The American Spectator : The Death of Liberalism

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The Death of Liberalism

By Jeffrey Lord on 5.8.12 @ 6:10AM

R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. documents a political suicide — the Infantile Left and Stealth Socialism.

Infantile.

The characteristics of a baby or child, says Webster’s.

Being infantile is a charming characteristic — in a baby or child. In adults? Adults charged with the serious responsibility of discussing or actually running public policy?

Never good. As seen here in this story about Occupy Wall Street, replete with photo of a protester defecating on a police car.

R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. has been observing and writing about this kind of ludicrous behavior that he terms the “Infantile Left” for some 40-plus years through the magazine that he created and you are reading, The American Spectator.

What brought this memorable photo of a defecating Occupy protestor to mind was reading the stunning, pull-back-and-survey-the-battlefield book that is Tyrrell’s new book, The Death of Liberalism.

The book is nothing less than an autopsy conducted while the battle still rages. An astute recognition that Liberalism’s defenders are being reduced by the day if not the hour to the political equivalent of the survivors of Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg, the latter known to history as the high-water mark of the Confederacy. A great swarming, savage last-assault across the political battlefields into the incessant cannon and rifle fire of the American majority. Leaving in the aftermath not only massive Liberal casualties on the battlefield, but inducing a sense of crippling psychological failure among the Liberal survivors, of which at the moment the Occupy Wall Street debacle — they of the defecating-on-police-cars and rape tents crowd — is the most vivid example.

The irony? It wasn’t always so.

Classical liberalism, as Tyrrell states, originally “stood for adherence to individual liberty, to tolerance, to reason, and for many of us, to empiricism.” The classic liberalism of a George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and the others known today as the Founding Fathers but one example, if the example most familiar to Americans.

Tyrrell cites this wonderful definition of classical liberalism given all the way back in 1873 by England’s Sir William Harcourt, who made the point in a talk at Oxford. Liberty, said Harcourt,

…does not consist in making others do what you think is right. The difference between a free Government and a Government which is not free is principally this — that a Government which is not free interferes with everything it can, and a free Government interferes with nothing except what it must. A despotic government tries to make everybody do what it wishes, a Liberal Government tries, so far as the safety of society will permit, to allow everybody to do what he wishes.

Harcourt anticipated the reign of Obama and Pelosi by 139 years. In the style of true conservatives everywhere, he understood the eternal human nature — and its temptations with centralized power.

Tyrrell employs a literary device that originated with the late William F. Buckley, Jr. To wit, separating the original meaning of “liberal” in its classic sense from today’s term by capitalizing the word to “Liberal” or “Liberalism.” It is a useful device to differentiate what has come to mean two very, very different belief systems, one of them appallingly nuts.

For a small sample of just how infantile one can see the Infantile Left at work here in Oakland, California in 2011, in Chicago at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, at the Pentagon in 1967, in Los Angeles in 1992 or all manner of places in 1986 when Ronald Reagan bombed Libya in response to an attack on U.S. military personnel in then-West Germany. Here’s an interesting one with Infantile Left expressing itself on the environment. And who could miss these two bookmarks to the career of Massachusetts Senator John Kerry doing the Infantile Left gig here (as captured in a Swiftboat ad) and here, where he windsurfed as a presidential candidate. And there’s Hillary as potential president

The examples are endless, and you can’t make it up.

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About the Author

Jeffrey Lord is a former Reagan White House political director and author. He writes from Pennsylvania at jlpa1@aol.com.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (129) | Leave a comment Leave a comment

Jack in Wi.| 5.8.12 @ 6:39AM

The radical left and right are taking over most of Europe. Socialism just won again in France. Romney is headed to a historic defeat if trends continue. Obama will have at least another 4 years. It is true that liberals haven't had a new idea since the 30's. But since the Bush gang took over the Republican party the country has been on a downward slide that speeds up with every election.

TLP| 5.8.12 @ 7:46AM

This isn't Classical Liberalism. This is Communism, with a Radical Islam Twist. This is Classical Marxism, with it's "By any means necessary" way of doing things.

Fast and Furious, is a "By any means" Operation. What's a bunch of Dead Mexicans, compared to The Brass Ring? (The total Disarming of the American People.)

Liberalism is Dead?

I seem to recall a certain someone, in 1984, saying pretty much the same thing, after the Republicans kicked the Democrat's asses in that years' Election. In the same way that Communism was supposed to be Dead, after the Wall came down, and how we were all going to Join Hands, and there would be No Red States, and No Blue States, only American States, and we would all work together for the Betterment of Mankind, with a NEW KIND OF POLITICS, from a New Kind of Politician.

How's that working out?

Liberalism will NEVER Die. Just as Communism will never Die. Just like Marxism, Maoism, Socialism, and Anarchism will never Die. They are all just other names for Evil. They are all Crimes against God.

There have always been, and there will always be: Men (and Women) who will build a Tower, from which to Shoot an Arrow in to the Sky, in an effort to convince the people that God is Dead, and that He killed HIM.

There will always be people who want to Control their fellow Citizens' every move, every thought, right up until the Day they decide it's time for them to DIE.

Somewhere in the World, there is a Tyrant who Controls the Number of Children you're allowed to have, the clothes you're allowed to wear, and whom they are, and are not, allowed to talk to. Somewhere in the World, there's a Tyrant who is more than happy, to unleash his Hordes in to an area of his Country that has displeased him, to RAPE, and MURDER, or just separate the people from their Arms or their Legs.

There are still People, who are willing to use STARVATION as a Tool. There are still Country's where the knock on the door, at 3am, is the last time they see a loved one.

We have a Leader who has been surrounded with these people, his entire life. Their ways are in his Blood. Their ways are in his DNA. He is a "New Age" Ghengis Khan. He doesn't use a Bow, or a Sword. He uses his IRS, or his EPA, to shut you down. He uses his Interior Department, or his Energy Department, to bend you to his will.

In the long tradition of Men who would seek to Control the people, he Rewards his Friends, while PUNISHING his Enemies. And he do what he needs to do, to get what he wants. And, God help you if you get in the way. Just ask the over 1,000 Dead Mexicans how far this THING will go to obtain Control over our lives.

Oh, that's right. You can't.

They're Dead.

MURDERED, on the orders of The One, for the Glory of The One.

It's called - Evil - and it's not going anywhere.

Teaghan| 5.8.12 @ 8:41AM

Tim's right. And they WILL NOT give up this election to Romney. The beasts that surround obama are addicted to the power and will not let go. Civil unrest will be the order of the day this summer with race being the center of it all. obama has set us back in that dept. 50 yrs.

Jack in Wi.| 5.8.12 @ 6:14PM

I read Mr. Tyrrell's previous books on the Liberal crackup amd the Conservative crackup. It seems to me that both groups are still cracked up.

Joellen| 5.8.12 @ 9:20AM

TLP, once again you hit it right on the nail. Until our LORD & SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIS+, returns, the battle between GOOD & EVIL will be. Our only solutions are to try and educate, both morally and historically, be firm examples and as St. Paul stated, put on the armor and fight the battle every day. It doesnt matter whether "WE" win the battle, for in the end, I AM wins all the glory.

