THE LEFT'S SHORTCUT FOR THINKING

I have talked multiple times about how classical liberal thought has devolved into mere leftist sloganeering, but Dennis Praeger at RCP has really nailed it precisely:

Here is a list of terms liberals apply to virtually every idea or action with which they differ:

Racist
Sexist
Homophobic
Islamophobic
Imperialist
Bigoted
Intolerant

And here is the list of one-word descriptions of what liberals are for:

Peace
Fairness
Tolerance
The poor
The disenfranchised
The environment

These two lists serve contemporary liberals in at least three ways.

First, they attack the motives of non-liberals and thereby morally dismiss the non-liberal person.

Second, these words make it easy to be a liberal -- essentially all one needs to do is to memorize this brief list and apply the right term to any idea or policy.

Praeger still refers to them as "liberals", a term I am careful not to use to describe the left. The classical liberal tradition is alive and well elsewhere--permeating both neoconservative and libertarian intellectual thought.

The left, chronically bereft of ideas, has the above shortcut to acutal thinking; since not being able to mindlessly protest and think at the same time is a big drawback for their movement. They compensate for this intellectual shallowness by being more passionate-- which is all the moral virtue they require to maintain their overweening sense of superiority.

Read Praeger's entire piece.