Miscellaneous Posts

About Liberals...by P.J. O'Rourke (A Political Humorist)

Excerpted from the introduction to his book "Give War A Chance"

Opinions from this, or other authors, does not necessarily represent the views of this web site...but they sure come very close sometimes! The moderators took the artistic liberty of adding their own graphics.)

Liberals are people I had been accustomed to thinking of as daffy, not villainous. Getting their toes caught in their sandal straps, bumping their heads on the wind chimes...how much trouble could they cause, even in a full-blown cultural-diversity frenzy? But every inequity [in his book] is traceable to bad thinking or bad government. And liberals have been vigorous cheerleaders for both.

"Liberal" is, of course, one of those fine English words like [green, diversity, and tolerance], which has been spoiled by special pleading. When I say "liberals", I certainly don't mean open-handed individuals or tolerant persons - - - or even Big Government Democrats. I mean people who are excited that 1% of profits of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream goes to promote world peace.

The principal feature of contemporary American liberalism is sanctimoniousness. By loudly denouncing all bad things - such as war, hunger, and date rape - liberals testify to their own terrific goodness. More important, they promote themselves to membership in a self-selecting elite of those who care deeply about such things. People who care a lot, are naturally superior to us, who don't care any more than we have to. By virtue of this superiority, the caring have a mortal right to lead the nation. It's a kind of natural aristocracy, and the wonderful thing about this aristocracy is that you don't have to be brave, smart, strong, or even lucky to join it...you just have to be a liberal. Kidnapping the moral high ground also serves to inflate the liberal ranks. People who are just kindhearted, are told that because they care, they must be liberals too.

Liberals hate wealth, they say, on grounds of economic injustice - - - as though prosperity were a pizza, and if I have too many slices, you're left with nothing but a Domino's box to feed your family. Even Castro and Kim II Sung know this to be nonsense. Any rich man does more for society than all the jerks pasting VISUALIZE WORLD PEACE bumper stickers on their cars. The worst leech of a Merger-and-Acquisitions lawyer making $500,000 a year will put $100,000 into the public coffers (even if he cheats on his taxes). That's $100,000 of education, charity, or U.S. Marines. And the Marine Corps does more to promote world peace than all the Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream ever made.

Liberals actually hate wealth because they hate all success. They especially hate success when it's achieved by other people - - - but sometimes they hate the success achieved by themselves. What's the use of belonging to a self-selecting elite if there's a real elite around? Liberals don't like any form of individual achievement. And if there has to be some, they prefer the kind that cannot be quantified - - - "the achievement of Winnie Mandela" for example. Wealth is, for most people, the only honest and likely path to liberty. With money comes power over the world. Men are freed from drudgery, women from exploitation. Businesses can be started, homes built, communities formed, religions practiced, educations pursued. But liberals aren't very interested in such real and material freedoms. They have a more innocent - not to say toddler-like - idea of freedom. Liberals want the freedom to put anything into their mouths, to say bad words, and to expose their private parts in museums.

That liberals aren't enamored of real freedom may have something to do with responsibility - - - that cumbersome backpack which all free men have to lug on life's aerobic nature hike. The second item in the liberal creed (after self-righteousness) is unaccountability. Liberals have invented whole college majors... Psychology, Sociology, Woman's Studies - - - to prove that nothing is anybody's fault. No one is fond of taking responsibility for his actions, but consider how much you'd have to hate free will to come up with a political platform that advocates killing unborn babies, but not convicted murderers. A callous pragmatist might favor abortion AND capital punishment. A devout Christian would sanction neither. But it takes years of therapy to arrive at a liberal point of view.

Since we're not in control of ourselves, we are all vulnerable to victimization...by whoever IS in control. (Liberals are vague about this, but it's probably white male taxpayers, or the [9-11] conspiracy). Liberals are fond of victims and seek them out wherever they go. The more victimized, the better - - - the best victims being too ignorant and addled to challenge their benefactors. This is why "animal rights" is such an excellent liberal issue. Not even a Democratic presidential candidate is as ignorant and addled as a dead laboratory rat.

Their search for "victims of injustice" to pester, explains why liberals won't leave minorities alone. "The minority is always right," said that pesky liberal Ibsen. And when it comes to minorities, there is none greater - or as it were, lesser - than that ultimate of ALL minorities......thyself. Here the liberal truly comes into his own. There is nothing more mealy-mouthed, bullying, irresponsible and victimized, than a well-coddled self...especially if it belongs to a liberal.

Liberal self-obsession is manifested in large doses of quack psychoanalysis [psycho-anal-is], crank spiritualism, insalubrious* health fads, and helpless self-help seminars. The liberal makes grim attempts to hold on to his youth - - - fussing with his hair, his wardrobe, his speech - - - and even his ideology, in an attempt to retain the perfect solipsism** of adolescence. He has a ridiculous and egotistical relationship with God: by turns, denying He exists and hiding in His skirts. Either way, as God's special friend, or as the highest form of sentiment on the planet, liberal self-importance is increased. The liberal is continually angry (as only a self-important man can be) with his civilization, his culture, his country, and his folks back home. His, is an infantile world view. At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child - miserable, unsatisfied, demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic, and useless (as all spoiled children are). Liberalism is a philosophy of sniveling brats.

Name calling is a favorite tactic of the liberals. I have often been called a Nazi, but I don't let it bother me...because no one has ever had a fantasy about being tied to a bed and sexually ravished by someone dressed as a liberal.

NOTE by Moderator: P.J. wrote this book back in 1992!

Link to his books: "Give War a Chance" - by P. J. O'Rourke

http://tobuds.com/blogs/blog4.php/2009/12/30/give-war-a-chance-by-p-j-o-rourke-a-poli

* insalubrious - [in-suh-loo-bree-uhs]
–adjective unfavorable to health; unwholesome.

** solipsism - [sol-ip-siz-uhm]
–noun 1. Philosophy. the theory that only the self exists, or can be proved to exist.
2. extreme preoccupation with and indulgence of one's feelings, desires, etc.; egoistic self-absorption