Talking With Liberals

Dr. Sanity has an excellent rant on her blog about the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of the Left.

I, too, came of age during the "Second Wave" of the feminist movement. I knew of young women who were discouraged from going to college, from pursuing their dreams because, after all, they were "only going to get married and have babies." I believed that I was as able as any man, intellectually... until I went to University and realized that there were others more talented in my chosen field than I. But many of those more gifted were, in fact, women.

I never bought the "Men are the enemy" argument, though. I enjoy the company of men. In fact, I married one. And when our sons were born, I realized I had given birth to what many considered the Darth Vaders/Lords Voldemort of Modern Society: white males. Somehow, that square with my new reality. Actually, since I also have three brothers, that view of white males didn't square with my old reality.

Lately I've noticed that even many self-proclaimed Liberals take issue with some of the dogmas of the Left. There are grumblings about people being promoted not because of competence but to satisfy a quota. About people who come to this country but do not bother to learn English or our customs. About those who would scam the system rather than work. Who don't bother to show up for classes and complain that they're being held back. About the money taken out of their paychecks.

But they don't make the connection.

They point to France and exclaim about the paid maternity leave and free preschools and don't connect it to the high unemployment rate. They talk about the wonders of Canadian health care, but not about how long it takes to get bypass surgery. They complain daily in blogs and in the MSM about the lack of protest in this country and how dissent is muffled by The Establishment.

They don't see any contradiction.

The United States is evil. But people are coming in every day, legally or illegally. The reason those immigrants give? To have a better life for themselves and for their children.

I listen to otherwise intelligent, well-educated people compare Bush to Hitler, the Republicans to Nazis and fascists, and I wonder what planet they are on. Why do I see things so very, very differently? Is it me? Is my perspective warped or is it them?

Is Ted Rall right about Middle America/the Heartland/Flyover Country? Is all they care about NASCAR, beer, and Paris Hilton?

That doesn't square with the blogs I read, the newsgroups I belong to, the people I know.

So it's good to read that someone else--several someones, as it turns out--also see the same things, feel the same way, think the same thoughts.

I don't feel quite so alone.