Dave Williams| 5.8.12 @ 10:26AM

Um, I think in the Bible Jesus himself said something to the effect of "many who are alive now will see my return." 2000+ years later, and some deluded fools are STILL waiting....what a con job. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for his return....but that's just me.

USSAlabama| 5.8.12 @ 10:38AM

You need a better translation. Or learn to read Koine.

DTOM!| 5.8.12 @ 10:46AM

Dave,

C'mon, hold your breath!

See you have missed the point that dying in this world is not the same as dying for eternity. Whether you want it or not, you have a soul which lives beyond this world. When your body dies and God ends this world, you will be judged by God then.

Believe it or not...

Good luck to you.

Don't Tread On Me!!!

randyinrocklin| 5.8.12 @ 2:35PM

every knee shall bow great and small and stand before Jesus Christ and you shall be judged. to unbelievers you shall dwell in Hell for eternity.

Buck Ofama| 5.9.12 @ 1:39PM

Dave, don't start your post with the juvenile term, "Um".

darcy| 5.9.12 @ 2:10AM

You know, TLP, you make a whole lot of sense. I draw the same conclusions: the toxic 'isms' are merely various flavors of evil -- which isn't going anywhere.

Vern Crisler| 5.8.12 @ 10:12AM

Given that RET supported Romney against real conservatives during the Republican primaries, I'm still waiting for a good reason why I should read his book, much less buy it.

Maybe if he had titled it "The Death of the Republican Party" it would give us a truer picture of RET's recent contributions to political debate.

Right now, the Paulista vultures are croaking in glee about this, but true conservatives can only shake their heads in dismay.

Tommy Frisco| 5.8.12 @ 12:06PM

You're right, Vern.

RET is trying to lull us back to sleep as are the GOP elites. The Democrat Party used to be controlled by liberals, but they have been taken over by Communists. It is Communists, partnered with Islamists, who have taken over our Government. Stanley Dunham, Stanley Ann Dunham, Barack Obama I, Frank Marshal Davis were not Liberals, they were Communists. Bill Ayers, the man who groomed our current POTUS is an admitted small c Communist. Valerie Jarrett and Axelrod were raised as Communists by their Fathers and Grandfathers. Communism is in their blood, not Liberalism.

Through fear or bribery, our side has been silent to the point of being complicit in this Communist takeover of our Government.

Liberalism may be dead, but only because it has been replaced by Communism. Considering Obama's associations and obviously faked identification documents, how else could he have received the security clearance to become POTUS if our Federal Government has not become completely corrupted?

No, I won't buy Tyrell's book and I am extremely disappointed in Mr. Lord for promoting it. He's just been added to my list of pundits to ignore.

loulou| 5.8.12 @ 12:32PM

Right, Vern Crisler. I'm not buying RET's book. He's lost his mojo. He used to be great. Now he's another Ann Coulter. A spent force.

Skippy| 5.8.12 @ 8:07PM

Then get the f*ck off his site and quit trolling.
To Media Matters with you!

loulou| 5.8.12 @ 8:10PM

Temper, temper.

Dittohead| 5.8.12 @ 10:25AM

I am glad the liberals are not cracking up any more and are officially dead.

Dave | 5.8.12 @ 10:52AM

My problem with Tyrrell's analysis is that ... today's leftist masses have been so utterly cattle herded through decades of formal and informal indoctrination and re-eduction that whatever is shouted over the transom window (look it up) will usually fall on deaf ears. That's a problem with the hearing impaired. They SEE, but hear little or nothing. Those among their medical occupiers refer to it as the Sgt. Schultz syndrome.

In the end, what we're left with are crumbling societies such as Greece, France and soon most of Europe. What we're SEEING here at home are the last gasps of a wilting America, and non productive cellar dwellers with names like Jack and Purp who somehow find the daily time to sit in their pajamas and post blithering after redundant blithering. Or defined in non-polite circles: the same ol' tired sh-t.

Pat Buchanan once lamented about his party: "The Republican won't fight." Sadly, he's been found to be correct. Boehner, McConnell and others among their politically timid are proof. And with another RINO to (allegedly) lead us from the final collapse, and a national media more than willing to bend over and carry the Left's daily water, I can see how our future is already playing-out in Europe. I believe the TMZ crowd calls it ... sneak previews. For the American Left, previews are a very cool tool, indeed. They require little hearing; only watching.

I wonder if the Right is watching, too?

Alan Brooks| 5.9.12 @ 12:08AM

White trash eschatology.

Ken (Old Texican)| 5.8.12 @ 7:18AM

Jack,
we Texans have a name for folks like you: "fuss-budget".

Teaghan| 5.8.12 @ 8:39AM

My sweet daddy used to call me that when I would get on a whining jag.

NewEngland Conservative| 5.8.12 @ 7:34AM

Jack in Wi and Ken:

Actually, we have a better Yankee name for Jack's type. It's 'Fool'!

Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 5.8.12 @ 7:44AM

Incredibly, the Republicans stood by and let it happen and jumped into the pool.

The article is right about the public growing sick of it. That helps explain Lugar's situation.

Great article!

Surly Curmudgen| 5.8.12 @ 10:22AM

The Democrat party, controlled by a small faction, communist/socialist, is in a full out sprint for the cliff where they can leap into that factions oh so glorious utopia. The media, screaming and wetting their panties in excitement, cheering them on. The GOP-E and rinos, with Romney in the lead, are five yards back and mad as hell that they wont be able to jump at the same time as their friends.

Both parties are well to the left of "radical leftists" when they belong to the right of center. The Democrats slightly right of center and the Republicans further to the right.

fiscal| 5.8.12 @ 7:54AM

The unfortunate truth is that government has been reducing individual liberty not only on the left, but on the right as well. We have cradle to death entitlements on the left, but we have unfunded wars, an outsized military, the Patriot Act, and an incursion on an individual's decision on things like abortion, gay marriage, and a forcing of Christianity on all. This results in huge immoral increases in the debt on both sides whether it is to pay for programs, or reduce taxes -- neither of which benefits our progeny.

We can no longer afford either type of government growth without paying for it. Liberalism will not disappear because an uneducated voter base will always want something for nothing. And right wing extremism will not disappear because evangelicals use belief rather than reason and analysis to make secular decisions.

In 20-30 years, when we can no longer finance our deficits, big government will fall of its own weight and individuals will make their own decisions. As a country, we don't move unless we have a crisis -- and we don't have one quite yet.

Mickey| 5.8.12 @ 8:22AM

Your'e an idiot. Who is forcing you to be a Christian?

fiscal| 5.8.12 @ 8:29AM

Abortion, gay marriage, drugs, Israel, anti-Muslim, contraception, etc.... Give me a break....

Indiana Alex| 5.8.12 @ 9:04AM

So conservatives are forcing Gay Marriage, drugs, Abortion, contraception, etc. on everyone else?

