Why I Am Not a Liberal

bpmartyr

bpmartyr

Snuggle Club™ mascot
Awards
1
  • Established
Why I Am Not a Liberal
Dennis Prager
Tuesday, August 12, 2008

The following is a list of beliefs that I hold. Nearly every one of them was a liberal position until the late 1960s. Not one of them is now.

Such a list is vitally important in order to clarify exactly what positions divide left from right, blue from red, liberal from conservative.

I believe in American exceptionalism, meaning that (a) America has done more than any international organization or institution, and more than any other country, to improve this world; and (b) that American values (specifically, the unique American blending of Enlightenment and Judeo-Christian values) form the finest value system any society has ever devised and lived by.

I believe that the bigger government gets and the more powerful the state becomes, the greater the threat to individual liberty and the greater the likelihood that evil will ensue. In the 20th century, the powerful state, not religion, was the greatest purveyor of evil in the world.

I believe that the levels of taxation advocated by liberals render those taxes a veiled form of theft. "Give me more than half of your honestly earned money or you will be arrested" is legalized thievery.

I believe that government funding of those who can help themselves (e.g., the able-bodied who collect welfare) or who can be helped by non-governmental institutions (such as private charities, family, and friends) hurts them and hurts society.

I believe that the United States of America, from its inception, has been based on the Judeo-Christian value system, not secular Enlightenment values alone, and therefore the secularization of American society will lead to the collapse of America as a great country.

I believe that some murderers should be put death; that allowing all murderers to live does not elevate the value of human life, but mocks it, and that keeping all murderers alive trivializes the evil of murder.

I believe that the American military has done more to preserve and foster goodness and liberty on Earth than all the artists and professors in America put together.

I believe that lowering standards to admit minorities mocks the real achievements of members of those minorities.

I believe that when schools give teenagers condoms, it is understood by most teenagers as tacit approval of their engaging in sexual intercourse.

I believe that the assertions that manmade carbon emissions will lead to a global warming that will in turn bring on worldwide disaster are a function of hysteria, just as was the widespread liberal belief that heterosexual AIDS will ravage America.

I believe that marriage must remain what has been in every recorded civilization -- between the two sexes.

I believe that, whatever the reasons for entering Iraq, the American-led removal of Saddam Hussein from power will decrease the sum total of cruelty on Earth.

I believe that the trial lawyers associations and teachers unions, the greatest donors to the Democratic Party, have done great harm to American life -- far more than, let us say, oil companies and pharmaceutical companies, the targets of liberal opprobrium.

I believe that nuclear power, clean coal, and drilling in a tiny and remote frozen part of Alaska and offshore -- along with exploration of other energy alternatives such as wind and solar power -- are immediately necessary.

I believe that school vouchers are more effective than increased spending on public schools in enabling many poorer Americans to give their children better educations.

I believe that while there are racists in America, America is no longer a racist society, and that blaming disproportionate rates of black violence and out-of-wedlock births on white racism is a lie and the greatest single impediment to African-American progress.

I believe that America, which accepts and assimilates foreigners better than any other country in the world, is the least racist, least xenophobic country in the world.

I believe the leftist takeover of the liberal arts departments in nearly every American university has been an intellectual and moral calamity.

I believe that a good man and a good marriage are more important to most women's happiness and personal fulfillment than a good career.

I believe that males and females are inherently different. For example, girls naturally prefer dolls and tea sets to trucks and toy guns -- if you give a girl trucks, she is likely to give them names and take care of them, and if you give a boy trucks, he is likely to crash them into one another.

I believe that when it comes to combating the greatest evils on Earth, such as the genocide in Rwanda, the United Nations has either been useless or an obstacle.

I believe that, generally speaking, Western Europe provides social and moral models to be avoided, not emulated.

I believe that America's children were positively affected by hearing a non-denominational prayer each morning in school, and adversely affected by the removal of all prayer from school.

I believe that liberal educators' removal of school uniforms and/or dress codes has had a terrible impact on students and their education.

I believe that bilingual education does not work, that for the sake of immigrant children and for the sake of the larger society, immersion in the language of the country, meaning English in America, is mandatory.

I believe that English should be declared the national language, and that ballots should not be printed in any language other than English. If one cannot understand English, one is probably not sufficiently knowledgeable to vote intelligently in an English-speaking country.

Finally, I believe that there are millions of Americans who share most of these beliefs who still call themselves "liberal" or "progressive" and who therefore vote Democrat. They do so because they still identify liberalism with pre-1970 liberalism or because they are emotionally attached to the word "liberal."

I share that emotion. But one should vote based on values, not emotions.
 

