The left wing is too sensitive for its own good

The supporters of the political left are clearly the most sensitive people in the entire political landscape.

The Journal receives regular e-mails from political leftists who find the use of the words liberal and leftist offensive. To clear any confusion, there is nothing wrong with being a liberal. People who fall into the American liberal political ideology are not evil, but the ideals of the philosophy have never proven themselves valuable to the American people. The leftists, Sen. Ted Kennedy among them, have still not given up on the idea of the socialist welfare state. Sen. Kennedy, the most vocal member of the Democratic Party in the Senate, devotes much of his time and energy toward raising taxes on “the rich.” Sen. Kennedy and his political party did not pay attention as the world over time proved communism a failure to the people and as an economic system. Kennedy and his clan also spend their time vilifying President George W. Bush and consistently speaking about how the war against terrorism is supposedly illegal. The sad part about the Democrats is that their rhetoric is erroneous, nonsensical and has been proven invalid. The Democrats advocate increased government involvement, but countries with less powerful governments have a significantly higher standard of living. No person can deny that the liberal platform is not caring, but its effectiveness is highly questionable.

The Democrats and their supporters should not be offended when they are called liberals because that term is one of the few that can accurately describe them. The left is historically known for big government and the promotion of the welfare state; today’s Democrats support both of these ideas. Clearly leftist principles such as Sen. Kennedy’s and the propaganda often seen on college campuses is far from moderate. Thus, calling liberals moderates would be inaccurate. An interesting note — why is it when American political rightists are called conservatives they are proud of the title, but the leftists are deeply offended when called liberals? President Bush, President Reagan and other conservatives are not afraid to tell the world they are conservative. Some letters to the editor concerning this column have used the terms “pro-war activist,” “pro-life activist” and “Republican mouthpiece.” While these characterizations are not accurate, this columnist is far from offended.

The intention of words such as “liberal,” “the political left” and “leftists” is not to marginalize people. They are solely used as an accurate description of the people who fall into that category. It would be false to say all liberals have the exact same ideology but overall, their ideals allow them to be classified together. Additionally, not all right-wingers — as some may call this columnist — have the same ideals. For example, internationally known conservative Patrick J. Buchanan is substantially different in opinion from most conservative minds, but he still is a conservative.

Many people seem to be peeved by the contents of this column. If this column advocated liberal, leftist or even communist ideas, it might be more popular, but luckily, this is not a popularity contest. This columnist is consistently told how he can win points as a columnist by changing his style — good thing this is not a competition for points.

If you are a wacko taking to the streets to purposely commit crime in protest of the war against terrorism, why not write a letter to the editor or even a guest commentary instead? You could take advantage of the opportunity and hit conservatives with a few punches, ask the tough questions. With all the liberal voices on this campus, it shouldn’t be too hard to convince people to raise taxes, create a welfare state, give up on families, have free government abortions for anyone — maybe even change our economic and political system to be more like the former Soviet Union. I know you are out there, let’s see what you got.

University Wire