You have been weighed, measured and found wanting on so many occasions that it's well past time to drop the seminar poster nonsense. You don't even do it well, not that a Liberal can very well attempt to acurately articulate a conservative position.

It's far easier for us, you see, to go to a Liberal discussion board and loudly yell "Koch Brothers!!!", and be immediately accepted for our piercing insight and scholarly command of current issues.

fiscal| 5.8.12 @ 9:42AM

No one is forcing you to get an abortion or marry someone of the same sex. However, you are trying to prevent others from doing so.... This argument that people who want true individual liberty are forcing their beliefs on you is nonsense. You are free to live YOUR life as you wish -- just don't force your beliefs on the rest of us.

Indiana Alex| 5.8.12 @ 10:10AM

Whew, for a moment there I thought someone was forcing me to subsidize someone else's birth control, and recognize marraiges that are not recognized under the laws implemented by voters, but imposed by tyrants in black robes.

TLP| 5.8.12 @ 11:12AM

People are "prevented" from doing things, all the time. They tell us which way we can drive, on the Highway. When to Stop the Car, what kind of seat your Child must sit in, and that you MUST wear a Seat Belt.

I used to like Snorting Coke. But I had to do it, on the sly, because I was "prevented" by the Government, from doing it out in the open.
You can't Drink and Drive. You can't Murder, Rob, or Rape someone, no matter how much you Wish to do so, as a part of Living your life as you wish.

As far as "Forcing your beliefs on everybody else?"

STFU A-hole. That's all you Pukes, on the Left, do.

Sex Education in Elementary Schools. Condoms in the Class Rooms. The "Teaching" to 3rd Graders, of The Joy of Anal Sex. The Joy of Sex with someone much Older than you. The Joys of Masturbation, Fellatio, and Sex with Inanimate Objects.

Ring a Bell, douchebag?

How about Gay Marriage, and Gay Scout Leaders? Can't the Boy Scouts live their lives as they wish? Or is that just for THE FREAKS?

Why is it that THE FREAKS can take over the Village Green, and Piss, and Crap, all over the place, while they get High, and get Drunk, Molest, and Rape, and Scream Profanities, yet I can't take my Family to town, to enjoy a Christmas Tree or a Manger Scene, on the Public Green, in my Town, in a Country where Christmas is A NATIONAL HOLIDAY?

How come ONE Atheist Freak, always gets his way vs ONE MILLION of the Regular/Normal people?

Why can't I get Trans Fats in the food I like? I want to Fish wherever I want to, FOR FREE, without forking over Money, for a Fishing Liscence. Why do I need a Liscence to Fish IN THE OCEAN? Why do I have to buy a Liscence to Hunt?

This is not the way I wish it to be.

It's how Scumbags, like YOU, wish it to be.

If you ask me? You MFers are the ONLY ONES who get your lives the way you wish. You've even gone so far, as to have been given THE RIGHT to walk around New York City in your Underpants, if you are a Guy, Or a guy who likes guys. (which is practically all of you) and TOPLESS, if you're (How does MSNBC put it? Oh, yeah.) a Slut.

You dirtbags can MURDER your unborn Babies, even AFTER they're Born, and you've got your Dear Leader's Approval. You get Free Needles, so you can shoot up your Heroin. free Lawyers, for when you get Caught, shooting up your Heroin. And, now you DEMAND that Religious Affiliated Institutions give your Whore Girlfriends, FREE BIRTH CONTROL, and Screw the Constitution, and the 1st Amendment!

Like I said, before. STFU.

Crawl back in your hole, and go on living your Pathetic Life, with your Freak Pals, and your STDs.

Your time is almost up.

Mark my words. There's defiantly a change, coming. And, I promise you, you're not gonna like it.

Hillbilly| 5.9.12 @ 5:13PM

No need to curse TLP,otherwise...spot on.

TLP| 5.8.12 @ 11:12AM

As far as "Forcing your beliefs on everybody else?"

STFU A-hole. That's all you Pukes, on the Left, do.

Ring a Bell, douchebag?

How about Gay Marriage, and Gay Scout Leaders? Can't the Boy Scouts live their lives as they wish? Or is that just for THE FREAKS?

How come ONE Atheist Freak, always gets his way vs ONE MILLION of the Regular/Normal people?

This is not the way I wish it to be.

It's how Scumbags, like YOU, wish it to be.

Like I said, before. STFU.

Crawl back in your hole, and go on living your Pathetic Life, with your Freak Pals, and your STDs.

Your time is almost up.

Mark my words. There's defiantly a change, coming. And, I promise you, you're not gonna like it.

Petronius| 5.8.12 @ 11:39AM

TLP
I see you double posted. Saved me a lot of time.
Friend

TLP| 5.8.12 @ 11:48AM

It doesn't matter what you write, when you accidentally hit the freaking button, twice.

Especially when it's really looooooong.

It's like a nice big Banana Split.

One of them? "Nice."

Two of them? "I think I'm gonna be sick."

Oh, well.

Petronius| 5.8.12 @ 12:39PM

And I enjoyed it twice as much.

Tommy Frisco| 5.8.12 @ 12:56PM

I hope your double posts become a habit. I usually read your comments twice anyway. By double posting, I don't have to scroll ALL the way back up to the top to re-read.

Seriously, TLP, you've got it all figured out. Thank-you for sharing your thoughts with us.

ssabmud| 5.8.12 @ 6:33PM

what Tommy said

loulou| 5.8.12 @ 1:52PM

It was worth it!

Mickey| 5.8.12 @ 9:23AM

fiscal, try speaking in sentences with a noun, verb, and object to connect whatever it is you want to say. You sound like a Democrat spitting out Iraq, Iraq, ...

fiscal| 5.8.12 @ 9:43AM

I tried, but it seems too complex for you....

Mickey| 5.8.12 @ 11:56AM

No, you didn't and you can't, troll.

Too Late To Impeach| 5.9.12 @ 3:43PM

Nope. Sorry, opposition to abortion is not a Christian-only point of view. I hated abortion before I even knew what being a Christian was. There are non-Christians (and non-religious people) who believe abortion is wrong. Making us pay for abortions IS forcing us to contradict our personal beliefs, whether Christian or not. Not only Christians are opposed to same-sex marriage either. People think that outside of "Christianity" all these things are just peach-keen, and therefore Christianity is the problem. Not so.

fiscal| 5.8.12 @ 8:30AM

I forgot.... add evolution and (un)-intelligent design in public schools....

Mickey| 5.8.12 @ 9:24AM

fiscal finally admits he is a LEFTY troll.

fiscal| 5.8.12 @ 9:39AM

Actually, Mickey, I dislike the left. I'm a proud Libertarian.....

DTOM!| 5.8.12 @ 10:49AM

fiscal,

I'm still waiting for you to identify as either a useful idiot or an unrepentant Communist. Which is it, please!

