What happened to the folks on the left?
When I was growing up, the liberal left leaning folks were
those that espoused tolerance, freedom of expression, and equal rights for all.
If you were liberal, then it went without saying that you were kind. Archie
Bunker’s son in law, played by now Prius-driving Rob Reiner, was the hippy-type
person that fit the leftist point of view. I could imagine that character pushing
a dandelion into the rifle barrel in that famous image, or a refined academic
that wore a bowtie.
The ACLU has historically fought to ensure no one’s civil
rights were trampled on. Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s fanstasic bio, “On the Basis of
Sex,” depicted the ACLU getting behind her case to ensure that stay-at-home
dads get the same rights as stay-at-home moms, with the goal being that women’s
rights continue to progress. The ACLU even went to bat for Nazi demonstrators in 1978 to protect
their First Amendment right to march and express their points of view, however
twisted they are. Then at around the turn of the century, things started to change.
The organization that won a Supreme Court victory for suspended
public school students wearing black arm bands to protest the Vietnam War
fought in 2005 to remove “intelligent design” as an alternative to evolution in public schools. Little
known fact- the ACLU secured Clarence Darrow as the attorney in the famous 1925
Scopes trial, relating to the ban on teaching evolution in public schools in Tennessee. They fought to keep one position in, and then the opposing position out.
The ACLU no longer appears interested in
doing what it did in 1978 to protect civil liberties for all, nor is true to
its statement of preserving the “promise liberty for everyone,” but rather is
pushing a leftist agenda that is a part of a movement that is a zero sum game. In other words, the objective is promised liberties for only some.
Ben Shapiro was invited to speak at UC Berkeley, and the
university spent $836k to protect him and his free speech. Milo Yiannopoulos went
a few weeks later during a week billed to highlight the school’s lack of commitment
to free speech, and the university ended up spending $2.9M in security costs for
that week. (Glad to see they got money to burn!) The speakers were constantly heckled and shouted down by
attendees in an attempt to silence them. at this, the
epicenter of free speech movement protests from the 1960s.
Freedom of speech now appears to just cut one way. I saw a comic talk about how the French accent
is the one accent that is ok to mock, and it similarly appears to be ok to short shift those
who are white, male, straight and Judeo-Christian. Which is copacetic, as people in
those classes of privilege are simply spouting microaggressions anyway.
Ronald Reagan famously said, "I didn't leave the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party left me." Old Dutch may be viewed as the religious leader of conservatism, but the guy had some liberal leanings. He memorized FDR's Fireside Chats. He believed a person's lack of funds should not be a barrier to medical care, especially for senior citizens. He actually believed that labeling left and right was divisive.
On the other hand, John F. Kennedy, a torch bearer of liberalism said, "Ask not what your country can do for you -ask what you can do for your country." This is not consistent with entitlements and endless tax-raising government programs, or how we view leftist politics. But it appears to be consistent with Democratic ideals in 1961.
Trump’s election was a protest on the Obama Administration,
and what is coming in 2020 may be an even stronger response from the red states. My 2 cents on this one is it is better to go with the devil you know than the devil you don't.
On the other hand, the only thing I may follow in 2020 is the Rams Superbowl campaign.
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Still Fearsome! |
