Why Are Progressives So Darned Angry?

 

In terms of seriousness, I realize that this question ranks right up there with “Why is There Air?” (which was a pretty funny comedy album from back in the 60s). There have been hundreds of books and articles which have examined the “roots of progressive rage.” At times I believe that we have seen so much progressive fury that we have almost become inured to it. Like most people, I usually adhere to the philosophy of “fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly and progressives gotta rant.” However, during the holiday season, I ran across two instances that caused me to re-examine my own thinking about our current social and political environment.

The first instance was brought about by the arrival of my Sports Illustrated which featured its “Sportsperson of the Year”, Megan Rapinoe. Since I don’t follow either men’s or women’s soccer, I took SI’s word at face value that she is a star in her field. However, I thought the cover photo of her was a bit odd; she was immaculately dressed but held in her hands a heavy sledgehammer. I suppose this was meant to hold some sort of symbolism but the somewhat hostile half-smirk on her face did cause me to wonder if, just out of camera range, there was a box of kittens or maybe even a harp seal. One could also imagine that hanging over Ms. Rapinoe’s bed, there was an autographed photo of Aileen Wuornos. I read later that Ms. Rapinoe, at the awards ceremony, showed her appreciation for this prestigious award by lambasting her hosts for not awarding other women in the past.

The second instance was generated as I was channel surfing and fell upon WOSU, the local PBS station. There appeared to be a panel discussion of distinguished academics (the host referred to them as distinguished and I would never contradict her). The conversation had been relatively mundane when one of the participants, a gentleman by the name of Eric Alterman, blurted out something to the effect of “…and by the way, the members of the Greatest Generation were not fighting for this country; they were fighting only for people like them”. (Which I took to be white people.) A brief titter came from those in attendance and Alterman sat back in his chair with a Rapinoesque smirk on his face evidently pleased with his witticism.

These two unrelated events, by two boorish people, are insignificant by themselves. However, they are representative of the kaleidoscope of idiocy that has only worsened during the last three years.

It’s hard to imagine but progressivism in the United States hasn’t always been associated with the lunatic fringe. While it’s true that politicians such as Robert La Follette and William Jennings Bryan and muckrakers such as Ida Tarbell and Upton Sinclair weren’t exactly loved by bankers and industrialists, they were eloquent and thoughtful advocates for lower and middle-class Americans.

So how did the terms “progressive” and “raging wingnut” become synonymous? Like a lot of other folks, I think the 60s never really left us; they just morphed into something even more hideous. Ask a progressive today what he (or she) thinks of the 1968 Democratic Convention or the 1969 “Days of Rage” instigated by the Weathermen and you’re apt to get a starry-eyed recitation of how magical the 60s were.

I have my own memories of this period; being up to my derriere in mud in Vietnam, having my bus stoned by hoodlums as I left Oakland Army Terminal and gazing at the smoldering ruins of the ROTC Building at Kent State in 1970. There was nothing magical about this period; it was just plain rotten (except for the music, of course).

Spring ahead to the early 2000s and this “progressive rage” began to reappear as a response to “the warmonger Bush”. As I watched the street protests against the Iraq and Afghanistan wars (I had been recalled to active military duty in 2002) there was an unmistakable feeling of deja vu as I watched the usual suspects such as Jane Fonda mouthing the same platitudes as they had back in the 60s.

However, what really stood out for me was an evening in which Swift Boat Veteran John O’Neill appeared on CNN with John Kerry apologist Lawrence O’Donnell. I’m not sure if the event was recorded for posterity on YouTube but I would urge everyone to take a look at it because I believe that it was a prime example of how the Left had been taken over by the lunatic fringe. The confrontation was almost comical; the soft-spoken combat veteran (O’Neill) being screamed at by the draft dodger lunatic (O’Donnell). Like many people, I thought that O’Donnell would be given a “time-out” by CNN for this childish display of temper. However, I learned later that O’Donnell had been widely praised for his “passion” in his “debate” with O’Neill. Many Americans, like me, wondered if a first-grader began screaming at a classmate over who was entitled to the last cookie; would he be praised for his “passion”? No matter; although I did not realize it, this encounter was soon to become the template for all progressives thereafter. Facts not on your side? No problem, simply start screaming! Can’t comprehend the issue? Just label your opponent a “sexist”, a “homophobe”, a “racist” or a “fascist” and walk away, declaring the argument won. And this is where we stand today.

