The American left has it wrong.

[HardDrive]

Before you take this post the wrong way, I find the American right wing just as repugnant as the left. In fact more so.

But living here in Seattle, a seemingly 'liberal' person, you start to see some rather distrubing aspects of the liberal party line. Most of this is 'well, duh' stuff, but I feel the need to spell it out.

1) The first is rather obvious: The belief that government can solve all our problems. It can't. How can this not be obvious to everyone at this point?

2) "If people would adopt my liberal life style, the world would be a better place".

Well, sure. This is true to a certain extent. Folks here in Seattle have created an amazing city, with good transportation (massive light rail project almost done), with excellent social services. So yeah, if every community did this, I do think America would be a better place.

There just one problem: This will only work if everyone in the community happens to be REALLY wealthy, educated people. Liberals fail to grasp that the communities they envision require a huge local tax bases full of people with masters degrees. Does this describe the average American city? Nope.

This same issue applies to food. We and our friends enjoy making meals for each other and coming up with new delicous vegetarian, organic, shade tree, fair trade food. So why shouldn't everyone do this? Because its absurdly expensive. We can go in and drop $150 on grocerys like nothing. Works for us, but the vast majority of folks have neither the time to prepare this kind of food, or the money to pay for the rather expensive ingredients. Its really only one step from saying, "Let them eat cake". And its getting worse as prices rise.

3) Not analyising issues deeply enough, and treating politics like a fashion statement. Why are you wearing organic cotton pants that cost $90? Because its all the rage in Portland.

The best, and most awful example? Biofuel. While there are relatively few biofuel vehicles on the road, even here in Seattle, its still a lot when you consider the how limited the supply is globally.

And the terrible fall out? People are literally going to start starving to death as countrys starting planting more and more crops for fuel as opposed to food. Its already happening. Food prices have spike dramatically, and people across the globe living on less than $1 a day are in danger of starvation. Its awful.


I am sure that any comments about this post will quickly degrade into juvenille name calling, but here you have it. Liberals getting ripped by a liberal.

[Jim Richards]

Bush hates organic cotton pants.

[Jim Richards]

I just wanted to get that quickly out of the way.

[onewhippedpuppy]

I think you nailed it. Probably the biggest issue that liberals seem to have is their failure to comprehend why others can't/won't live life in the same way that they do. Almost ignorance by choice, as if they refuse to believe that there is a world outside of theirs. Anyone who refuses to embrace their way of life is "ignorant", "uneducated", etc. However, in the same breath they will tell you how they support open and free thought, the right to live life however you want to. It's a rather odd and confusing condition.

[legion]

Your eyes are opening.

I posed these very kinds of questions to a very liberal professor in college. The dancing around the core issues was superb. After a few minutes of sputtering, he simply ended with: "I don't understand your question" and changed the topic.

[teenerted1]

Originally Posted by HardDrive

Liberals getting ripped by a liberal.

ditto...although i no longer call myself a liberal anymore

the crap my local state legislature rep ADAM KLINE supports is the typical view of what a Seattle liberal should stand for.
but if you look at the area that he represents he sure doesn't fit the demographics of my district. when voters pass an initiative that he doesn't like he just goes against what his constituents want and says that we didn't understand what we we voting for. not getting my vote this fall

[Seric]

I believe South Park covered this in the episode Smug Alert!

[Dueller]

On the political spectrum, harddrive and I are probably side by side. Conversely, and as an addendum to his observations on liberalism, the neo-cons on the far right demonstrate the same lack of insight.

1)Let everyone fend for themselves and solve their own problems. Abolish all social programs starting with social security...well that's fine if everyone has a 6 figure income and the forsight to save for retirement...but what about the working poor who spend every dime trying to feed/cloth/shelter themselves? Not our problem...Let them eat cake? Let 'em starve.

2)If people would adopt my conservative lifestyle the world would be a better place. You could just about use the same rationale in your comment only dealing with the fact that taxes need to be cut.

3) Not analyzing issues deep enuff? C'mon...the liberals don't have the market cornered on that area.

I guess in some perverse way our system really needs the radical right and left. If for no other reason to have people see the insanity of the extremes and come to some moderate compromise.

[kstar]

Originally Posted by Jim Richards

I just wanted to get that quickly out of the way.

Bush hates people who get things out of the way quickly.

[nostatic]

Yes, the "conservatives" want less government and more personal freedom. Well, except for that Patriot Act thing. And they want to do away with the Dept of Edu, but want prayer in school. And don't want to get into your bedroom, but do want to dictate what a woman can and can't do to/with her body.

Both sides have "issues". There is no perfect set, and the tension between the two is what helps to keep thing honest.

