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I Hope Democrats Are Surprised by the Destruction They’ve Caused
I saw a clip of a stand-up comedian who said that recently a woman came up to him after a show and said something like, “You made a joke about abortion. I think that’s insensitive. I had an abortion, and your joke offended me. You shouldn’t do that.”
He just looked at her for a second, and then said, “Look, I just told a joke. I think what you did was worse.”
It’s a funny story, but it may also be a pretty good analogy to leftist thought. They say all sorts of crazy stuff to get elected. Which is fine, until they actually do get elected, and they start enacting their crazy stuff as official policy. Then their crazy stuff goes from harmless words to bad laws to horrifying results. Sometimes very quickly.
At least, that’s a happy thought. I hope that explanation is true. I really do. But I’m starting to think that my optimism is misplaced.
Because the only other explanation that I can think of for leftist policies is that they intend to destroy the United States.
When they attempt to destroy the oil industry, they’re not surprised when oil prices go up. That was the whole idea. When they print trillions of dollars to spend on leftist absurdities, they’re not surprised when inflation wipes out the savings of millions of Americans. That was the whole idea. When they convert our military into a bureaucracy obsessed with pronouns and climate change, they’re not surprised that our military becomes less of a threat. That was the whole idea.
I’ll bet that lady was surprised when the comedian suggested that having an abortion is worse than joking about an abortion. And I hope that Democrat politicians are surprised when they realize that raising taxes is worse than talking about raising taxes. I hope they’re just astonished. I really do.
But I don’t know. I starting to think that I’ve been too charitable.
The reason that I keep hoping that this is unintentional is that I just don’t understand. If they don’t like America, they could just leave. Move to a leftist country, like Venezuela or something. But they never do. They stay here and destroy their own country. That makes no sense to me.
Their policies consistently make things worse. And they consistently keep promoting the same policies. In their own country, where they live. And tens of millions of people vote for them to destroy their country.
None of this makes any sense. I just don’t understand.
Published in General
If deep-down they support international communism, the US is the big domino.
Most of them probably figure that if leftism seems to be failing, the solution is to be MORE leftist.
Central planning doesn’t work, but this is the reason the Democrat party exists, so you have this cycle. It’s a feedback loop. Then everybody is worried about populism and socialism and the government runs out of money.
They also have to create, force, or lie about social problems so they can keep creating non-public goods.
It’s very hard for the GOP to interrupt this cycle. The time to do it was in the early 90s.
One benefit of this ridiculous administration is the quick demonstration of how progressive policies impact the economy. There is usually such a lag that the politician can take credit for the supposed “benefits” of the policy and either not be around when the catastrophe happens or it be so far removed that it’s easier to disguise the cause. From Afghanistan to pipelines, the Biden administration has had such quick results that from their policies that they have a hard time avoiding blame.
You read Mayor Pete’s mind.
This is the sort of thing my husband says, Zafar. And I mean that as a compliment: He is a normal, polite, kind, truly tolerant person, and when in doubt defaults to a sort of generous reflex. It isn’t really relativism, though it is on the way to it: There are always many sides to a story, and multiple perspectives, and no one can really claim whole possession of the truth. All of which is quite true, and so this was a reasonable way to approach any question of social or public policy.
The past tense is intentional—it was reasonable. I am not sure it any longer is.
My example, of course, is #BLM: Within less than a decade, the #BLM movement took a situation—the well-being and life expectancy of black Americans that was certainly unequal, statistically bad, yet definitely and measurably improving…and made that situation objectively and very obviously much worse.
The result of Democrat’s anti-racism efforts is, literally, more dead black people. More dead, more maimed, traumatized, impoverished…
No one I know can think of a single thing that has improved—for anyone other than the now-wealthy leaders of the movement—as a result of #BLM.
I’m opposed to racism. But I’m more opposed to murder, mayhem, and dead black people. The complete lack of interest exhibited by the mediators of public information (NPR, PBS, NYT, etc. etc.) in the human beings who are the victims when crime rates skyrocket…simply astounds me. I don’t get it.
If they just moved away, they would be going somewhere that has already been destroyed and most likely is already run by a tyrant. They wouldn’t be needed in that country. That’s why they move from blue states to red ones and proceed to destroy their new red state. If they aren’t destroying something, they aren’t happy. They think of themselves as building a better world. But they are arrogant and stupid with no sense of perspective…they ignore the history of all of their failures and all of their destruction. They are insidious liars when not in power and mean bullies when in power.
In essence, this is a restatement of Hanlon’s razor- maybe we call this Bastiat’s specificity :-). Your good nature is inspiring Doc. It is admirable and necessary so that we might find beauty and goodness in the world. First order virtues are truth, humility, courage and kindness. Fundamentally they exist to pursue and promote goodness, beauty, stability and human flourishing.