It’s not difficult to see how we arrived here. But why? Why did progressives go from helping to hating? Why have they turned their hatred into some sort of macabre religion? And, most importantly, is this hatred and rage growing at a rate that this country cannot survive?

Progressives tell us that their rage comes from Donald Trump’s election but that’s totally laughable. No, the rage existed far before President Trump.

No doubt there has been a confluence of many factors. Certainly, the culture of narcissism (admirably written about by Christopher Lasch and also by Roger Simon) has played a part. In addition, the idea of instant gratification (“I want what I want and I want it now”) certainly figures in. And, an educational system that values feelings over scholarship has to be considered. Finally, the rise of social media has played a part, although I would argue that it has been the vehicle rather than the cause of all this rage.

However, I don’t believe that we could have been brought to our current situation without two things:

a. THE WORST LEADERSHIP THAT THIS COUNTRY HAS EVER EXPERIENCED.

When the oh-so-erudite Barrack Obama told his followers to “get in their faces” when it came to expressing ideas, he may as well have been giving some of those people loaded guns. He knew better and he did it anyway. Each time he had to choose between being the President of all the people or being the devoted disciple of Saul Alinsky, he always chose the latter. He cannot duck his share of responsibility for our current social and political environment.

As for the “World’s Greatest Deliberative Body”, well, how big a laugh has that become? Any dignity that the U.S. Senate had remaining was forever lost during the Kavanaugh hearings. The subsequent “warning” sent to the Supreme Court by Senator(s) Whitehouse, Blumenthal, Hirono, Durbin, and Gillibrand simply proved that pandering to the lunatic fringe had taken the place of serious legislation.

Still, I reserve my award for the worst politician in the history of this country to one Hillary Rodham Clinton. Her “Deplorables” moment ensured that this nation would be forever divided. Her subsequent comments that “civility can start again” only when Democrats take power was some of the most despicable verbiage ever from a person who has made a career out of being despicable. Those comments simply poured gasoline onto the fire that had been blazing since her defeat.

b. MEDIA & “ENTERTAINMENT” THAT RESEMBLES THAT OF THE 1950s SOVIET UNION.

The state of American media seems to worsen on a daily basis. The only question is how low can they go? One of the best things that I have learned in life is when you’re in a hole, stop digging. Left-wing media and entertainment seem to be utterly incapable of this. Case in point: Writing in Salon, Amanda Marcotte asserted that “…conservatives have increasingly embraced the phrase ‘Merry Christmas’ to mean basically ‘f*** you’ to anyone that they’ve deemed less than legitimate Americans.” Just to show that this was no fluke, she later added that Christmas movies on the Hallmark Channel were “the platonic ideal of fascist propaganda.” Another media website advised that “white women’s obsession with ‘being nice’ was one of the most dangerous tools of white supremacy.”

As I was watching Mr. Alterman the thought suddenly hit me; this “distinguished academic” was really no different from Ms. Marcotte or “entertainers” such as Samantha Bee, Sarah Silverman, Chelsea Handler, or for that matter, most progressive politicians and academics. When a person has no discernible talent, the only way they can become (or remain) relevant is to be outrageous. The funny thing about being outrageous; to stay relevant, the person must become more and more outrageous. Where does it end?

I don’t pretend to have a solution. Someone once said, “Don’t argue with a fool. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.” If this is true, it doesn’t give us much hope for the future. Perhaps it isn’t important as to why progressives are so angry. Maybe it’s more important to figure out how we can survive that anger.

I recently made a comment to Henry Racette’s excellent post (“Everything Trump Touches Dies”) that perhaps some sort of “Thermidorian Reaction” will be needed to stop our American Jacobins. That “Reaction” can’t come fast enough for this country.

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  1. Columbo Inactive
    Columbo
    @Columbo

     

    • #1
  2. MichaelKennedy Inactive
    MichaelKennedy
    @MichaelKennedy

    I whole heartedly agree.  I am old enough to remember when even those who were angry about politics had a sense of humor. Westbrook Pegler was a columnist for the Col McCormack owned Chicago Tribune.  The Tribune and Pegler hated President Roosevelt so much that they published the “Rainbow 5”  war plan in 1941.  Even so,  Pegler one year sent Christmas cards with a photo of him with Eleanor Roosevelt.

