So why has our left become so reactionary, so unwilling or unable to adapt to a changed world that they “act out” with all the juvenility of adolescents deprived of the family car keys? Some say it is because they have replaced religious faith with politics and I, an agnostic, see some truth in that. But there is more. Liberalism has become a mask for greed in our culture — a way of hiding excessive selfishness from others and, importantly, from the self. It’s a deflection, really.
We see this in the billionaire extremes of a George Soros and a John Kerry, but also now in the demonstrators in the streets of Madison. Many are suffering economically in our country. Huge numbers are unemployed. But when asked to pull together for the good of the mean, the liberals, the ones who pay the greatest lip service to equality, say NO.
They hide behind “Union! Union! Union!” and “No pasaran!,” but it’s all a fake. When the chips are down, our modern liberals are overcome by their own sense of entitlement. Christopher Lasch’s Culture of Narcissism has infected them to such a degree reality cannot intrude. I get my pension even if there’s no money, even if youhave to pay for it and you’re broke without any pension of your own.
Socialism, my fat fanny! It’s just plain old selfish greed.
I still call it fascist - the focus on amassing power to the exclusion of all other values. That is why the unions in Madison can at the same time Shriek 'don't touch my healthcare' and cheer Obamacare: they are privileged today and unlike reactionaries of old, they believe that through 'revolutionary' action, they can privilege themselves even more in the future.In a word: fascist.
No comments:
Post a Comment