In the face of overwhelming evidence, it is clear these virtues do not exist in leftist/democratic policies today. Your most recent posts over the last year or so point this out. Ad infinitum. But you point it out with a magnanimity toward the left that most have long discarded. That maybe…just maybe your observations are askew. You express it as a fleeting hope. That what we are seeing isn’t truly what we are seeing.
I believe that benefits the reader. It leads and influences, rather than dictates a conclusion – even though your heart knows what it knows. I think it represents what most conservatives’ (whatever that means today) desire – an open marketplace for ideas and debate. May the best ideas win. Damn, I guess that make us the true liberals??
What seems to becoming clearer though is the duality and extreme polarization of good vs. evil in human nature. Any cursory look at human history shows quite clearly the capacity for evil and destruction humans are capable of. Evil never sleeps and without an opposing force will grow exponentially.
So no. I do not think they are surprised. I think they are elated, in the respect they think they believe they can rebuild in their own image. This has been the psychopathy of all totalitarians throughout history. Break a few eggs and all that. Problem is we never seem to get an omelet…just a grease fire that everyone else has to put out.
Your OP recalled Hannibal’s quote. No, not the Carthaginian but he of cannibal and silver screen fame:
For so many, that evil is something to be fought, it is unfathomable that others may embrace that force. But history has proven a cruel teacher. And we ignore it at our own peril. So we must NEVER forget the truth spoken by none other than that great Alfred influencer. No, not Hitchcock but Master Bruce Wayne’s butler (of course G-d and Christ shared this w-a-a-a-y earlier):
This. Is. The. Left.
I hear you, Hoowits, I really do. But I have a lot of friends who are leftists. And they’re not evil. And they’re not stupid.
It’s confusing.
They think of it as being charitable. Or benevolent. (There’s a better word but it doesn’t come to mind just now.)
This is a fair point. Actually, more than fair. Several of my immediate family (and friends) are riding this train of leftist ideology and I do not think them as evil. I do think they believe something that leads them toward evil. Being consumed by evil and actually being evil are two different things. Maybe that is the confusing part. What can be done to expose the nature of one belief as good or evil? Is this the essence of relativism/post-modernism? That without some fundamental understanding of “goodness”, then anything can take it’s place?
I often refer to the old observation that leftists think conservatives are evil and conservatives think leftists are fools.
“With freedom comes responsibility, or so we’ve been lectured.” Can’t remember who wrote that and don’t care, but the unspoken assumption is that freedom doesn’t mean responsibility. It seems to me that progressives feel that even the most careless acts should never have severe and unpleasant consequences. They seem to ignore the idea of cause and effect. To quote Mark Twain: “Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt.”
I don’t think it goes any deeper.
Oh man, this is EXACTLY one of the points that Evan Sayet has been making.
Check out his three older presentations here: https://www.youtube.com/user/evansayetvideos
(Sayet Fans, which one is best? “Regurgitating the Apple” (aka, “Mullet”) is very good, but it goes by kind’a fast. One of the others clarifies it a little better I think.)
Rage. It is about rage, a rush, consuming, evil. It is the opposite of contentment, of domestic tranquility. Let’s face it, life is sometimes a hard journey and it always ends in a kind of tragedy. America was formed to foster individual liberty, protect personal property and inspire the pursuit of happiness. But things do not always work out; success and prosperity, like looks, can be fleeting or can vanish. Rather than persevere, why not just embrace the rage? This embrace can be cathartic and can satisfy a kind of reptilian urge to destroy everything. This tendency exists in nature; wolves and big cats will often kill for the pure joy of it. Humans, more so. How else do we explain our sordid history; the holocaust, the French revolution, the Indian wars, Pol Pot, Mao, the Cultural Revolution, Lenin, Stalin, African tribal genocide, and on and on? It makes no sense. It is horrific. And yet, it can’t be denied.
The modern Left embraces this rage, fosters it. BLM, Antifa, LBGTQ – these are rage based groups caressed by the Left and set upon our nation. This is a primal fire that is very difficult to control and yet, it is lit by the Left. Conservatives are a prime target, demonized, diminished, disarmed, but Rage never stops and often consumes itself.
The answer is liberty and rule of law. Evil rage is always there in mankind’s primal soul, but it can be subjugated and people can be put to good purpose. Otherwise, evil will consume everything.
Brilliant response.
Man, I love Ricochet…
It’s obvious to those with any sense, but to paraphrase Ann Coulter, if leftists had any sense they wouldn’t be leftists. And as I’ve mentioned in the past, I have some relatives and had some neighbors in Arizona who would tell you quite seriously that the booming economy etc during the Trump years was actually “leftover Obama” and what we’re getting now is actually “leftover Trump.”