Don't Tread On Me!!!

buckeyeman| 5.8.12 @ 11:04AM

As a proud Libertarian, can I assume that you don't believe I should have to pay for your life choices?

W| 5.8.12 @ 3:57PM

Fiscal
Please explain what your meant by "...Israel, anti-Muslim..."

From the Desk of Media Matters| 5.8.12 @ 12:39PM

Fecal Fecal Fecal Barney Fecal Fecal Fecal Frank Fecal Fecal Fecal Frankly As Morally As Fiscally Flaccid,

MM staff only warned you somewhere between 15.7 something and 118.7 something trillion times.

MM staff is having yet another banner day office pool wise and bottom rung MM mindless retarded parrot let this be a lesson to all bottom rung MM mindless retarded parrots I told you so wise.

Carry on.

- MM staff

Teaghan| 5.8.12 @ 8:43AM

What the hell are you talking about! Forcing you to be Christian? Are you kidding me? The left is killing Christianity!

fiscal| 5.8.12 @ 8:58AM

Ahh... so that's why church attendance is up in this country....

http://www.gallup.com/poll/141.....-2010.aspx

You're watching too much Fox News... Look at facts for a change... That's right, it's a belief, not reason and analysis...

Teaghan| 5.8.12 @ 2:16PM

Well, if what you say is true, that's good news! It shows that people are rebelling against the likes of the regressive democrat party and you.
Thank you Jesus!

Skippy| 5.8.12 @ 8:43PM

So sorry you are threatened by evil Christians.
How awful that church attendance is up!
Tell you what; make the same complaint to your local mosque and tell me how it comes out.

Von Mises Jr| 5.8.12 @ 9:13AM

Spot on fiscal! Ignore the trolls. The $20 per hour they get from Soros will be the best job they ever get in their lives.
Of course, if they are successful, they will work in government factories for a couple bucks an hour as they do in China and Third World countries.
It is not worth your time debating with stupid people that Mr. Lord just characterized well.

Al Adab| 5.8.12 @ 11:19AM

Twenty an hour? Not too bad where I live. LOL

Anyway, in one sense Liberalism in both the classic sense (now known as Conservatism) and in its activist incarnation has changed. The Liberalism of the American DEM party, once a proud and patriotic one, has metasticized into a cancer which is eating the life blood from our economy and society. It is in that sense not dead but "evolved" into a clear and present danger.

Von Mises Jr| 5.8.12 @ 1:06PM

"Liberalism" in Mises and Hayek's days meant the complete opposite as we understand it today as illustrated in the Democrat Party.
Pascal emphasized in Port Royal Logic that a word must have an unequivocal meaning and be used consistently. Changing the meaning of words over time defeats debate.
Neat trick.

W| 5.8.12 @ 4:02PM

Von
This is what liberal lefties have done with the word "life" for abortion. Now that it is clear when life begins, they add the qualification of when the life can think, or have a quality life, or when does that life become a "human" life ( as if the fetus were to change to a lion or dog), or a person under the constitution entitled to protection, or any other weasel words of qualification to justify their position to kill the life.

Al Adab| 5.8.12 @ 5:23PM

Some maintain that the "product of conception" is not fully human until age two and should be subject to "abortion" or termination at the parents whim to that point.

W| 5.8.12 @ 7:16PM

Al
I believe that is Peter Singer, of Princeton, who says we should allow abortion to age 2. It is a logic without any morality: if you can kill the baby one minute before he is "born" or outside the womb, then why not after he is born. It is the logic of the partial birth abortion.

Von Mises Jr| 5.8.12 @ 10:17PM

The word "free" to us means liberty to choose. "Free" to a socialist means free from worry about housing, food, clothing, health care. So when having a conversation with a liberal, one might as well be speaking Mandarin to an Afghan.

hardcard| 5.8.12 @ 8:01AM

Dear Bob...............take a nap.

martin j smith| 5.8.12 @ 8:10AM

Liberalism morphs into various forms. Its sheds its skin to be branded anew. It depends on lies and hysteria too. Its like some animals in the zoo.
When its does not get its way-it pouts,screams, creates chaos, then then it resorts to violence in the end. Are thy FDR, or Joseph Stalin or Mao or perhaps Chavez or Castro or the Hauty Europeans who don't give a damn about their
world. To bring our nation from the brink--even though Romney can stink-vote against Obama for your lives and mine depend on that result. Any one who does not get that is worse than stupid and deserves no respect.

DTOM!| 5.8.12 @ 10:55AM

It really does trace back to the Sophists in the fourth or fifth century B.C. They believed that each man defined right and wrong for himself. That's nice and easy, until of course, the sophist decides that your wife, your property, or your life really belong to him. Since he is defining right and wrong, you are wrong to complain about his alienation of your wife's affections, theft, or murder.

Socialism is not new, at all. SOS, by a different name.

Don't plan on "winning" this war, ever. It's about immutable human nature, nothing else.

buckeyeman| 5.8.12 @ 11:07AM

My wife does not "belong" to me. She belongs to herself. And her "affections" could only be alienated by me. You sound like someone who's been burned on this score. Stick to the idea that "property" does not include persons.

DTOM!| 5.10.12 @ 9:39AM

I actually take the idea from the Ten Commandments.

Is the woman you are married to "your" wife?

Did you give yourself to her?

Did she give herself to you?

You attempt to trivialize the very consequential fundamental notion in marriage - accepting that one is no longer entirely one's own boss, in this world.

Good luck with that!

Sam Vaughn| 5.8.12 @ 8:23AM

If Obama is re-elected we will find we have awoken to the death of liberalism to find an imperial alien has sprung from it's core. Congress has been made irrelevant by their own hand. Government bureaucrats write regulations directed by the President and there is nothing the Congress can do. I dare say we find ourselves at Waterloo, let's hope their is a Wellington and a Prussian to alter the tipping point.

tsd| 5.8.12 @ 8:40AM

Thanks, good article!

Indy| 5.8.12 @ 8:43AM

The Far Left is out in the open and there are everywhere,

A senior Obama administration official defended the efficacy of “class warfare” on his personal blog Monday by quoting the political philosopher and communist theorist Karl Marx.

http://freebeacon.com/obama-ad.....rld-unite/

wow, just wow

Surly Curmudgen| 5.8.12 @ 10:49AM

They have spent the last one hundred years accumulating power, influence and position. With Obama's election they are consolidating that power and influence with position and are certain they have won. Their next step is the elimination of the now useless idiots. Then Bill Ayers, who has been wetting his pants in eager anticipation for many months, will fulfil his most fervent desire of murdering twenty five million plus conservative Americans.

WOW just WOW is correct!

blackwatch| 5.8.12 @ 1:06PM

they don't have enough trigger fingers for outright murder. unless they are willing to use WMD's on our own soil I'm not too worried about a lefty POGROM against us. they will use public education, Presidential edicts, and MSM to do their dirty work.

Teaghan| 5.8.12 @ 2:18PM

And don't forget Obamacare with Sebelius' death panels.

