Democrats Are Not Liberals
by Kim Weissman
A bit of linguistic digression is necessary. Our Rhodes scholar
president has taught us how fluid our language is, to the point where even
the word "is" may have shifting definitions (depending upon who is saying
what to whom under oath); and we have recently been made aware of how improper
it is to use words such as "niggardly" in front of people who, because
of their ignorance or their fondness for manufacturing grievances, are
offended by what they think it might mean or what they think it sounds
like.
It is therefore necessary to re-examine our own use of words, and scrutinize
the indiscriminate and almost unthinking use of the word "liberal" to describe
today's totalitarians on the left.
Traditionally, liberals have always championed individual liberty and a
less intrusive government. The left in American today cannot, therefore,
be referred to as "liberal"; because in stark contrast with tradition,
the last things which today's so-called "liberals" seek are liberty and
a less intrusive government.
Here's what traditional liberal Nat Hentoff has said about the leftists
currently running our government:
"As the House voted the two articles of impeachment,
the criers of coup d'etat and sexual McCarthyism failed to mention that
William Jefferson Clinton is, in addition, a serial violator of the Bill
of Rights, among other parts of the Constitution. These other attacks on
the Constitution are not impeachable offenses because the Framers could
not have imagined them. ... His defenders...do not mention his legacy as
the president in this century who has inflicted the most harm on our Constitutional
rights and liberties." "...as a civil libertarian I can make this case
that he has done more harm to the Bill of Rights than any president in
our history. ...our liberties under the Bill of Rights and the 14th Amendment
have been so abused by this president all across the board."
Traditional liberals and today's conservatives actually have quite
a bit in common. Of course there is much that separates them ideologically,
but there is a common fundamental respect for civil rights, individual
liberty, and for our Constitution and Bill of Rights.
There has grown up on the left, however, a virulent strain of extremism
which has overwhelmed traditional liberalism. Among this group there is
a violent hatred of individual liberty, and our Constitution and Bill of
Rights are merely obstacles to be overcome in their drive for total control.
There is a passionate hatred of this nation as it is currently organized,
and a hatred of all that this nation has traditionally stood for
And it is this group of leftists who have taken control of the Democratic
Party, and whose ideology now dominates the Executive Branch of our government,
as Hentoff observes.
Traditional liberals and today's conservatives can talk together, reason
together, and find common ground by which to advance the good of the nation
and of the people, within our Constitutional framework. The extremist left,
in contrast, does not seek to preserve liberty, but to destroy it.
The extremist left does not seek the good of the nation or the people,
any more than Stalinists pursued the good of the people in the Soviet Union.
What the extremist left seeks is unlimited power. Which is why it is perfectly
natural for them to expend the last of the remaining moral capital stolen
from liberalism in defense of Bill Clinton, described by Nat Hentoff as
"...the president in this century who has inflicted
the most harm on our Constitutional rights and liberties."
In their unflinching defense of Bill Clinton, the extremist left
has exposed their rank hypocrisy, their moral bankruptcy, and their thirst
for total and unaccountable power.
Traditional Democrats and liberals are very close to seeing their party
and their ideology forever represented by the screeching harpies on the
extreme left, seeing their own moral authority measured at the level of
Bill Clinton's morality, seeing Larry Flynt as the new face of the Democratic
Party.
In modern America, what the extremist left champions today can hardly be
called "liberalism", but is rather totalitarian conformity, collectivism,
and a massively intrusive central government: politically correct speech
codes; mandatory sensitivity training; censorship on college campuses by
shouting-down any speaker who doesn't hew to the party line, and theft
and destruction of college publications which dare to criticize the campus
totalitarians; forcible confiscation and redistribution of private property;
judging people by the color of their skin rather than the content of their
character; group grievances, entitlements, and quotas; expanding invasions
of privacy (roving wiretaps, White House database and FBI files collection
and use, banking regulations to turn every bank teller into a government
snoop, national ID cards, a national worker registry); mandating that our
children spend their formative years being badgered about private family
matters by police agents called DARE officers; government directed career
choices for our children called School-to-Work; using our government-confiscated
money to propagandize our children into accepting leftist ideology; interposing
the government between parent and child in the most personal areas of reproduction
and religious faith; governance by bureaucratic diktat and judicial fiat
in opposition to the freely expressed will of the people; establishing
a governing elite not subject to the Rule of Law.
The extremist left opposes individual choice in education, health care,
how we spend our income, how we prepare for our retirement, what we drive,
how we can defend ourselves and whether they will even allow us to do so;
in fact, the extremist left denies individual choice in all areas of life
except whether or not to kill an unborn child.
The extremist left demands the right to tell us what to eat and what to
drink, even the right to regulate what we think.
What, after all, is the object of hate crime legislation, except to punish
crimes more severely when those crimes are accompanied by improper thoughts?
Today's extremist left gladly sacrifices individual liberty in favor of
government mandates, sacrifices freedom and personal privacy in favor of
social engineering and government control.
Let's not forget how many members of Congress belong to the House Progressive
Caucus, which adheres to the self proclaimed agenda of the Democratic Socialists
of America of
"...establishing an openly socialist presence in
American communities and politics" with the goal of "...the assumption
of ownership and control of the economic resources of society."
The good news is that three members of the House Progressive Caucus
in the 105th Congress retired, but the bad news is that all 55 members
running for re-election to the 106th Congress won (according to the DSA
website).
If the Democrats had regained control of the House in the last election,
members of the House Progressive Caucus would be chairing major committees
in the House, from Ways and Means, to Judiciary, to Government Reform and
Oversight. Socialists are totalitarians, and cannot be called liberals
in any sense of the word.
Democrats, moderates, and media pundits have made a point of warning Republicans
that the Republican Party is being taken over by "religious extremists"
(defined as those dangerous people who actually believe in morality and
traditional values), all the while remaining oblivious to the fact that
the Democratic Party has already been hijacked by the extremist left. Which
raises an interesting question. Which ideology, which people in control
of our government, would most threaten our liberties and our Constitutional
republic: people who worship God, or people who worship Karl Marx?
"...those taking recourse to violent oppression are
in their subconscious convinced of the untenability of their own doctrines."
-- Ludwig von Mises ("Socialism", 1922)
The above article is the property of
Kim Weissman, and is reprinted with his permission.
Contact him prior to reproducing. Kim Weissman [email protected]
CONGRESS ACTION newsletter is available on the Internet: Congress Action
Contact Congress
Action
[email protected]