    Colleges have been taken over in the last 20 years by hard leftists who were educated by the leftist students who stayed in grad school to avoid the draft. This second generation of professors does not even have the memory of why they are angry.  The Vietnam War ended almost 50 years ago.  The anger, like the shame of third generation inherited wealth that hates the rich (except their friends) is related.

    Miss “Occasional Cortex,” the college educated bartender who pretends she came from poor parents, is mouthing Socialism but I think it very unlikely that she intends to live the way people in Socialist countries live.  Only a very wealthy country could produce these self absorbed pampered fools that populate expensive colleges today.

    • #2
  3. Rodin Member
    Rodin
    @Rodin

    CACrabtree: As for the “World’s Greatest Deliberative Body”, well, how big a laugh has that become? Any dignity that the U.S. Senate had remaining was forever lost during the Kavanaugh hearings. The subsequent “warning” sent to the Supreme Court by Senator(s) Whitehouse, Blumenthal, Hirono, Durbin, and Gillibrand simply proved that pandering to the lunatic fringe had taken the place of serious legislation.

    As I read this I immediately went to Chief Justice Roberts just recently invoking the “World’s Greatest Deliberative Body” phrase in his caution to the House managers and White House lawyers over their rhetoric in the impeachment trial. What a joke that the future of liberty is in their hands. Never was the 2nd Amendment more important to secure the liberty of the country.

    • #3
  4. DrewInWisconsin, Oaf Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf
    @DrewInWisconsin

    I keep thinking back to the absolutely unhinged reaction by leftists to the George W. Bush presidency. Plays and books were written fantasizing about his assassination, and the gatekeepers of pop culture assured us that this was not alarming in the least, and in fact the proper response to the election of Bushitler. The anger and hatred of the left seemed to ratchet up to higher levels every week. So when Barack Obama got elected I thought to myself as awful as this is, at least the left will calm down and be happy. Instead, they just got angrier. As the Obama administration delivered one leftist victory after another, they seemed to get more angry and more demanding all the time. Or as our own Jon Gabriel noted, “The left has won the culture war and is roaming the countryside shooting the wounded.”

    There is no limiting factor on the left. They will never be happy, never be satisfied, never have all that they demand.

    • #4
  5. MichaelKennedy Inactive
    MichaelKennedy
    @MichaelKennedy

    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf (View Comment):

    I keep thinking back to the absolutely unhinged reaction by leftists to the George W. Bush presidency. Plays and books were written fantasizing about his assassination, and the gatekeepers of pop culture assured us that this was not alarming in the least, and in fact the proper response to the election of Bushitler. The anger and hatred of the left seemed to ratchet up to higher levels every week. So when Barack Obama got elected I thought to myself as awful as this is, at least the left will calm down and be happy. Instead, they just got angrier. As the Obama administration delivered one leftist victory after another, they seemed to get more angry and more demanding all the time. Or as our own Jon Gabriel noted, “The left has won the culture war and is roaming the countryside shooting the wounded.”

    There is no limiting factor on the left. They will never be happy, never be satisfied, never have all that they demand.

    I think the left went nuts after the tied election in 2000. Al Gore sure did. Bush made a huge mistake in concealing that DUI. He was running as a “born again Christian” and that hurt him with  evangelicals.  The Iraq War was OK but putting Bremer in charge was another blunder.  Personally I think Tommy Franks was right. Flatten the place and leave.  One huge error was disbanding the army. The officers were Sunni and the EM Shiite. Anyway, the left were never going to give credit to a Republican after Eisenhower.

    • #5
  6. DonG (skeptic) Coolidge
    DonG (skeptic)
    @DonG

    Virtue signaling scores double points, when it is done loudly and angrily.

    • #6
  7. David Foster Member
    David Foster
    @DavidFoster

    A lot of the going-nuts happened right after the 2001 terror attacks:  there was great fear on the Left that there would be a major outbreak of American “patriotism” in which Muslims, feminists, gays, liberals, etc would face lynch mobs.

    One (male) professor expressed a concern that a war environment would cause highly-masculine men to be excessively respected.