Mike G| 5.8.12 @ 2:30PM

Do they really need trigger fingers? After all, Stalin and Mao didn't. And inflation is already driving up the cost of food and gasoline.

PattyMor| 5.8.12 @ 8:52AM

The death of liberalism? Surely you jest. Not only do they control the schools, Hollyweird, Most of Music (except C & W), Foundations, Most of the Media, the border (or lack of enforcement) and the bureaucracies. They have infected just about every institution in our country, including most religions. And we are about to nominate the MOST LIBERAL REPUBLICAN, Mitt Romney.

Von Mises Jr| 5.8.12 @ 9:26AM

Indy and PattyMor are spot on. These socialist are not going away quietly.
Last night, Hannity had Dick Morris as a guest. His new book "Screwed" explains how Dick Lugar and apparently other RINO ruling class elites are in league with the Democrats to pass a series of Treaties that will undermine our Constitution in the lame duck session.
- Treaty of the Seas (LOST) grants 50% of all profits from the U.S. costal seas to the U.N.
- Treaties on international criminal courts will render U.S. politicians subject to international crimes
- Other wealth distribution pacts will transfer Americans wealth to Third World countries
- Our exploration of energy will be at the whim of global elites

In liberal states such as New Jersey, Christie is about to sign an Executive Order implementing Agenda21, and the liberal legislature is about to send him a Foreclosure Bill that will set up a $1B bond issue for our own Freddie Mac. The foreclosed homes will be bought by state government and utilized as "affordable housing" for ex-convicts, sex offenders and drug addicts.

Liberalism (communism) is far from dead yet!

emilio lizardo, PhD| 5.8.12 @ 8:58AM

This is bullshit, balls, and poppycock. While "Liberalism" may be dead as in "non-viable" as an ideology for society and governmental practice, the actual practice of Liberalism is very much alive: Look to academe where our nations high schools and institutions of higher learning are no more than centers for liberal indoctrination by an overwhelmingly leftist faculty and any opposing views are shouted down by mobs or squelched at the institutional or administrative level, a media that is unashamedly in the tank for liberal causes, liberal unions public sector and otherwise that have crippled this country financially and laid waste to our cities, an entertainment industry our slackjawed populace worships despite the odious liberal bilge pumped in Hollywood, etc etc. Liberalism is alive and well. Look no further to the imminent re-election of perhaps the worst president of all time, and ask yourself, if Liberalism is dead, why is the reelection of BHO even a remote possibility. Emmett is whistling as he skulks past the graveyard

A. C. Santore| 5.8.12 @ 9:05AM

Dr. Lizardo, I shudder to think that you may be right.

shuddddder. You may be right.

George Collins| 5.8.12 @ 11:40AM

Dr. Lizardo, you are naive and a humorless oaf, in the mold of Robert Bork. Bob Tyrrell is correct that the life is going out of Liberalism and Jeff Lord is right to point out that we're in the midst of Liberalism's last charge. President Obama is a disaster for this country, but life goes on, and we still live in the greatest country in the world.
My kids are seizing wonderful oportunities, even having studied at the feet of a Liberal faculty in some of the finest institutions of higher learning in the world. The difference is, my kids can think for themselves, and can sort through what matters and what is sordid personal opinion.
I feel bad for you and folks like you. I imagine you holed up in a bunker somewhere, waiting for the helicopters.
God doesn't love you any less, and there are tremendous opportunities all over this country. Pull up the shades.
By the way, we will have our first Mormon-American as President next January. What odious things do you have to say about that? Isn't it exciting?

emilio lizardo, PhD| 5.8.12 @ 12:19PM

If the worse thing you can say about me is that I am humorless and in the mold of Robert Bork, I'll gladly take that. And I plan on voting for Romney. Gladly, too. I am happy as a clam. And as a university faculty member, I'll bet you have no idea the type of happy horseshit you, sucker, paid a lot of money, lots and lots of money, to have your chirren exposed to at the lofty institutions you describe. I may be humorless, possibly an oaf, definitely not naive. I think you are the one with the rose colored glasses.

loulou| 5.8.12 @ 12:35PM

The idiot gave you a compliment.
The George Collins creep is the humorless one.

Carry on, emilio lizardo!

Inquiring Minds| 5.8.12 @ 12:46PM

loulou,

Have you read the comments in the May 4 'Cheap Savage, Dear Prudence' article?

George Collins| 5.8.12 @ 5:21PM

Glad to hear it, and I will be voting for Governor Romney too, the next President of the United States. I apologize for calling you names; I got off to a bad start today, but I'm working on a martini now and things are certainly getting rose-colored. Regarding the state of our universities, yes, it's cost me a bundle, and the places are crawling with left-wing misfits (most of whom are very angry, like our current President) but I'm happy to say I have raised a brood who vote Republican, go to church, and make a very nice living. I guess I'm the oaf, I'm so proud of them.

emilio lizardo, PhD| 5.8.12 @ 6:46PM

no worries, I've been called worse, especially in this forum! I'll bet you have a fine family- I do too. I hope we can turn out the current generation of swine that are ruining our country. Enjoy that martini...Salud!

Emilio

George Collins| 5.9.12 @ 8:56AM

I'm quite sure you do. The martini was bone-dry.

Mimi| 5.8.12 @ 9:02AM

The same outrage , that caused the "GREAT WIN" of 2010 is still with us to this day!
We are truly awakened to LIBERTY and new faith restored in dependence on the Gift of the U.S. Constitution.
What appears quiet now will take hold with a GIANT ROAR To undue the mistake of 2008.
The absolute desire to be AMERICAN....to continue as a FREE people and to hire the people to adhere to those princples is strong and growing.
Look tonight to Indiana ...will it be go along to get along or will the urge to preserve and practice our Constitution win out.
This movement has begun it will have it's ups and downs...providence has a strong hand in America's future....let it be that WE will prevail!!

Derek Leaberry| 5.8.12 @ 9:18AM

As long as we have economic losers and the morally depraved amongst us, liberalism will do well. In America, not only do they control one political party absolutely, they have gathering strength in the other major party. Witness Mitt Romney's nomination.

Susie Q| 5.8.12 @ 9:26AM

Liberalism may be dead, but like Barnabas Collins, it continues to rise from the grave, frightening...menacing....And instead of putting a stake straight through its blackened heart, the mainstream Republican Party just sticks its neck out and yells, "DINNER!"

POST American| 5.8.12 @ 9:26AM

--These discussions and breakdowns
are absurdly out of date and dengeroulsy
out of touch.

The capstone sown, directed and CON-trolled
'DIE--ALL--eck---tick' is currently laughably
threadbare--to ALLLLL but the most abject
televiosn watchers and med-heads.

Word is even out that the --LONG term
plan is to, no kidding, overrun and collapse
western culture, and to bring in ----ISLAM!
as the neccessary religious component
for the New World EUGENICS order.

MASS CONVERSIONS, after a little
further degeneration of the Rockefeller
poisoned 'christian' churches, are to
be expected within the decade.

