The Liberal Mindset: The Distastefulness of Conservatism

What is it about the conservative right that the modern American liberal finds so distasteful?  This afternoon, the former Governor of Alaska, Sara Palin, had her touring bus vandalized; some individual placed a large placard on the bus that read “media whore” while it sat in front of the New York headquarters of FOX News (see “Palin’s ‘One Nation’ Tour Bus Vandalized In New York” from the PIX11 News website). Of course, this bit of news was not carried on MSNBC, CNN, or even ABC News, but that should not be surprising.  After reading this particular story, I once again must ask why do liberals find conservatism so distasteful? The answer comes fairly easy as modern American liberalism is dissected and studied.

As any college student attending classes on a regular basis can tell you, there is an open distain for anything deemed “conservative” or “fundamental.”  College freshmen are indoctrinated by the nature of higher education to consider those of holding such viewpoints as intolerant, racist, bigoted, narrow-minded, backwards, uneducated, and any other number of demeaning adjectives you can think of.  Liberalism is presented as being open-minded, educated, and enlightened and is the preferred philosophy of academia; as a conservative, you are demanded by academia to be tolerant of viewpoints that differ from your own, otherwise, you are a bigot.

To further condemn conservatism, since the 1950s academia has taught generations of Americans that right wing politics – when taken into the extreme right – contains both Nazism and Fascism.  There is no truth in this teachings as both Nazism and Fascism do contain elements of Socialism – itself a part of liberal or left wing politics.  Nazism came from the development of Hitler’s Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei – the German National Socialist Party.  This party, including its progressive view of race, economic management by the national government, and the creation of a centrally organized and managed society has numerous similarities to the American progressive party than it does with conservatism.  Notice that not once have I used the term “Republican” but have chosen to use the more appropriate description of my political viewpoint – CONSERVATISM.

Why associate Fascism and Nazism with American conservatism?  It is simply an exercise in control – whoever controls the language controls the discussion.  American liberalism derives much of its power and control over voting Americans who are eighteen years old through the late thirties because of its control over the language used in discussion.  What 25 year old man or woman wants to be labeled as a bigot, a racist, or a homophobe?  How many in that same age group want to be considered as uneducated, simple, or naive?   Feeding on the fears of many, liberalism cannot allow for an honest debate of any subject – politics, foreign affairs, religion, or even social norms.  Anything that causes the population to question the wisdom of liberalism must be destroyed.  There can be no competing philosophies or ideas.

Continue to dissect American liberalism and its demands that conservatives be more tolerant and it is easy to discover the hypocrisy of the demand. Liberalism and progressivism never compromise with conservative ideas nor does it seek a middle ground.  It rejects at its very center that compromise is an alternative to any debate because compromise means weakness or a flaw in the implementation of the planned course of action for what it claims as the greater good.  Liberalism is intolerant of conservatism because conservatism focuses on the greater good of the individual rather than the greater good of society.  In trying to better society, liberalism rejects individual rights and usurps them with the right of the masses – totally contrary to the principles of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.

As I was working on this entry, FOX News ran a story during its early morning show Fox and Friends on the liberal bias of television executives (see “TV Executives Admit in Taped Interviews that Hollywood Pushes a Liberal Agenda” from www.holywoodreporter.com).  Although Fox and Friends hosts Steve Ducey, Brian Kilmeade, and others did not go into any great specifics about the taped interviews, the article from the Hollywood Reporter contains segments of the taped interview where comments such as “[Conservatives] are idiots and have medieval minds” and “At least, you know, we put Obama in office, and so people, I think, are getting – have gotten – a little bit smarter” as said by Susan Harris, the creator of Golden Girls and Soap. It doesn’t end there with just two television shows and one executive.  Others, such as Marta Kauffman, have openly stated that she put together a cast of progressive and liberal writers for her show, Friends.  The obvious and understated purpose was to promote the liberal progressive agenda; she also suggests in a round-about way that conservatives and conservatism are not welcomed in Hollywood.

This, again, illustrates the hostility of liberalism and progressivism as it pertains to the challenges mounted against it by conservatism.  Look at television shows where conservative values are dominant and you will find that they are only featured on channels such as the Hallmark Channel – Little House on the Prairie, The Waltons, and other shows even on the “family” cable channels are rarely part of the prime time line-up.  Both television shows have a good dose of what many consider old fashioned family values, frank discussions of religion, and traditionally moral and ethical teachings.  Why are television shows with similar values absent from new series line-ups?  Again, it has to do with the intolerance of conservatism that is deeply embedded within liberalism.

So, back to the first question asked – what is it about the conservative right that the modern American liberal finds so distasteful?  Liberalism is not about expanding the middle class or increasing the number of Americans that are not dependent upon various social programs.  Liberalism creates a society of citizens that have equal outcomes and not equal opportunity.  Liberalism’s dislike of conservatism begins here with its desire not to celebrate the potential of the individual but to destroy it.