liberals=people who want few state influence within economics and within the lives of people. Hasn’t really anything to do with Leftism or Socialism, but in the US this seems to be bad word close to Mao and Marx.