I am still a little bit gay for this meme. And if that joke offends you. Just maybe, that’s on you.
And what is incapable of defining what a woman is.
Until you realize that they realize that the United States is the last bastion of policies they hate, that for them the United States is a domino, which if it falls, makes it easier to establish a stronger world government or confederation that promotes Venezuela like policies.
The closest countries to the United States in outlook are the English speaking ones. Not even the most radical politically blue U.S. states had Covid policies that approached what the United Kingdom did with its citizens, or Canada. And what Australia did wasn’t really shocking to me — I was aware how authoritarian they had become — until they started putting those who tested positive in camps.
The United States is still a bit of a brake on that. I’m convinced they would have been even worse without our cultural influence in those countries.
Maybe they’re both whether they’re in power or not…🤔
The left still think FDR got the US out of the great depression rather than extending it – As Dennis Prager says – “being on the left means never to have to say you are sorry”
Just like Great Society programs and the war on poverty.
This is behind a pay wall, but it’s really excellent. Here is a preview. This guy just nails the relationship between the fed, the economy, and public finance. Inflationism is going down.
https://ttmygh.podbean.com/e/gwp_dan_oliver_preview/
It is confusing.
I am confused by it. Most of my friends and relatives are on the left. They aren’t bad people, and they aren’t stupid.
I am too prone to despair: My husband has to remind me of all the people we know who are just beginning to get that something is seriously wrong with this picture…
Not to be melodramatic, but I find myself wondering whether anti-Nazis (or Jews, for that matter) in Germany found their fellow Germans confusing. How can you not get this? What is it that you aren’t seeing?
I remember reading, somewhere, that what kept so many Jews from leaving Germany was the normal behavior of their normal German friends. It was reassuring. This can’t last. The normal will assert itself. Why panic, and flee from what will probably be a temporary situation?
Given that they, of course, did not have the example of the Holocaust, because it hadn’t happened yet, I can completely understand why so many stayed. (Though it is important to remember, too, that plenty fled…only to have their places of refuge come under German control once the war began.)
Again, it seems melodramatic to make the comparison, so I won’t. Much.
And I will report that I had a long conversation with an old family friend at a wedding last week who got red-pilled by the left’s totalitarian approach to COVID: He has been an afficionado of alternative medicine and refused the vaccination. He lost his job, and plenty of what he would’ve imagined were good friends.
It’s the latter that is most disheartening.
Solveig Gold, wife of sacked Princeton professor Joshua Katz, wrote a paragraph that I found…still find slightly sick-making:
“And then there was Joshua’s best friend at Princeton, a professor who had been running around our yard with her dog mere days before. Not only had we just sent her family a save-the-date to our wedding; Joshua was considering asking her to be in the wedding. My Jewish grandmother always said that a true friend is one who would hide you under the floorboards when the Nazis come, and Joshua once told me that this friend was of that caliber.
He was wrong. She said nothing to him for weeks, before eventually writing a few lines expressing her disappointment. They haven’t spoken since.”
I don’t get this, either. At least a German gentile, speaking in 1946, could argue that he might have been killed if he’d stuck up for the Jews. (It wouldn’t have been true, of course, but people would’ve believed him anyway). What accounts for the cowardice of ordinary liberals who have to know that what is being pushed is pernicious nonsense. Why wouldn’t they stick up for an old, dear friend in the face of the Wokestapo, when the stakes are so low?
Too many of these articles—about sacked professors or other un-persons—quote colleagues who speak only on condition of anonymity. They are afraid. My God, of what?
And why isn’t the left disquieted by, even ashamed of, that?
Holy crap.
I wonder how she feels about his choices of blood pressure medicine. Does she care about that too?
This Princeton scenario has played itself out over and over again in the last few years. I think it started in the wake of the 2000 election and has acclerated ever since.
One of the latest Victor Davis Hanson podcasts has some really good criticism of higher education.
If they wiped out the accreditation system, the social utility and the value would go straight up. It’s turned into a silly racket, except that it’s destructive.
Yes they are making money doing these things.
And it is not just the Democrats. It is a great many of the RINO’s like Liz Cheney and McConnell.
I also believe there is a silent but large percentage of Dems who understand the latest liberal experiments have gone too far.
Whether their moment of truth came about when the six year old came home after school crying over “Why did Granma and Granpa use black people as slaves?’ or due to the drag show sponsored by the local library or because their brother-in-law committed suicide when the COVID lockdowns destroyed his business, we can only guess.
But like a good number of us on the right, they are perplexed about what to do about it.