AE14

Board Sponsor
Awards
3
  • RockStar
  • Legend!
  • Established
good to see you are back at BP.

some of those are good and some downright foolish IMO
 
RobInKuwait

RobInKuwait

Registered User
Awards
1
  • Established
I agree with 75-80% of the statements, with the most notable disagreements being with the religious statements. I do not think that religion has a monopoly on morality and hate that mentality....but if thats the worst the republicans got, they're still about 100 times less evil than the dems.
 
bpmartyr

bpmartyr

Snuggle Club™ mascot
Awards
1
  • Established
Wow, some of those are just plain ignorant...

You may disagree but I think the word "iignorant" is a misnomer. I have heard him delineate each and every one of those points in depth (he has a daily radio program). He has thought them through thoroughly over his 26 years in radio and can debate skillfully with the best of them. He may be wrong but he is certainly not ignorant.

Also note that he prefaces most of his statements with "I believe".
 

AE14

Board Sponsor
Awards
3
  • RockStar
  • Legend!
  • Established
jay never said that he was ignorant, he said the comments were
 

EESCHMan

Member
Awards
1
  • Established
I believe that the United States of America, from its inception, has been based on the Judeo-Christian value system, not secular Enlightenment values alone, and therefore the secularization of American society will lead to the collapse of America as a great country
wrong

I believe that when schools give teenagers condoms, it is understood by most teenagers as tacit approval of their engaging in sexual intercourse
wrong

I believe that marriage must remain what has been in every recorded civilization -- between the two sexes.
why?

I believe that America's children were positively affected by hearing a non-denominational prayer each morning in school, and adversely affected by the removal of all prayer from school
Prove it

Dennis Prager, what a role model!
 
Jayhawkk

Jayhawkk

Legend
Awards
2
  • Legend!
  • Established
His statements are ignorant and being able to debate is a skillset that can let someone argue a point they don't even agree with.
 
Jayhawkk

Jayhawkk

Legend
Awards
2
  • Legend!
  • Established
Further dividing people by polarizing everyone's beliefs is what's the main damage of this country. Almost everyone I know is a mix of conservative and liberal lines. Politics plays like a ****ing pro sport.

Ever met a fan of a pro team that just ****ing sucks but the fan base refuses to accept any other team being better in any part of the game? Just because you're a liberal or conservative doesn't mean that any ideas or beliefs from the other side is an automatic 'failure'. Some day you'll have to actually say " Damn, they came up with a good idea; let's try it."
 
RobInKuwait

RobInKuwait

Registered User
Awards
1
  • Established
Some day you'll have to actually say " Damn, they came up with a good idea; let's try it."
Still waiting on that day...I can't remember ever thinking that the dems had a good idea.
 
Jayhawkk

Jayhawkk

Legend
Awards
2
  • Legend!
  • Established
I guarentee you're wrong if you went through all of their proposed ideas. Just isn't possible to say the opposing side never had a good idea.
 
RobInKuwait

RobInKuwait

Registered User
Awards
1
  • Established
I guarentee you're wrong if you went through all of their proposed ideas. Just isn't possible to say the opposing side never had a good idea.
The problem is I believe their reasoning is fundamentally flawed.

Actually, you're right, there is one thing I like that they did....they sponsored a bill that gave federal LEOs a raise last year....I can't say anything bad about that, as it puts more money in my pocket :thumbsup:.
 
bpmartyr

bpmartyr

Snuggle Club™ mascot
Awards
1
  • Established
His statements are ignorant and being able to debate is a skillset that can let someone argue a point they don't even agree with.

I don't think you understand what "ignorant" means. No offense.

1. lacking in knowledge or training; unlearned: an ignorant man.
2. lacking knowledge or information as to a particular subject or fact: ignorant of quantum physics.
3. uninformed; unaware.
4. due to or showing lack of knowledge or training: an ignorant statement.

Agree or disagree, that is fine but to say these arguments are ignorant is, well ... ignorant.
 
bpmartyr

bpmartyr

Snuggle Club™ mascot
Awards
1
  • Established
wrong



wrong



why?



Prove it

Dennis Prager, what a role model!

He preceded each statement by "I believe". Are you saying he is wrong in that he does not in fact believe.

Your post reminds me of a conversation I just had with one of my adolescent children. Why? Prove it!
 

EESCHMan

Member
Awards
1
  • Established
He preceded each statement by "I believe". Are you saying he is wrong in that he does not in fact believe.

Your post reminds me of a conversation I just had with one of my adolescent children. Why? Prove it!
Oh, he preceded his statements with "I believe..."
I guess that makes them correct.