ISLAM, which itself means 'SIR--render'
seems to have great facility to handle
large populations, and even has intriguing
sequeway potential for the Rockefeller et al
program for 'RAPID and MASSIVE population
reduction by ANY and ALLLL means'.

Finally, unremarked anywhere ---even as
we write, RUSSIAN TROOPS are
engaged in joint exercises with Americans
in Colorado, training to 'take on American
terrorists'.

----You know, just south of Idaho where
RED China has opened its 'first of many'
'sovereignty zones'.

----ON this, the 'mysteriously overlooked'
60th Anniversary of the KOREAN WAR
-----------IN this, the 11th hour of the CFR
---RED China handover and takedown op.----

-------------------ARE WE READY?--- YET???

Dick Nome| 5.8.12 @ 10:01AM

Into the Chloroform again, I see. Post full moon letdown got ya??

Anthony| 5.8.12 @ 9:28AM

Two recent events speak volumes of the decadence and moral rot of leftism and how it's destroying America.
First, Chief Sitting Bull Elizabeth Warren, the blonde haired, blue eyed ideologue who may be 1/64 Indian. She parlayed the left's immoral obsession with muticulturalism and quotas to game the system.
Rush played Cher's '60s song "Half Breed" last week while making a Warren spoof, little did Cher know that 30 years later, the verse, "how I love to hate that word" would be turned on its head.
Being a "half breed" in the '90s got you tribal recognition and if your tribe had a casino, a life time pay check just for sitting in one's Teepee.
Of course, being a "half breed" today gets a C student a full ride to an elite college or university. Oh my, the wonders of diversity.
Then we have the radical woman lawyer representing the GITMO scum, who, in deference to her client's "religious wishes", dons a burka in the courtroom, so as not to offend her client on trial for mass murder.
This same radical lefty no doubts takes exception to religious displays during Christmas and Chanukah.
It's no wonder the scum at GITMO are laughing their asses off at America, while on trial for their lives. With the left in control, demonstrating that they have no moral convictions or belief in America, 7th century fanatics smell the rank odor of death of Western Civilization coming from "captors".
They laugh at our weakness and our lost sense of greatness. And if a brave soldier took matters into his/her hands, they be court martialed and jailed before the GITMO scum trials got through day 4.
If we don't defeat the left now, America is dead. It's time for real Americans to take control.

Not Special Ops Bill| 5.9.12 @ 2:47PM

The line in "Half Breed" is "how I learned to hate the word."

Anthony| 5.8.12 @ 9:51AM

Mr. Lord, you say Emmett's book is not a "stand alone". I quite agree. While I will buy Emmett's book, I suggest one read it in real time with Dan Rather's recent tome, without of course, paying for that POS book.
The juxtaposition of these two books, I suspect, without having read either, will demonstrate that "liberalism", or leftism, as I perfer, is not dead, not yet, by any means.
In fact, leftism, if it is dying, is in its most virulent, dangerous, and infectious state. If we Americans can kill leftism now, perhaps Emmett will be proven correct, however, if we lose, Emmett and the rest of us are toast.

Indy| 5.8.12 @ 9:59AM

"Don't ever let someone like me in the WH?"
What do you think Van Jones meant by this?

http://www.breitbart.com/Breit.....ones-Green Festival

No matter how tired we are, how tall the mountain, how hard the GOP establishment works against us, how hard the Left and especially the media works against us, we must stay focused and give 100% to the cause for freedom. There are so many ways to get involved, find you passion and dive in head first, I keep seeing the same volunteers, we need more people, don't assume someone else will do the work, please join us. I know many readers here are engaged - thank you for that, remember to take breaks to recharge your batteries and take good care of your health.

martin j smith| 5.8.12 @ 10:19AM

Do not misunderstand or even use the term Liberalism. That is both too kind and misleading and thus dangerous. From a political point of view "Liberals" or the fake moniker: Democrat (ic ? )
Party represent at this time not only home grown but international movements in all continents. This so called Democrat(ic ? ) Party is being funded by many overseas groups. Republicans (whoever they may be ) better be extremely wary of the international Socialists and communist movements, That is what is behind all of what we have today.

Dave Williams| 5.8.12 @ 10:24AM

IF ONLY!!!!!!!
Nope....liberalism, though not striving, is still very much alive, and always will be. The reason is that society is continuously invaded by the young, who are all heart and no brain, i.e., naturally liberals. Some grow out of it, some don't....although King Zero, for all his faults, has been a wonderful negative example of what happens when people actually try to put stupid liberal ideas into practice.

MAC1000| 5.8.12 @ 10:34AM

I am profoundly certain that so much of liberalism is funded by ME. Occupy Movement, students and others living on unemployment benefits. ACLU, surviving on judge granted legal fees and tax free status. ACORN funded through government grants meant to help poor people but used instead to fund anti-american activism, Planned Parenthood, funded by government grants aimed at women's health care but used to provide and lobby for abortions.
At the root of all these seemingly enless MONEY to promote things I object to, is.....my tax dollars.

PatriotGal2257| 5.8.12 @ 10:58AM

Good article. But I agree with some other posters here that while Liberalism might be on the ropes, it will never be truly down for the count. There will always be evil in the world, and there will always be people who will listen to it and act on it against their fellow citizens. The key for all of us is that we have to remain always vigilant to be able to combat it in whatever varied form it appears, every time, all the time.

Izzy| 5.8.12 @ 11:02AM

I wouldn't be so sure. Socialists are making inroads all over the world.

therealguyfaux| 5.8.12 @ 11:15AM

"Liberalism" defined as multi-culti welfare statism cannot die as a fact; it may have no intellectual legitimacy anymore, and no one who sits down and works out the ultimate conclusions to which it leads can support it in any unalloyed form of some kind, but as a "mortmain," i.e. a legacy cost, it is with us forever. Glenn Beck has been roundly condemned by all the "intelligentsia" as being some sort of conspiracy-mongering nutcase, but has anyone addressed his point that the Cloward-Piven strategy of "Hook' em on Government largesse till the Government collapses of its own weight, then promise them a minimally-adequate living and they'll be so grateful you saved them from apocalypse that you'll walk right in!" has been being carried out over the last 50 years and as such, sets up an institutional structural left-voting bloc that thwarts any REAL attempt to get our society in proper working shape?

cuban pete| 5.8.12 @ 11:27AM

I don't believe Mary Jo Kopechne drown.
She was left to suffocate.

Aces and Eights| 5.8.12 @ 11:55AM

It seems to me that the "death of liberalism" is like the death of a star that turns into a Black Hole, sucking in everything in range and dragging it all to oblivion. While "liberalism" may actually die sooner or later, it is wreaking great havoc on its way down.

