The American Spectator

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Along with rest of the TAS community, I wish to welcome Mr. Roush back from his self-imposed exile from these pages. Our imaginations would surely just fly away if it were not for his raspberries from the sidelines.

In response to my ethnography on Liberal behavioral patterns, Mr. Roush resorts to the “so-iz-you” defense suggesting that, if I merely transposed the words “Liberal” and “Conservative” in my missive, we would “have a fair approximation of how some liberals view their counterparts.” Thus, unwittingly, Mr. Roush reinforces my point that Liberals are befallen with the psychological malady of projection “where they accuse others of the very attitudes and behaviors they themselves engage.”

In truth, both Conservatives and Liberals launch rude fireballs at each other — just as Mr. Roush states. I would differ from Mr. Roush in that I find acidic comments coming from both respective mainstreams and not just from the fringes. I would also confess that many letters from my fellow Conservatives which appear in TAS do make my baby-soft skin blush. Sometimes, when I read these letters on my plantation, all I can do is shout out “mercy” and call for my man, Bob, to bring me two aspirin and something cool to drink. Between Conservatives and Liberals, however, there is a small but significant difference. Conservatives write that way because they genuinely don’t like you. Liberals write that way because they think themselves the very embodiment of reason, decency, sweetness and light.

I am glad Mr. Roush thinks he has friends and acquainted ones who are Conservatives. I am even happier that “…We break bread together, we work in the community together and we discuss important issues in as civil manner.” Yet, to tell you the truth, I’d be more interested in what these friends have to say about the matter. Unfortunately, Mr. Roush’s testimony has that “some-of-my-best-friends-are-black” type flavor to it. It would just be nice to hear his friends’ side of the story.

As far as the canard of Conservatives’ belief in a vast conspiracy against them, I doubt very much Liberals all get together and hold meetings to plan battle tactics. I hardly think any Conservative does. Instead, I suggest Liberal discrimination and anger against Conservatives are attitudinal in origin. Not being a Conservative nor living as one, I am not surprised Mr. Roush thinks these stories of Liberal rejection and outrage are vastly overblown if not totally imaginary. Indeed, Liberals I know and have known rarely think they are discriminating against Conservatives. They scarcely give it a thought. Instead, they tend to believe Conservatives do not fit the “job specs” for this or that for one reason or another — “they just are not a good fit.” At the academic level, some Liberals (particularly in the social sciences but not exclusively so) will venture that Conservatives can’t get past their ideology and do serious work in their field. “Wouldn’t they be happier doing something else?” Rationalizations, yes. That’s just the point; Liberals think they have common sense reasons for what they do. Of course, that’s to the extent any thought is devoted to the matter. Most of the time, it is simply “assume, skip over it and move on to the next subject.”

p>I don’t expect a Liberal to see these things. But, as I did, if you pass from being a Liberal to being a Conservative, woe will be unto you. Outrage? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been on the receiving end on that one from those who believe they are only doing what any rational and decent person would do. As bad as that is, it is better than not getting a chance to speak your piece at all. You know, we Conservatives are so divisive. br> — Mike Dooley /p> p> CUSTOMER SERVICE br> Re: Peter Ferrara’s The Economic Recovery Plan