If you make stupid claims you need to back them up with evidence.

Don't you have anything better to do then post this right wing cr*p everyday?
 
EasyEJL

EasyEJL

Never enough
Awards
3
  • RockStar
  • Legend!
  • Established
If you make stupid claims you need to back them up with evidence.
Can you prove the existence of god? No, but billions of people believe anyhow. Is there any real evidence of his existence? Only if you accept certain things as fact that have no proof themselves.

do you have any evidence any of the statements are false? how about presenting that?
 
EasyEJL

EasyEJL

Never enough
Awards
3
  • RockStar
  • Legend!
  • Established
I believe that liberal educators' removal of school uniforms and/or dress codes has had a terrible impact on students and their education.

I believe that bilingual education does not work, that for the sake of immigrant children and for the sake of the larger society, immersion in the language of the country, meaning English in America, is mandatory.

I believe that English should be declared the national language, and that ballots should not be printed in any language other than English. If one cannot understand English, one is probably not sufficiently knowledgeable to vote intelligently in an English-speaking country.
Although the last one, i'm not exactly sure whether the not sufficiently knowledgeable is the right phrase, but if they can't understand the ballot in english, how can they understand the points they are voting on which are expressed in english?
 
Jayhawkk

Jayhawkk

Legend
Awards
2
  • Legend!
  • Established
I know what ignorant means and his statements are lacking in understanding.

Statements where a woman who would be happier in the home and married is ignorant since, last I checked, he isn't a woman nor does he cite any long term studies or polls to back up his statement. Since this is simply a statement of personal belief with nothing substantial backing it up; it would be ignorant.
 
Jayhawkk

Jayhawkk

Legend
Awards
2
  • Legend!
  • Established
If I said I believe the world is flat it would be considered an ignorant statement

I believe that, generally speaking, Western Europe provides social and moral models to be avoided, not emulated.
I believe that bilingual education does not work, that for the sake of immigrant children and for the sake of the larger society, immersion in the language of the country, meaning English in America, is mandatory.
I believe that when schools give teenagers condoms, it is understood by most teenagers as tacit approval of their engaging in sexual intercourse.
 
EasyEJL

EasyEJL

Never enough
Awards
3
  • RockStar
  • Legend!
  • Established
So you believe that reducing the quality of english speaking children by forcing resources into teaching classes in another language is a good thing? the school has x dollars to spend, and spending them teaching in other languages means less to spend teaching in english. And at what point do you stop? is a school district forceed to hire a teacher that speaks chinese or portugese or welsh or whatever language a child who moves into the district happens to speak? No, the child needs to learn english, just as all prior waves of immigrants have done
 
Jayhawkk

Jayhawkk

Legend
Awards
2
  • Legend!
  • Established
Look at the world over and where jobs and such are headed. Everything is working its way into a global scale. It puts us in a better position by teaching our youth other languages and it also reinforces English. That's double that you're working on vocabulary, spelling and grammar. Not teaching our children a secondary language is a handicap we can't afford.

As far as X amount of money... Up the funding to compensate for this added curriculum. It can be done and it's better than denying the rest of the world is out there and speak more languages than just English.
 
Jayhawkk

Jayhawkk

Legend
Awards
2
  • Legend!
  • Established
I also don't believe adding an additional requirement will reduce our English programs unless we, as a country, allow it to. Seems that many other countries are able to teach English just fine and still maintain their traditional language.
 
Dwight Schrute

Dwight Schrute

I am faster than 80% of all snakes
Awards
2
  • Legend!
  • Established
As far as X amount of money... Up the funding to compensate for this added curriculum.
When as a nation you can't even teach English correctly, the last thing I want is to be taxed more for a secondary language.

When you have state and city governments openly refusing to enforce federal laws (immigration), I don't want to be taxed more so we can all integrate better with people who shouldn't be there in the first place.
 
Jayhawkk

Jayhawkk

Legend
Awards
2
  • Legend!
  • Established
I know the current system is broken but I don't think saying adding another language in itself is an issue. The issue is with our current system being broken.
 
Jayhawkk

Jayhawkk

Legend
Awards
2
  • Legend!
  • Established
Oh and i'm not speaking about adding the languages to help the immigrants. It's for our citizens.
 
Mulletsoldier

Mulletsoldier

Binging on Pure ****ing Rage
Awards
2
  • Legend!
  • Established
The phrase "I believe" is necessarily non-propositional, and therefore alters the fundamental dynamics of a propositional statement - that is, propositional statements are declarative truthful statements - stating argument 'A' is either true or false - and 'I believe' denotes subjective interpretation; when you say "I believe" before making a propositional statement, you create a logical fallacy: You are stating a 'truth', but hiding behind an interpretative veil to avoid criticism.