Petronius| 5.8.12 @ 11:59AM

The one thing that Bob does not mention is the reason that Liberals never lose their political fights. No politician is willing to represent honest people as a primary constituency for that alone. The other is reason is, we don't have any money. And the Government is doing a great job at preventing anybody who wants to be Free from accumulating wealth.
Liberalism will only die when the whole of their inhumanity perishes in the depression, famine, and civil war they are bringing in the very near future. It's Us or them. Welcome to the ant hill.

fmm| 5.8.12 @ 12:01PM

Simply put, Liberalism will never die because it is the most basic of human natures. One does not have to do anything but be his or her egocentric self to be a Liberal. As in the days of the cavemen, this boils down to what's mine is mine and what's yours is mine without regard to committment or reason, and it helps immensely to not know anything of what makes the real world function. The irony is that it is the civil and technological advances made through disciplined conservatism, freeing the natural man from a subsistence existence, which has made Liberalism such a present danger.

Marc Jeric| 5.8.12 @ 12:16PM

In order to understand the role of Mullah Obama, our marxist Muslim President from Kenya, one should remember that he is our Community Organizer-in-Chief; and that in Russian "community organizations" were called "soviets".

Anthony| 5.8.12 @ 12:27PM

A&E ,Petronius, fmm, and Marc, all insightful comments and observations.

Simon Templar| 5.8.12 @ 12:35PM

"So dominant were they that they could totally pollute the culture with their prejudices and their views. "

Mr. Lord. you said it right there..no need for 5 pages.
That is it in a nutshell and the very reason it is not dead but lives on in every shape and form. Yes, they won very few elections since 1968 but that was never the point for Liberals. It was winning the war not the election skirmishes. It was destroying the values and culture and reshaping it in their vision. It was gaining control of the courts, the laws, the media, and the schools and most of all it was creating a gigantic government elite and structure by incrementalism. I say they accomplished what they set out to do.

Wake up.

Purp| 5.8.12 @ 1:43PM

"a Government which is not free interferes with everything it can, and a free Government interferes with nothing except what it must." - so riddle me this, Mr Lord: How is that a medically unnecessary vaginal ultrasound is not interference by the government ? How is that voter ID laws meant to reduce voter fraud, where no fraud exists, is not the government meddling unnecessarily? How is it that a 10 year war (Iraq), completely unnecessary had to be waged by the government at all? Why does a government pass a completely unnecessary Defense of Marriage Act - when it isn't a gay marriage that endangers anyone else's marriage, it's divorce, and they do nothing about that? Why does the government have to continue to support the American Empire, with worldwide security obligations and meddling, when clearly our Founders revolted against such an Empire? Why does a Republican governor (Massachusetts) think it's okay to mandate healthcare (Romneycare) .
The problem with the right is that they really DON'T believe in limited government - just a government that does what THEY want. it's the height of hypocrisy - and it's wrong.

Dick Nome| 5.8.12 @ 3:06PM

What in Hades is your fixation on genitalia and organs?? Why do you want to redefine marraige?? Goiod grief you are weird.

Purp| 5.8.12 @ 7:25PM

You do realize Republicans have passed laws for all this "genitalia and organs" stuff? Why don't ask your politician buddies what their obsession is? It sure isn't limited government or free, now is it? And, you call me weird?

Tim the Enchanter| 5.10.12 @ 12:08PM

Actually, the word for you is not "weird". It's "wanker".

W| 5.8.12 @ 4:17PM

Purp
If you keep thinking in a logical fashion to answer the questions you pose, you should conclude that the federal government is too big, too intrusive, and has too much power and money to spend. You should then conclude that we have to reduce the power of the federal government, ideally to the enumerated powers in the Constitution, and the best way to reduce its power is to reduce the money it has to spend. This means lower taxe rates and reduce the deficit.

You should then conclude that conservatives and libertarians want a limited government.

You should also conclude, if you are honest, that the Democrats are the party of government, and have increased the government at every level. You may try to justify the Dems lust for government by saying the government must do the programs you like (Section 8, food stamps, welfare, regulate toilets and light bulbs, blah blah). But you should see that asking the government to solve every problem has created the intrusive government we have. You may like the intrusive policies of the Democrats, but you will get the intrusive policies of the party in power, and it is not always your party.

The answer is the tame the beast and reduce the power and revenue of the federal government. Or as we call it the nanny state.

You will then have an awakening and see the errors of you prior views about the lefty liberal Democrats.

Purp| 5.8.12 @ 7:32PM

I just pointed out that your conservative politicians are NOT interested in limited government or freedom - what part of that did you miss? You can't blame Democrats or Liberals for that, now can you? Well, maybe you will, but the items I mentioned were NOT passed by Liberals, Progressives or Democrats - and for sure not Libertarians. They are insulted you include them with you.
Go back and find out what the Founders did, vis a vis the Constitution before you preach the talking points of following the Constitution. Even the Founders didn't out of expedience.
Americans are a practical people and when needed, even the Founders (Washington, Adams, Jefferson, even Madison) made decisions that were not Constitutional. Do you know what decisions those were?
Basically, the Constitutional argument is akin to arguing about the Bible. It is interpreted as needed, even by the very people that wrote the Constitution and fought the Revolutionary War.

W| 5.8.12 @ 8:23PM

It will be a long process for you Purp.
You cannot pick and choose the laws you do not like when the issue is an intrusive powerful federal government.
We do not have enough space and time to list all the laws passed by the Dems.
Try again. If all you can say is Iraq, Iraq, then think about the Korean War, Vietnam war, World War 1, World War 2, Afghanistan.
Keep trying. I see hope for you.

gearjammer| 5.9.12 @ 5:45PM

Money. You want all the money and we won't let you have it. The rest is bullshit.

From the Desk of Media Matters| 5.8.12 @ 5:34PM

"I can get an abortion, or an anal probe"
- Barney Fecal Putz Paula Pantywaste Rachel Pansy Pink Fluke Maureen Jacquelina Julia Dowd Dodd Dowd Pelosi

Paula Putz Fecal Jaquelina Julia Rachel Maxine Barney Moscow-Maddow Pantywaste-Pansy Fluke Wasserman Pelosi,

MM staff continues to have a banner day office pool wise and bottom rung MM mindless retarded parrots getting theirs wise.

MM staff wonders if you have already read today's Jonah Goldberg article about the bottom rung MM mindless retarded parrot you model yourself after:
www.nationalreview.com/article.....h-goldberg

Carry on with the abortion you can get and the anal probe you want.

- MM staff

Petronius| 5.8.12 @ 4:04PM

Dick
Fornication without consequence is purp's absolute objective. And forcing us to accept him on his terms and obligating us to pay for it all is his ultimate goal. And utilization of government coercion to get His way is a total affront to crying about hypocrisy. He and his ilk have no right to Our Approval and will get it Never!
Romney is sorely lacking in resolve to save traditional American cultural primacy, but that can't be accomplished politically.

PattyMor| 5.8.12 @ 5:40PM

Romney is probably a better fighter than McLame could have ever been With that said, what do we win with Romney? Can anybody really tell me what he stands for? With so many flip flops, he has been all over the place. Better than Barack doesn't give us much, maybe except relief from FEMA Camp.