     

    • #7
  8. Barfly Member
    Barfly
    @Barfly

    CACrabtree: Why Are Progessives So Darned Angry?

    Two answers suggest themselves to me. One possibility is they just don’t like having the name of their tribe misspelled.

    The other possibility is complicated. I’m supposed to be working, so I’ll just provide the necessary definition – the rest of it follows and I’m sure you can work it out.

    Background: There are two fundamental tropisms that all life exhibits. One is love, the drive to “be with.” Its opposite is fear, the drive to “be away from.”

    More background: The mind of higher-than-reptilian life evolved to support a model of external reality, such that the organism could condition its behavior thru the model’s predictions.

    The definition: Anger is the negative feedback that’s aroused when a prediction is contradicted by a subsequent perception.

    • #8
  9. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf (View Comment):
    There is no limiting factor on the left. They will never be happy, never be satisfied, never have all that they demand.

    It’s our job to see that they don’t.

    • #9
  10. Barfly Member
    Barfly
    @Barfly

    Barfly (View Comment):

    CACrabtree: Why Are Progessives So Darned Angry?

    Two answers suggest themselves to me. One possibility is they just don’t like having the name of their tribe misspelled.

    The other possibility is complicated. I’m supposed to be working, so I’ll just provide the necessary definition – the rest of it follows and I’m sure you can work it out.

    Background: There are two fundamental tropisms that all life exhibits. One is love, the drive to “be with.” Its opposite is fear, the drive to “be away from.”

    More background: The mind of higher-than-reptilian life evolved to support a model of external reality, such that the organism could condition its behavior thru the model’s predictions.

    The definition: Anger is the negative feedback that’s aroused when a prediction is contradicted by a subsequent perception.

    Snuck out for a few.

    In humans, the mild form of anger is sometimes called “cognitive dissonance.”

    That thing about the mind being a model is the big trap. Humans, with our free will, are subject to the fall. That’s when we actively decide to take the model to be the reality, and start ignoring the immanent world (aka the mind of God.)

    And immediately the mind’s new perceptions begin to contradict the falsified model. The anger starts with cognitive dissonance, but the lefty is committed to ignoring contradictory perceptions so it can’t be fixed. It can only grow. All progs have the anger, all the time.

    And boy, do they want to be away from that awful reality. They’ll fling all kinds of poo at it, to drive it away for a minute or two. They’ll run into all manner of safe spaces. All progs have the fear, all the time.

    Things we experience all the time become habits of feeling. Progressives quickly acquire the habit of anger and fear, which we call hate.

    That’s why they’re so darned angry all the time. Because they’ve come to hate us. And they’ll hurt us to shut us up if they have the opportunity. 

    • #10
  11. MichaelKennedy Inactive
    MichaelKennedy
    @MichaelKennedy

    Randy Webster (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf (View Comment):
    There is no limiting factor on the left. They will never be happy, never be satisfied, never have all that they demand.

    It’s our job to see that they don’t.

    The left is a self licking ice cream cone.  If they should get what they want, like transgender rights, it is never enough.  I am OK with transgenders who go through the surgery, like Deirdre McCloskey whose books are very good.  Gender dysphoria is a neurosis and abnormal but there are a few cases, like him/her that are well adapted.  Once that is attained by the most rabid, they then go on to shame anyone who questions it and push for males with intact anatomy to have access to young girls shower rooms.

    https://www.amazon.com/Bourgeois-Equality-Capital-Institutions-Enriched/dp/022652793X/

    The most serious problem,  transgenders who wish to revert, is common and widely denied.

    https://quillette.com/2020/01/02/the-ranks-of-gender-detransitioners-are-growing-we-need-to-understand-why/

    McCloskey has paid a heavy price for the transition.

    https://quillette.com/2019/11/10/reflections-on-my-decision-to-change-gender/

     

    • #11
  12. Django Member
    Django
    @Django

    I once asked a liberal co-worker why he was so ticked off all the time. I don’t know how representative he is, but his answer was, “We have the power to make this a Utopia, and we just …” The rest was just mindless drivel that would have to be redacted to meet the CoC anyway.

    So, there’s part of the answer: They are spoiled, delusional fools who are angry that they can’t have their way. If I remember correctly, “Utopia” is another word for “nowhere”.

