{"id":37200,"date":"2017-02-18T01:00:49","date_gmt":"2017-02-18T06:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/?p=37200"},"modified":"2017-02-08T10:24:02","modified_gmt":"2017-02-08T15:24:02","slug":"qotd-how-the-ctrl-left-drove-me-away-from-american-liberalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/2017\/02\/18\/qotd-how-the-ctrl-left-drove-me-away-from-american-liberalism\/","title":{"rendered":"QotD: “How the ctrl-Left drove me away from American liberalism”"},"content":{"rendered":"

A good friend of mine, who also happens to be an outstanding author, once quipped, \u201cIf I am forced to choose a side, I choose the side which is not<\/em> forcing me to choose sides.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seldom have I ever encountered phrasing more apt. Because that\u2019s precisely how I feel. I\u2019ve been<\/em> feeling that way, for years now. It was not a sudden thing. It was a gradual realization. The slow clarity of an underlying sentiment, incrementally surfacing.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

Liberalism \u2014 the kind I was attracted to in my teens, and early twenties \u2014 mostly focuses on brighter futures with better choices.<\/p>\n

Yet at many points over the past quarter century, that shining picture of what the Left supposedly<\/em> stands for, has been undermined again, and again, and again, and again<\/em>, by the behavior of self-styled Leftists.<\/p>\n

Maybe it all comes down to the fact that I decided Alinsky\u2019s ballyhooed rules are pernicious. Not once do they involve self-reflection, nor questions of higher moral obligation to a power or a need beyond simple political expediency. Like with the 2004 Washington State governors race, the ends justify the means. If you\u2019re a Leftist and you have to lie to get what you want, then lie. If you\u2019re a Leftist and you have to cheat to get what you want, then cheat. If you\u2019re a Leftist and you have to hurt people to get what you want, or if you have to frighten people into not opposing you, then hurt and frighten people.<\/p>\n

Never doubt that everything you \u2014 the Leftist \u2014 says or does, is done justifiably<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Everyone and everything is a fair target. Lash out. Incriminate. Slander. Punish. Make them quake in their boots. They deserve it, the jerks. \u201cIf you\u2019re not with us, you\u2019re with the terrorists!\u201d Oops, Leftists excoriated Bush 43 for saying that. Now they themselves live<\/em> it every day. \u201cIf you didn\u2019t vote for Hillary, you\u2019re with the KKK and the Nazis!\u201d<\/p>\n

Leftists now give all of us a political litmus test, without exception. Wrong-thinkers will be singled out for eviction from the human equation.<\/p>\n

Brad Torgerson, “How the ctrl-Left drove me away from American liberalism”, Blue Collar Spec Fic<\/em><\/a>, 2017-02-06.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A good friend of mine, who also happens to be an outstanding author, once quipped, \u201cIf I am forced to choose a side, I choose the side which is not forcing me to choose sides.\u201d Seldom have I ever encountered phrasing more apt. Because that\u2019s precisely how I feel. I\u2019ve been feeling that way, for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35193,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[53,41,13],"tags":[1020],"class_list":["post-37200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-quotations","category-usa","tag-progressives"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/favicon.png","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2hpV6-9G0","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37200"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37201,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37200\/revisions\/37201"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}