Our friends at americanthinker.com have a fantastic column by Dr. Danusha V. Goska. She was a life-long leftist and recently wrote that she has abandoned that philosophy. Here, she gives her top ten reasons. It’s long, but I highly recommend it.How far left was I? So far left my beloved uncle was a card-carrying member of the Communist Party in a Communist country. When I returned to his Slovak village to buy him a mass card, the priest refused to sell me one. So far left that a self-identified terrorist proposed marriage to me. So far left I was a two-time Peace Corps volunteer and I have a degree from UC Berkeley. So far left that my Teamster mother used to tell anyone who would listen that she voted for Gus Hall, Communist Party chairman, for president. I wore a button saying “Eat the Rich.” To me it wasn’t a metaphor.
I voted Republican in the last presidential election.
Below are the top ten reasons I am no longer a leftist. This is not a rigorous comparison of theories. This list is idiosyncratic, impressionistic, and intuitive. It’s an accounting of the milestones on my herky-jerky journey.
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Yeah, sorry, not holding my breath.
ReplyDeleteSomeone who ever calls themselves 'left-liberal', 'progressive' or 'marxist' never truly recovers.
They may mouth certain truths from time to time, but having them at your back means having a knife stuck into it. Count on it.
:) She mouthed a lot.
DeleteThat's nonsense. Some "left-liberals" are fairly conservative. They just get confused, because of how Americans are made to choose among very limited political categories.
DeleteWe're told one has to either support rule under big business or rule under big government. In the latter, citizens are supposed to "freely" vote for how capital is used.
Conservative ideas are kept from the American public, so they've no exposure.
No one mentions community vs. globalist individual, tradition vs. reason, or rootedness vs. transience. Maybe they hear of order vs. chaos and faith vs. secular.
I've never been a socialist, but I've never much believed in capitalism either. If I'm supposed to condemn everyone who's been tricked into one or the other category, I'd be condemning most of America.
Millennials generally seem to like "socialism" but have little idea what the word means. "Leftists" then can just generally dislike the warring and the big business globalism.
Thanks.
DeleteBrock, if you talked with some of the antiwar folks who claim to be left-wing, you'd agree.
DeleteAlso, Richard Weaver and James Burnham were both leftists at one time. And Orwell remained left-wing.
Most Americans don't have the education to form an opinion. It's like asking a toddler to build a rocket ship.
And Americans starting with the Boomers have been hit with about as much propaganda as one finds in Communist China, Europe, or North Korea.
Many who call themselves "conservative" are like Glenn Beck or John McCain: They're snakes, not actual conservatives.
I do like some of what you link to. The Southern tradition as you see it has some conservatism in it, though it's too individualistic and classical liberal. I appreciated different aspects I think. But most Americans don't get to see even that, except for what they find on right-wing websites.
Most Americans don't have the education to form an opinion. It's like asking a toddler to build a rocket ship.
DeleteHa!
I agree with Arthur, some family members of mine I would always look over my back to see if the long knives were out...
ReplyDeleteShe may have swallowed a small red pill, but too many years of liberalism doesn't evaporate that quickly.
:)
DeleteGood article - thanks for linking to it.
ReplyDeleteCertainly.
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