Voice of Reason wrote:
First, thanks for getting this thread back on topic.
I think you're correct in that the conservative belief in individual freedom and liberty, indeed individuality itself, is a fundamental principal among conservatives.
However, I believe what you wrote about l*****ts, while all true, is simply a derivative of their fundamental (silly) belief in their own superiority. They believe themselves to be like royalty, chosen by Gaia to lead the peasants to righteousness.
Certainly belief in their superiority can lead to many of the tenants of L*****t ideology, but then on the Conservative side, we have many that profess the very same kind of belief in the superiority of the tenants of our ideology too.
Perhaps there is yet another fundamental factor that guides the Left in their direction.
I am tempted to accuse them of over-righteousness in their flakey belief system or systems, despite, or even because of their ignoring Christianity or religion in general, and in addition to their intimations of superiority. Righteousness breeds the idea of superiority; so both ideas are on track, I believe. Typically, the L*****ts I have encountered exhibit the verbal verbosity that Sowell accuses them of, which speaks to two other factors: intelligence, and insecurity in their beliefs, which would demand righteousness to cover up their insecurity. Their total belief system, their worldview, is quite a bit more complicated than merely over-righteous superiority as you can see from the following:
The Liberal Manifesto
Paraphrased from "The Liberal Mind"--psychiatrist L. H. Rossiter, Jr, MD
www.libertymind.com, (a synopsis and sales pitch for the book)
1. We are all children of a parental government...
2. Self-reliance and the role of individual responsibility should be diminished in this society in favor of collective caretaking administered by the state.
3. The individual cannot exist without the state.
4. Because most citizens are not competent to run their own lives, they need government guidance to do what is good for them.
5. Collectivism is the proper political philosophy for an ordered society.
6. A good life is a government entitlement owed to each citizen regardless of the nature and quality of his acts and their usefulness to others.
7. In respect to economic and social situations, prior binding contracts or agreements based on tradition may be invalidated by the authority of the government.
8. A large government regulatory apparatus is needed to exercise control over the citizenry and to ensure that social justice is assured.
9. Massive welfare programs that are administered by the state at taxpayer expense are necessary to meet the needs of the disadvantaged.
10. Men should not be held responsible for their bad actions, but rather such actions should be viewed as the collective fault of the society.
11. Traditional ideas about the separateness and sovereignty of the individual are invalid.
12. Material subsidies are to be paid to persons designated by the state based on need, suffering, or ine******y, not on merit or desert.
13. Human nature is highly malleable.
14. Descriptions of how to act and how not to act should not be based on the distilled ethical and moral wisdom of the centuries, but through canons of political correctness or evolved through the creation of alternative lifestyles in a spirit of cultural correctness.
15. Established traditions of decency, courtesy, and sexual repression are unduly restrictive and should be rejected because they support class distinctions that oppose the liberal ideal of social e******y. Pornography is good.
16. Rules governing human interactions that have evolved over centuries deserve no respect. Traditional Judeo-Christian moral and ethical codes such as the Golden Rule must be rewritten to reflect modern ideals of moral relativity and multicultural correctness.
17. E******y before the law is a fiction.
18. An individual who commits a bad act should not be held personally responsible for what he does even if he does it with malicious intent.
19. US foreign policy makers should assume the American imperialism and capitalist exploitation have been major factors in provoking aggressive acts by other nations and by religious or ethnic groups.
20. It is the duty of the state to determine which groups or classes of persons suffer from deficits in material security and in social and political status and to cure these deficits through government action.
21. Time-honored conceptions of justice as reflected in common sense, ethical philosophy, judicial practice and the history of political thought are invalid.
22. Traditional ideal of self-determination, self-responsibility and self-reliance are invalid.
23. Economic activity should be carefully controlled by the government.
24. An adult citizen's time, work effort and ability must be largely apportioned to the state.
25. The primary purpose of politics is the creation of an ideal collective society run by a liberal elite committed to a just redistribution of economic, social and political goods.
26. The traditional social institutions of marriage and family are not very important and should yield to progressive alternative lifestyles that emphasize the satisfaction of sexual and relational needs.