[nota]

as an old hippy
I would like far less GOVERNMENT at all levels
both partys want a nanny state
just a different set of priority s
GOP is far tooo mixed with the christian right's sex hang ups
wants to jail and even kill far too many people
but never want to control the growing power of the CORPs
and the CORPs are the biggest threat to our freedoms
the GOP want states to have more power then the feds

demo's want tooo much federal GOVERNMENT
and too much state GOVERNMENT tooo

I would like less GOVERNMENT over the people at all levels
with more controls on the CORPs
esp in work place safety and pollution
and real control of the borders and massive deportations of illegals

[island911]

HD is indeed on to something here. Seattle Liberals are playing a one-ups-manship game of caring greenness. Any true environmental-conservation goals get pushed by the way-side as greenies compete to out-do each other. One neighbor gets a fuel sipping diesel the other gets a (nasty heavy-metal) battery powered hybrid . .. then Seattles MAYOR get's the game and ups it by having the city REPLACE perfectly fine cars with a new Fleet of Pious's. He has Seattle buy buses, and electric buses . .and then hybrid buses, and a train -"Oh, that sounds good." And he says, hey, let's make some laws to force people to be green! Like YOU ARE FORBIDEN to toss out recyclables. --In Seattle, if you have recyclables in your trash you will be fined -yes; trash police. Then, do you expect a grocery bag with your $150 groceries for dinner? Seattles Mayor wants 20cent, for each bag needed, to go to the city . . you know, because he will show everyone that he is the greenest mayor in the land. I'm just guessing that he will be out shopping for some Shade grown, "fair trade" organic cotton pants that cost $290 . . .just because Seattlites can afford it.

[Seric]

Originally Posted by island911

HD is indeed on to something here. Seattle Liberals are playing a one-ups-manship game of caring greenness. Any true environmental-conservation goals get pushed by the way-side as greenies compete to out-do each other. One neighbor gets a fuel sipping diesel the other gets a (nasty heavy-metal) battery powered hybrid . .. then Seattles MAYOR get's the game and ups it by having the city REPLACE perfectly fine cars with a new Fleet of Pious's. He has Seattle buy buses, and electric buses . .and then hybrid buses, and a train -"Oh, that sounds good." And he says, hey, let's make some laws to force people to be green! Like YOU ARE FORBIDEN to toss out recyclables. --In Seattle, if you have recyclables in your trash you will be fined -yes; trash police. Then, do you expect a grocery bag with your $150 groceries for dinner? Seattles Mayor wants 20cent, for each bag needed, to go to the city . . you know, because he will show everyone that he is the greenest mayor in the land. I'm just guessing that he will be out shopping for some Shade grown, "fair trade" organic cotton pants that cost $290 . . .just because Seattlites can afford it.

Mayor Nickols is a twat, and he should be kicked out of office. I'm glad I don't live in Seattle, but I do have to live in the dragnet of Eastside retards.

[aap1966]

Originally Posted by HardDrive

The best, and most awful example? Biofuel. While there are relatively few biofuel vehicles on the road, even here in Seattle, its still a lot when you consider the how limited the supply is globally.

And the terrible fall out? People are literally going to start starving to death as countrys starting planting more and more crops for fuel as opposed to food. Its already happening. Food prices have spike dramatically, and people across the globe living on less than $1 a day are in danger of starvation.

That's what I find astonishing. People struggle to feed themselves and the "caring" trendies want to divert food to cars and leave the cheaper alternative fuel in the ground. This is literally human sacrifice to the god of Enviromentalism. We ridicule Fundementalist Islam yet our own society is infected with a not insignificant minority with similar contempt for logic and human life. How is starving poor Mexican kids to death better than blowing them up?

[Jim Richards]

Originally Posted by kstarnes

Bush hates people who get things out of the way quickly.

I know. He told me so himself when he wasn't pretending to pay attention to the Pope. I told him I was incorrigible.

[peppy]

Both sides have "issues". There is no perfect set, and the tension between the two is what helps to keep thing honest.[/QUOTE]

I know this is now out of context, but I can't believe that someone else will admit this.

[David]

Harddrive, I'm a left winger and I agree. Both sides certainly have issues, the difference for me is the left wing side is trying to make things better while the right wing side is just trying to make a buck at any cost.

The left wing looneys need to be kept in check, but on the otherside of the coin:

We can't beat up everyone we don't like, cut taxes so our kids have a huge debt to deal with, and then just spend money like it grows on trees to try to fix everything wrong with the economy.

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by nostatic

Yes, the "conservatives" want less government and more personal freedom. Well, except for that Patriot Act thing. And they want to do away with the Dept of Edu, but want prayer in school. And don't want to get into your bedroom, but do want to dictate what a woman can and can't do to/with her body.

Both sides have "issues". There is no perfect set, and the tension between the two is what helps to keep thing honest.

Yep, less federal government, just enough to protect our country which is the primary duty of a federal government (patriot act) .

Department of education? don't you mean the department of teachers unions who threaten to go on strike if they actually have to teach?
Prayer in school is a right, for those who choose to do so. If someone doesn't want to pray they don't have to. What is wrong with that? Oh yeah, the atheist liberals are scared to death that their smug non-belief position is wrong and prayer makes them so insecure they have to lash out at believers.

I don't care what someone does in their bedroom as long as everyone involved is a consenting adult although I do not approve of acts that include perversions or homosexuality, both are a sin.
When a woman kills an unborn child, she isn't doing something to her body. That is a lame distortion of the truth. She is killing the body of an unborn child. That is real. Murder is wrong., Murder should be against the law. Murdering an unborn child is still murder.

NEXT?

[Mule]

I hate to break it to "ya'll" but the tax base of everywhere is not built on mba'ed employees, but small business people. Hope that doesn't upset the apple cart.

[RoninLB]

La La Land and SF has the greatest concentration of the far left with their sophisticated ideas and interpretation's in whole US.

Small business is the largest job creator in US. Where there's job creation there's increased wealth.