    • #12
  13. CACrabtree Coolidge
    CACrabtree
    @CACrabtree

    Barfly (View Comment):

    CACrabtree: Why Are Progessives So Darned Angry?

    Two answers suggest themselves to me. One possibility is they just don’t like having the name of their tribe misspelled.

    The other possibility is complicated. I’m supposed to be working, so I’ll just provide the necessary definition – the rest of it follows and I’m sure you can work it out.

    Background: There are two fundamental tropisms that all life exhibits. One is love, the drive to “be with.” Its opposite is fear, the drive to “be away from.”

    More background: The mind of higher-than-reptilian life evolved to support a model of external reality, such that the organism could condition its behavior thru the model’s predictions.

    The definition: Anger is the negative feedback that’s aroused when a prediction is contradicted by a subsequent perception.

    Oh, Good Heavens!  Thanks for the correction!  I checked everything except the heading!

    • #13
  14. Gossamer Cat Coolidge
    Gossamer Cat
    @GossamerCat

    CACrabtree: Still, I reserve my award for the worst politican in the history of this country to one Hillary Rodham Clinton. Her “Deplorables” moment ensured that this nation would be forever divided. Her subsequent comments that “civility can start again” only when Democrats take power was some of the most despicable verbiage ever from a person who has made a career out of being despicable. Those comments simply poured gasoline onto the fire that had been blazing since her defeat.

    I couldn’t agree more.   She is positively odious and any pity I felt for her humiliation in 2016 evaporated with her endless destructive whining since she lost.  She is positively odious.

    • #14
  15. CACrabtree Coolidge
    CACrabtree
    @CACrabtree

    Barfly (View Comment):

    Barfly (View Comment):

    CACrabtree: Why Are Progessives So Darned Angry?

    Two answers suggest themselves to me. One possibility is they just don’t like having the name of their tribe misspelled.

    The other possibility is complicated. I’m supposed to be working, so I’ll just provide the necessary definition – the rest of it follows and I’m sure you can work it out.

    Background: There are two fundamental tropisms that all life exhibits. One is love, the drive to “be with.” Its opposite is fear, the drive to “be away from.”

    More background: The mind of higher-than-reptilian life evolved to support a model of external reality, such that the organism could condition its behavior thru the model’s predictions.

    The definition: Anger is the negative feedback that’s aroused when a prediction is contradicted by a subsequent perception.

    Snuck out for a few.

    In humans, the mild form of anger is sometimes called “cognitive dissonance.”

    That thing about the mind being a model is the big trap. Humans, with our free will, are subject to the fall. That’s when we actively decide to take the model to be the reality, and start ignoring the immanent world (aka the mind of God.)

    And immediately the mind’s new perceptions begin to contradict the falsified model. The anger starts with cognitive dissonance, but the lefty is committed to ignoring contradictory perceptions so it can’t be fixed. It can only grow. All progs have the anger, all the time.

    And boy, do they want to be away from that awful reality. They’ll fling all kinds of poo at it, to drive it away for a minute or two. They’ll run into all manner of safe spaces. All progs have the fear, all the time.

    Things we experience all the time become habits of feeling. Progressives quickly acquire the habit of anger and fear, which we call hate.

    That’s why they’re so darned angry all the time. Because they’ve come to hate us. And they’ll hurt us to shut us up if they have the opportunity.

    Thus, the dream of the Bernie supporter who wants massive “re-education” camps for conservatives once his man comes to power.  

    • #15
  16. Jon1979 Inactive
    Jon1979
    @Jon1979

    Those on the angry left in general have a problem with the world not bending to their will, and in many cases combine it with a hugely inflated view of their own intelligence, compared to the rest of the general population.

    They’re way, way smarter than you are, and therefore you and others of lesser intellect should listen to what they and their allies tell you to do. Failure of people to actually do that results in anger, and a lashing out at those who refuse to get with the program, and the angry progressives then dream of creating  a system where those types of people will have to bend to their will, or face the consequences.

    As with the Bernie Bro on the James O’Keefe video this week, they want to guillotine the evil leaders on the other side … but if the people supporting those leaders won’t change their ways, they’ll guillotine them too. And since this attitude goes back in modern history at least to 1789, we know how this ends, in that when their plans fail to create Utopia, and in fact, only make things worse due to the inevitable Law of Unintended Consequences, they never think their own plans are flawed and should be changed — they simply get angrier that even more people are foiling their perfect plans, and more and more people, including some of their former allies, have to be cancelled to solve the problem.

