Confessions of an ex-diehard liberal New Yorker

loved this email, it said it all so succinctly:

I can't comprehend today's concept of Liberal, either.  Over the past couple of years I have found myself moving further from today's Liberal ideal due to its restrictive  and obligatory politically correct nature. On most social issues it seems as if everything Liberal is set in stone, unable to adjust to a changing world and I liken it to the similiar feeling I had when
dealing with the 'Pat Buchanan' mentality of the Conservative Party years ago.  I must admit over the past couple of years the inter-connection of the internet has opened my mind to so many thoughful and intellectual ideas coming from the (non-Pat Buchanan) Conservative side which for me I can relate as Liberal.  I recognize that most people from all political sides wish for the same end result but have differing ideas towards reaching those goals however
when I express (I admit emotional hysteria is my downside in expressing what others can do far more eloquently than I) concepts which are outside of today's Liberal dogma then I am automatically perceived as a some sort of 'uptight, stupid, Christian Nazi,
oppressing whitey, nut'.  (I admit to my nuttiness)

I also take issue with some of today's rigid Liberal dogma such as one can't possibly be a black Republican, women can't possibly be against using abortion as a political powerplay, the American ideal can't possibly do good in the world, the traditional family structure can't possibly be healthy for society etc., yet the very definition of Liberal is being able to freely express ideas and views in the manner of their own choosing. I have somehow become
a 'conservative' by default.  A couple of events, other than 9/1l and the war against Islamic-Jihadism,  which propelled me outside of today's Liberal mix was when I heard Liberals ridicule black conservatives like Rice and Powell as simply Aunt Jemima's and lackeys for the white man, when Hollywood actress Cameron Diaz appears on Oprah declaring that a vote for Bush means women will be raped, when all rich people are deemed evil except for Soros, Bing
and Teresa Kerry-Heinz, when 'Fake but Accurate' is defended as responsible news reporting and when a Village Voice theater critic called for the extermination of Republicans. I, too, am baffled by today's Liberal dogma.

That, and the fact that in NYC it is very difficult to come across people who, the moment you mention support for the Bush Doctrine applied in the ME or support of Bush anytime,  will not fire upon you as a right-wing christian-nazi religious nut and told to go home(meaning leave NYC). 

same writer on feminism,  particularly insightful.
These things must be said in  the Public Square - Atlas;

Thanks for the support as these days I sometimes wonder if my words might be coming across as senseless  diatribe particularly when I am evaluating my own thoughts towards liberalism. In other words, the ideals found in conservatism have been for so long relegated by liberals as rigid, restrictive and oppressive that to deviate from today's liberalism is tantamount to  ultimate betrayal.  For example, in my 20's and 30's I once accepted the current feminist philosophy as defining womanhood, but now, being a product of such feminism established during the 1970's (I'm 43 without children, live independently etc. etc. etc) I have to say that today's liberal feminist ideals are not all that it was cracked up to be.  I consider myself to be the result of the 1970's feminist experiment and am left with a sense of hollowness.  Today, I rather see how today's liberal feminism chooses to effectively 'eliminate the womb' so to speak in order to empower her,  today's feminism has our heads wrapped so far into our vaginas that we are loosing our womanhood.  Like the political manipulation of our bodies through abortion as a means to all feminine rights appears to me now as seeming like Medea's barbaric form of female empowerment but to say this amongst women....well I am labeled bitter.  What disturbs me most about today's rigid feminism is that they are telling young women how it is easy to have children well into their 40's even if it is the first while ignoring Mother-nature's reality.  I was always told to believe in living my life first and then think about having (paraphrasing today's feminist ideal) 'oppressive children and family' yet was  never shown the option that the two could coincide.  I have also come to recognize that males and females are not sexual equals (which is not the same thing as equal right under the law) but are compliments to one another, something that rigid feminism fails to notice.

Anyway to end that diatribe, in answer to your question please feel free to print my points however, for security purposes (or perhaps simply my paranoia) I do ask my name be withheld.

amen

Comments

[RG]

After reading this post I found the following site which is very interesting...

Ladies Against Feminism

http://www.ladiesagainstfeminism.org/

Being a guy I just peeked at the site briefly because I hate cat fights... But it looked interesting.

[Asher - Dreams Into Lightning]

Atlas, thanks for posting this. Says it beautifully. I hope more people like your correspondent will be willing to come out of the woodwork - or more accurately, the closet - and challenge the reactionary left's grip on public discourse.

[Pamela]

yes yes
so do I

[sonofsheldon]

For me it was a slow evolution from liberalism to conservatism. I think the last straw was seeing Al Sharpton being treated as if he deserved to be taken seriously as a presidential canditate. At that point I knew I had to vote for Bush. The beginning was 9-11 although I didn't realize it at the time. I'd read conservative columnists before that but always forced myself to find an argument against what they wrote even when down deep I knew it was true.

[adocnos]

Great straw men! In the tradition of Rand I see.

All liberals want to destroy the traditional family. All liberals think blacks are a uniform block of liberal believers.

This is idiocy.

[Michael at Half Sigma]

The writer was obviously not a REAL liberal, but rather a moderate who bought into some of the liberal rhetoric but then found much of it hypocritical.

[Jill]

Your friend - you too - should read the Independent Women's Forum
"The Independent Women's Forum was established to combat the women-as-victim, pro-big-government ideology of radical feminism. We seek to restore, strengthen, and extend that which promotes women's well being by advancing the principles of self-reliance, political freedom, economic liberty, and personal responsibility"

There's also a blog http://www.iwf.org/inkwell/

[ZF]

"I consider myself to be the result of the 1970's feminist experiment and am left with a sense of hollowness. Today, I rather see how today's liberal feminism chooses to effectively 'eliminate the womb' so to speak in order to empower her, today's feminism has our heads wrapped so far into our vaginas that we are loosing our womanhood..."

Why did so many fall for all that liberal nonsense so easily? And why did it take them so long to question the dogma? Did none of them ever think to e.g. look up the stats on fertility in a woman's 30's and 40's? It would not have been that hard. It's an interesting question. Could it be they didn't really want to know? If so they sorta did it to themselves... non?

[Jim]

Someone has said, "An urban conservative is a liberal who got mugged, carjacked, burgled, raped, assaulted, or robbed!"

Actually I've never seen it expressed exactly that way, so I guess I can take at least partial credit for it! :)

Best Regards,

Jim Smith
On the Banks of The Suwannee River
White Springs, Florida