But the Left is determined as they have been at it for 100 years and they've NEVER gone away. Not even when they are out of power. And the Republs NEVER roll anything back which is how we have gotten where we are. And they have lots of money--Gates, Buffoon, Pritzkers, Rockefellers, Kennedys, and most of Hollyweird.

Thom| 5.8.12 @ 6:33PM

The Ash Heap of History is full of “dead ideologies” and the Nations they took with them to the grave…..

Proclamations and things written in books don’t undo 100 years’ worth of damage to the culture and Constitution and only fools think those that embrace the disease of Marx will vote against their short term self-interest to save the Nation. You need only look around the world in the past and current events to see that the so called “dead” beast is anything but and the cost in both blood and treasure is likely to be very high to remove the disease from the body politics.

Somebody has to lose for someone to win in this kind of war by other means…. 100 years of compromising the Founding principles got us to this point in history. There is no room left for half way measures This is not a debate contest as some think it is.

Havoc29| 5.8.12 @ 11:38PM

I would like to believe Mr. Tyrrell's thesis, but as long as we have politicians, peddling "free money" to an ignorant and gullible electorate, Liberalism will never die. Most disheartening, because Republicans engage in buying votes for the promise of government goodies too.
There is hope however, we are starting to weed out the progressive Republicans, just ask Dick Lugar.

POST American| 5.8.12 @ 11:46PM

"Understand, these guys at the top,
in their bottomlessly funded, TAX FREE
foundations etc. --when they get together
to make something happen ----they're
SERIOUS. They're NOT just clinking
glasses and sitting on their bums.
The Club of Rome, the coming 'RIO +20',
G 20 --ALLLLL of them are PRIVATE,
unchartered, unelected, highly inbred
clubs that simply declare themselves
into being --and are out to CON--troll
the resources of the planet and murder
90% of mankind under whatever auspices
they can contrive."
-Informed Radio online

----------Whence the 'MAY--SIN' pre-CON
soft op. that is, er was, liberalism?

Remember kiddies! as those RUSSIAN
TROOPS out in Colorado wind up their
joint exercise with Americans to 'take
on American Terrorists ----YOU WERE
WARNED'

------'La--Bottom--ME' shots and RE-education!

-------------------------YOU WERE WARNED

-----------------Bill Gates is a giggler!

-----------------------------YOU WERE WARNED

old progrmr| 5.9.12 @ 11:45AM

Looks like an entire book dedicated to WISHFUL THINKING. Indeed, classical liberalism may be dead, but the radical left, something even worse than Communism because it embodies so much hate, is alive and very, very well. Most of the power structures in the USA are now controlled by the most hateful aspects of the left: Public Unions, Public Education, higher education, minorities, media, Hollywood, Federal Agencies, environmentalists, etc. Don't feel good from books like these, we are in deep, deep "do-do"; they fight will be hard and long with no guarantee of success.

MarkR| 5.9.12 @ 7:18PM

I dont think the book is saying anything is going to be easy. Its only stating the obvious- The emperor has no clothes and there is literally nothing the left has to stand on- so they have been engaging in food fights and the public is increasingly aware of the emptiness of the left. Surely the following from the article reveals the hard road yet to tread.: "The trail of destruction Liberalism has left in its wake is mind-boggling. Tyrrell grimly concludes what we all know:

The budgetary deficits we are facing are staggering, and the federal government's level of indebtedness is worse. More subtly, our freedoms and our constitutional form of government are making heavy weather of it.

All of which has left Americans with a vast yet terribly necessary job"-----
When speaking of liberty the most true aspect of it all is the idea of "eternal vigilance" . Its always been that way and when Franklin stated what he did its no more true then than it is today. I see an awakening. Easy never. But the alternative is so much harder and people are starting to turn away from that horror.

Buck Ofama| 5.9.12 @ 1:42PM

Emotional Infantilism:

https://gunnyg.wordpress.com/2010/05/02/the-tyranny-of-emotional-infantilism-imperils-america-modern-leftism-and-magical-thinking/#respond

Ronald Ackenberry| 5.9.12 @ 1:49PM

America was founded by liberals and is still a liberal country.

However, today's liberalism is shrouded in gaseous and odoriferous clouds of hate filled, violence prone, Thugism, euphemistically labelled Conservatism.

Thuggery is rampant in today's America. It's a radical and poisonous mix of racism, sexism, nationalism, sadism, masochism, fascism and anarcho-capitallism.

In short it's all the evil -isms rolled into one word:
conservatism.

America deserves better than that.

I believe America IS better than that.

MarkR| 5.9.12 @ 7:32PM

America was founded by patriots escaping from tyranny. The liberalism of today is a code word for soft tyranny which inevitably leads to the hard variety. No longer do these liberals believe in toleration of other ideas- they loathe the right of the people to determine their own future and have become a heirarchy of know it all control freaks who want to dictate the average mans lifestyle and choices. Government has become a monster and men and women are being co-erced into everything from the food they MUST eat to the cars they MUST drive to the Thoughts they must embrace to the toilets they must use and the light bulbs they MUST use and the church's theology they must BELIEVE- all of a left liberal leaning coercive variety. They are being told how to live and what is okay and soon where to live and what types of lifestyle they MUST approve of. If they disapprove of certain lifestyles they arent told to be tolerant in the old fashioned way which is based on "I disagree but you have the right to live that way"- no instead they must declare themselves free of their beliefs and approve of what any one else deems appropriate from the liberal mindset. Instead of a country based upon republicn principles of a strong majority with rights for the minorities- it has become a heirarchical government of know it alls DICTATING what others must believe. As France was a wholly different revolution from the American- the liberalsim of today is WHOLLY different from classical liberalism of the past.

Tim the Enchanter| 5.10.12 @ 12:12PM

R.A.: what the hell was it that you were smoking? It killed your brain.

Owen K| 5.9.12 @ 5:47PM

My Brother has been a liberal most of his life. He swears by this book. He too, is disheartened and saddened that classical liberalism is dead. And even though I am a conservative, I too mourn its death.

NLP| 5.9.12 @ 8:13PM

classical liberalism obviously has components that're important to modern-day conservatism, but because of the defining ideas placed at its core, it metastasized into current liberalism. leave it alone.

Cal| 5.15.12 @ 9:17PM

What's truly infantile is this very article.

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Aaron Goldstein | 5.24.13

Obamacare is a Big and Growing Problem for Democrats

Ross Kaminsky | 5.24.13

FLASHBACK TO: 1995

Pope Culture

By George Sim Johnston

A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck

By P.J. O'Rourke

Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
Dames at Sea

By John Corry
In the Absence of Guns

By Mark Steyn

In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
The Metaphysical Martini

By Werner J. Dannhauser
Counting the Costs of Clintonism

By Robert H. Bork

The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
Chuck McHagel

By George Neumayr

It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted

By Douglas Bartholomew
It’s the Best Time of the Year

By Mark Steyn

The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
The Bush Crack-Up

By Brit Hume

Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?

Clip of the Day

H/T to National Review Online