    • #16
  17. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    Jon1979 (View Comment):
    As with the Bernie Bro on the James O’Keefe video this week, they want to guillotine the evil leaders on the other side … but if the people supporting those leaders won’t change their ways, they’ll guillotine them too. And since this attitude goes back in modern history at least to 1789, we know how this ends, in that when their plans fail to create Utopia, and in fact, only make things worse due to the inevitable Law of Unintended Consequences, they never think their own plans are flawed and should be changed — they simply get angrier that even more people are foiling their perfect plans, and more and more people, including some of their former allies, have to be cancelled to solve the problem.

    And that is how Social Justice leads to the killing fields.   

    • #17
  18. Jon1979 Inactive
    Jon1979
    @Jon1979

    The Reticulator (View Comment):

    Jon1979 (View Comment):
    As with the Bernie Bro on the James O’Keefe video this week, they want to guillotine the evil leaders on the other side … but if the people supporting those leaders won’t change their ways, they’ll guillotine them too. And since this attitude goes back in modern history at least to 1789, we know how this ends, in that when their plans fail to create Utopia, and in fact, only make things worse due to the inevitable Law of Unintended Consequences, they never think their own plans are flawed and should be changed — they simply get angrier that even more people are foiling their perfect plans, and more and more people, including some of their former allies, have to be cancelled to solve the problem.

    And that is how Social Justice leads to the killing fields.

    Exactly. And it’s failure has played out so many times around the world over the past 230 years, you’d think people would get that total state control doesn’t work, because humans can never factor in all the variables in the world.

    But the combination of ego and anger causes perpetually mad leftists not to care about past results — that’s when you get to the ‘Real Socialism has never been tried‘ claim, and if they admit that the system ever has had any past failures, it’s simply because they weren’t the ones running it, and the bumbling oafs who were just weren’t smart enough to do it right. And when they fail just like everyone else has, that’s when the Killing Fields really get going, because they’re not going to admit they’re also bumbling oafs; it’s only the Enemies of the People who are thwarting their plans.

    • #18
  19. Ontheleftcoast Inactive
    Ontheleftcoast
    @Ontheleftcoast

    Why are they so angry?

    Try driving an apex predator from the kill it is beginning to eat. That’s what Trump did.

    When Tuesday, December 8 2016 dawned, the  progressives just knew they had it all. It was theirs. They were entitled. And they wuz robbed. 

    • #19
  20. Eugene Kriegsmann Member
    Eugene Kriegsmann
    @EugeneKriegsmann

    As I recall from the 1960s, Bill Cosby’s answer to the question, Why is there air? was: to blow up basketballs. I believe that the hot air spouted by so many of the left would likely be best used for the same purpose. I, for one, am very tired of listening to their humorless blather.

    • #20
  21. Roderic Coolidge
    Roderic
    @rhfabian

    There are two kinds of people: 1) Those who think that they are in themselves good, and any dissatisfaction with life is because bad things outside themselves afflict them. 2)  Those who accept the fact that they have flaws, that effort has to be made to correct for those flaws, and dissatisfaction with life is often the result of those flaws and the flaws of others like them.

    I don’t think I have to tell anyone which world view is the more primitive.

    In any case, for the first type of person life is a constant struggle to make everyone and everything as good as they are.  They are going to be angry all the time as this effort constantly fails.  They don’t understand why other people can’t be good.  The more charitable among them think it’s because people are ignorant, and they may deign to educate them, but most of the time they think it’s just because other people are evil.  

    • #21
  22. MichaelKennedy Inactive
    MichaelKennedy
    @MichaelKennedy

    Gossamer Cat (View Comment):
    She is positively odious and any pity I felt for her humiliation in 2016 evaporated with her endless destructive whining since she lost. She is positively odious.

    I’ve started Peter Schweizer’s book, “Profiles in Corruption.”  He wrote “Clinton Cash,” which was never refuted in any detail. His opening section revisits the Clintons and points out that corruption begins small, like cattle futures, then progresses to Whitewater.  By the time they reached the White House, Hillary felt comfortable in firing the White House Travel Office to put a crony in that place and smeared the  Director by accusing him of embezzlement.  A jury acquitted him in 2 hours.  His life, of course, was ruined by her casual malevolence.