The term 'ignorant' can also be applied to learned knowledge - or lack of the pursuit of learned knowledge - relative to a specific field. One could claim that prefacing necessarily propositional statements about the superiority of one idiom over another, without providing relevant information, would denote relative ignorance to the data involved with the opposing idiom. :)

So, yes, the author may be educated but that does not automatically preclude him from being ignorant.

And before you involve me B, I really don't care about this one. :)
 
Dwight Schrute

Dwight Schrute

I am faster than 80% of all snakes
Awards
2
  • Legend!
  • Established
Oh and i'm not speaking about adding the languages to help the immigrants. It's for our citizens.

But that is where the push is right now..to add Spanish at the tax payer expense.
 
Dwight Schrute

Dwight Schrute

I am faster than 80% of all snakes
Awards
2
  • Legend!
  • Established
The phrase "I believe" is necessarily non-propositional, and therefore alters the fundamental dynamics of a propositional statement - that is, propositional statements are declarative truthful statements - stating argument 'A' is either true or false - and 'I believe' denotes subjective interpretation; when you say "I believe" before making a propositional statement, you create a logical fallacy: You are stating a 'truth', but hiding behind an interpretative veil to avoid criticism.

The term 'ignorant' can also be applied to learned knowledge - or lack of the pursuit of learned knowledge - relative to a specific field. One could claim that prefacing necessarily propositional statements about the superiority of one idiom over another, without providing relevant information, would denote relative ignorance to the data involved with the opposing idiom. :)

So, yes, the author may be educated but that does not automatically preclude him from being ignorant.

And before you involve me B, I really don't care about this one. :)
You're wrong.


I haven't read what you posted yet but you must be wrong. :D


I can't debate this one anyway..my back hurts and I can't sit here any longer.. :lol:
 
Jayhawkk

Jayhawkk

Legend
Awards
2
  • Legend!
  • Established
I WIN!

Where's my check!

Thanks for backing me up Mullet... I'm not sure what the **** you said but it must of been to come to my aid!
 
Mulletsoldier

Mulletsoldier

Binging on Pure ****ing Rage
Awards
2
  • Legend!
  • Established
I WIN!

Where's my check!

Thanks for backing me up Mullet... I'm not sure what the **** you said but it must of been to come to my aid!
It was. BP was saying none of these statements can be held up to any type of empirical or epistemological criticism because they were prefaced with "I believe"; that is not the case. Obviously by the style and tone of the posts, the author was making what he felt were 'truthful' statements. You cannot make a propositional statement and then hide behind "I believe" due to the possible invalidity of the argument made.

In all honesty, I did not read the post in full, so that possible invalidity may be high or very low. I just thought I'd help you pookie.
 
bpmartyr

bpmartyr

Snuggle Club™ mascot
Awards
1
  • Established
It was. BP was saying none of these statements can be held up to any type of empirical or epistemological criticism because they were prefaced with "I believe"; that is not the case. Obviously by the style and tone of the posts, the author was making what he felt were 'truthful' statements. You cannot make a propositional statement and then hide behind "I believe" due to the possible invalidity of the argument made.

In all honesty, I did not read the post in full, so that possible invalidity may be high or very low. I just thought I'd help you pookie.

I was not trying to say that at all. I was ribbing another poster for saying "wrong" and nothing more to quantify. Just being my usual arse. :)

I agree with your post regarding ignorant. I just happen to listen to the the author frequently on his radio program and know his positions come from anything but ignorance. Jay was assuming ignorance where I admit it was indeed at least a possibility, especially if you are unfamiliar with the author.

I was wondering when you were going to astound us with your eloquent erudition on the matter. :D
 
Mulletsoldier

Mulletsoldier

Binging on Pure ****ing Rage
Awards
2
  • Legend!
  • Established
I was not trying to say that at all. I was ribbing another poster for saying "wrong" and nothing more to quantify. Just being my usual arse. :)

I agree with your post regarding ignorant. I just happen to listen to the the author frequently on his radio program and know his positions come from anything but ignorance. Jay was assuming ignorance where I admit it was indeed at least a possibility, especially if you are unfamiliar with the author.

I was wondering when you were going to astound us with your eloquent erudition on the matter. :D
I am fraught with elocutionary principles!
 
Jayhawkk

Jayhawkk

Legend
Awards
2
  • Legend!
  • Established
Using OTC creams is what got me there in the first place.
 

Similar threads


Top