Not since college in the early 1980s have I spent as much time reading what liberals have to write as I have since the election. Much of what I’ve read demanded an immediate response. Some, though, stewed in my mind until it has, just now, reached a consistency worth serving to my readers.
I know that the liberals didn’t really care for Kerry. He isn’t their hero or idol. They don’t respect him, really. I also know that George Bush, Ronald Reagan, American service members, *** Cheney, Condi Rice, and Colin Powell represent all they hate. Putting these two facts together was easy. The hard part is the dog that didn’t bark.
What kind of person do these people worship? They don’t worship strong, resolute men who state their aims in clear terms and then pursue those ends with ruthless drive. They don’t like the Marlboro man depicted on Tuesday’s New York Post–an American fighting man, cigarette in lips, blood and dirt on his face, staring coldly toward his enemy like Clint Eastwood in ΒThe Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.Β They don’t appreciate the intellectual Rice who used a combination of education, hard work, and vision to become one of the most powerful women who ever lived. Nor do they like the Democrat wanna-bes of these heroes.
They worship, instead, cowardly men with many flaws. They worship men like Michael Moore whose weaknesses–lying, shoving food up his ass until he’s bigger than a house, smugly disparaging all that’s virtuous and beautiful–they flaunt and praise. They worship those who make the beautiful ugly, the rich poor, the worthy worthless. They worship people who bring down and revile those who bring up. They worship weakness over strength, darkness over light, cynicism over wonder, doubt over confidence, cowardice over bravery, surrender over attack.
In a sense, liberals exalt what they are, while conservatives exalt what they hope to become. We on the right venerate qualities and characters that we know we will never become. We curse our own, personal weaknesses and ask God to help us become better. Liberals go beyond accepting their flaws–they exaggerate them. They grow them, nurture them, praise them, and demand that we, too, praise those things we find repulsive about the human condition.
The real difference between the Red and Blue states, then, is that the Bluies think they’re already better than they ever wanted to be, and the Reddies consider themselves so far below what they should become. Liberals believe both they personally and their society has reached is pinnacle and will only get worse in every way, while conservatives believe the best is yet to come.
In short, liberalism is nihilistic pessimism and conservatism is self-deprecating optimism.
Thank God I’m a conservative. I’d hate to think my best days are behind me.
Imagine how dull and mediocre the world would seem if you considered yourself, with all your flaws, the best humanity has to offer. Wouldn’t that be disappointing? I think it would be. Liberals want to believe that they, as individuals, are the best they can be. They’ve already reached the mountain top and without really trying. Actually, they were victimized to perfection, or, at least, to as close to perfection as they will ever get.
This is why liberals hate anything that reminds them that some higher ideal exists. They hate military people–ordinary human beings who daily do extraordinary things. They rags to riches stories. They hate competition and competitiveness. They hate measures.
You see liberal anti-competitiveness everywhere. The NEA fights testing, rating, ranking, challenging, improving. Unions violently discourage one member outperforming another.