    I will read most of the rest today and report.

    • #22
  23. Penfold Member
    Penfold
    @Penfold

    Django (View Comment):

    I once asked a liberal co-worker why he was so ticked off all the time. I don’t know how representative he is, but his answer was, “We have the power to make this a Utopia, and we just …” The rest was just mindless drivel that would have to be redacted to meet the CoC anyway.

    So, there’s part of the answer: They are spoiled, delusional fools who are angry that they can’t have their way. If I remember correctly, “Utopia” is another word for “nowhere”.

    Progressives disdain the idea that “Human Nature” will not change in the way they want it just because they want it to.  They appeal to humanity to evolve without the need for influences like morality, civil society, norms, mutual respect or meritocracy.

    • #23
  24. Front Seat Cat Member
    Front Seat Cat
    @FrontSeatCat

    It’s like you read my brain when you wrote this – especially points A & B.   Two Kennedys were killed and MLK. There were race riots on a regular basis at my high school. Wars and war protests – it was anything but the good old days, but its all we knew and yes, the music was great. I grew up liberal, in a good basic Democratic household.   I’ve asked the same things you have, and I feel like a student again. I’m learning that the progressive agenda was like opening Pandora’s Box and the devil popped out. Examples:

    Read the book The Jesuits by Malachi Martin – wow! It gives a history of the powerful Jesuits in their 400 plus year history, but they took a “turn” in the early 1960’s. I had no idea of their power, skills and reaches throughout the world in every single part of life – the current pope is a Jesuit.

    The whole Alinsky thing was an eye opener – again being young and stupid, had no knowledge of this man’s tentacles of destruction and am now seeing the fruits of his teachings, with Obama and Hilary as his students and supporters. Any wonder why after Obama left, and Hilary lost, that the Alinsky methods continue to roll forward?  I’m sure others have examples, but seeds were sown to bring us here as you said. It helps to know that there are counter measures – and we see the fruits of of these too, in pushing back this fake utopia that the progressives are trying to create.  Trump is a thorn in their side.

    Another book I just found is called False Dawn, The United Religions Initiative, Globalism and the quest for a One World Religion. Don’t read it if you have a hard time sleeping….. and I’ll add a One World Economic System. We’re going in that direction.

    Outstanding post!

    • #24
  25. Django Member
    Django
    @Django

    Penfold (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment):

    I once asked a liberal co-worker why he was so ticked off all the time. I don’t know how representative he is, but his answer was, “We have the power to make this a Utopia, and we just …” The rest was just mindless drivel that would have to be redacted to meet the CoC anyway.

    So, there’s part of the answer: They are spoiled, delusional fools who are angry that they can’t have their way. If I remember correctly, “Utopia” is another word for “nowhere”.

    Progressives disdain the idea that “Human Nature” will not change in the way they want it just because they want it to. They appeal to humanity to evolve without the need for influences like morality, civil society, norms, mutual respect or meritocracy.

    They do believe that human nature is infinitely malleable. In addition, their heads are broken. They believe that “morality is something in you”, by which they mean “I’m a moral person” even though I might be doing things that are objectively immoral. Sort of like type 1 as described in comment #21. 

    • #25
  26. Ontheleftcoast Inactive
    Ontheleftcoast
    @Ontheleftcoast

    CACrabtree: muckrakers such as Ida Tarbell and Upton Sinclair weren’t exactly loved by bankers and industrialists, they were eloquent and thoughtful advocates for lower and middle-class Americans

    Andrew Greeley, the Chicago priest, sociologist, Daley machine admirer, liberal Democrat, prolific novelist and professional Irishman had an interesting take on Sinclair’s work; I think if Greeley was still with us he might call Sinclair an out of touch elitist. 

    Greeley used some of his novels to point out that, as filthy and putrid as the Chicago stockyards and other brutal industries were, they were also the way a lot of dirt poor Irish and other immigrants made a better life for their children and grandchildren.

    I bet Sinclair would have been in favor of “living wage” minimum wage laws.

    • #26
  27. Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… Member
    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio…
    @ArizonaPatriot

    I know that this is going to seem insulting, but it is my honest impression.  I think that Leftism is juvenile and naive.  To me, this ideology simply refuse to grapple with the complexities and difficulties of the world in which we live.

    I have four kids, between the ages of 10 and 24, so I’ve seen all of the stages of childhood development.  Leftist rage generally strikes me as a combination of a 3-year-old in a tantrum and an obnoxious, petulant teenager.

    Things get worse when the adults won’t act like adults, and shut down such nonsense.  This was very evident in the 1960s, and seemed to rise again in the 2000s and 2010s.  If you accommodate a toddler throwing a tantrum, you teach him that this is an effective way of getting his way.  Ditto for a petulant teenager, though in the case of the teenager, the best tactic for dealing with the problem is different.

    For a toddler, you physically restrain him, and put him in a location in which he can rant and rave, ineffectively, until the tantrum has passed.  For a teenager, I think that the best tactic is to simply withdraw support.  The petulant teenager generally expects the parent to continue to drive him around, prepare his meals, wash his clothes, and make sure that he has internet access and a smart phone.  Just say no.  Tell him that he can do as he wishes, but so can you, which means that you don’t have to give him a darned thing.  Well, maybe some peanut butter and crackers.

    • #27
  28. MichaelKennedy Inactive
    MichaelKennedy
    @MichaelKennedy

    Front Seat Cat (View Comment):

    It’s like you read my brain when you wrote this – especially points A & B. Two Kennedys were killed and MLK. There were race riots on a regular basis at my high school. Wars and war protests – it was anything but the good old days, but its all we knew and yes, the music was great. I grew up liberal, in a good basic Democratic household. I’ve asked the same things you have, and I feel like a student again. I’m learning that the progressive agenda was like opening Pandora’s Box and the devil popped out. Examples:

    Read the book The Jesuits by Malachi Martin – wow! It gives a history of the powerful Jesuits in their 400 plus year history, but they took a “turn” in the early 1960’s. I had no idea of their power, skills and reaches throughout the world in every single part of life – the current pope is a Jesuit.

    The whole Alinsky thing was an eye opener – again being young and stupid, had no knowledge of this man’s tentacles of destruction and am now seeing the fruits of his teachings, with Obama and Hilary as his students and supporters. Any wonder why after Obama left, and Hilary lost, that the Alinsky methods continue to roll forward? I’m sure others have examples, but seeds were sown to bring us here as you said. It helps to know that there are counter measures – and we see the fruits of of these too, in pushing back this fake utopia that the progressives are trying to create. Trump is a thorn in their side.

    Another book I just found is called False Dawn, The United Religions Initiative, Globalism and the quest for a One World Religion. Don’t read it if you have a hard time sleeping….. and I’ll add a One World Economic System. We’re going in that direction.

    Outstanding post!

    Every Malachi Martin novel is a roman a clef as he spent years in the Vatican.  I have read almost all of them,

    • #28
  29. Ontheleftcoast Inactive
    Ontheleftcoast
    @Ontheleftcoast

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):
    Things get worse when the adults won’t act like adults, and shut down such nonsense. This was very evident in the 1960s, and seemed to rise again in the 2000s and 2010s.

    The long march into the institutions began in force in the 1960s and its fully indoctrinated products began to work and vote by the 1990s.

    • #29
  30. MichaelKennedy Inactive
    MichaelKennedy
    @MichaelKennedy

    Ontheleftcoast (View Comment):

    CACrabtree: muckrakers such as Ida Tarbell and Upton Sinclair weren’t exactly loved by bankers and industrialists, they were eloquent and thoughtful advocates for lower and middle-class Americans

    Andrew Greeley, the Chicago priest, sociologist, Daley machine admirer, liberal Democrat, prolific novelist and professional Irishman had an interesting take on Sinclair’s work; I think if Greeley was still with us he might call Sinclair an out of touch elitist.

    Greeley used some of his novels to point out that, as filthy and putrid as the Chicago stockyards and other brutal industries were, they were also the way a lot of dirt poor Irish and other immigrants made a better life for their children and grandchildren.

    I bet Sinclair would have been in favor of “living wage” minimum wage laws.

    Greeley had a summer home at Grand Beach MI and used to walk on the beach video recording children playing on the beach. He was a bit creepy but his novels were good.

    • #30
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