OpinionTrending Commentary

What Ever Happened to the “Good” Liberals? Were There Ever Such Things?

Growing up in the ‘60’s I sympathized with a lot of the expressed liberal world view, at least what I knew of it back then. Liberals were leaders in the Civil Rights movement often putting their own lives at risk to help right the wrong of segregation. That was good. That was admirable. Liberals back then were also outspoken against government controls and social mores that limited personal freedom. They championed free speech against the establishment. Liberals back then were the spear point of opposition to the Vietnam War, a war it didn’t seem we were fighting to win. Finally, liberals wanted programs that would help those less fortunate.

So how did the “good” liberals morph into the progressives of today? Today’s progressives are champions of big government. Rather than advocating free speech, they are doing everything than can to silence opposing points of view. Once they were the champions of equal treatment and acceptance of all races. Now they routinely condemn the whites as inherently racist and unfairly privileged, dividing us rather than uniting us. Once liberals condemned government attempts to control how people chose to live; now progressives have no problems telling everyone else exactly what they should and shouldn’t do. In retrospect, maybe those old-time liberals weren’t really so “good” after all.

Remember that the first liberals were largely socialists, if not outright communists. They hated capitalism and the United States was a capitalist nation, making our country automatically enemies of liberals. These early liberals had a high regard for the U.S.S.R. Bernie Sanders, as liberal as they come, actually honeymooned in the Soviet Union. He and other liberals also had nice things to say about Castro’s Cuba. In fact, liberals had a hard time criticizing any communist regime. What if the liberal opposition to the Vietnam War was more about being anti-American than anti-war? When liberals like Jane Fonda sided with the enemy in Vietnam they called our soldiers “baby killers,” yet were totally silent about Viet Cong atrocities. They believed that traditional American values, including Christianity, had to be destroyed. America had to be brought down as the leading opposition to the worldwide socialist movement.

If you accept that premise, old-style liberal and our modern-day progressive behavior becomes understandable. To dismantle traditional America you need power. To get power, you have to be able to influence public opinion. It doesn’t matter if it was due to deliberate design or through serendipity the actions of like-minded liberals started gaining control of colleges and universities. They turned out liberal-minded teachers, journalists, judges, and politicians. Like a snowball rolling downhill, liberal influence grew to where today liberals control most college campuses, and much of the media, Roughly half of all politicians are liberals.

What have the liberals done with this power? Nothing good for America. The living conditions in liberal run cities are not getting better, they’re getting worse. Whole states with liberal leadership, such as California, are in decline. Progressive policies haven’t helped our schools or our health care. Now, if the liberals truly wanted to make our country and our lives better why would they double down on their failed policies? If they truly wanted to unite us why do they promote racial division and class envy? Instead, their policies are designed to help them gain more control. In 2008 they elected one of their own and look what happened. We got Obama Caregiving them control over millions of people’s health care. Regulations skyrocketed and the economy stagnated. ISIS established a Caliphate in Iraq and Syria. Libya became a failed state and four Americans died. Iran and North Korea remained unchecked. Russia took Crimea from Ukraine. Then 2016 happened.

Donald Trump became President and the left went nuts. They were so close to destroying traditional America they could taste it, but then he won. The vehement hatred of President Trump is because he is the antithesis of the liberal/progressive agenda. Liberals don’t want to make America great again. Based on their policies and rhetoric, they want traditional America destroyed.

Could President Trump stop or reverse the growing progressive movement even if he were elected for a second term? It’s doubtful, given the liberal control of education and the major media. More than half of all Millennials are fine with socialism. Most Millennials believe in manmade climate change and are willing to give liberal politicians whatever they say they need to save the planet. They trust the government to control medical care and believe progressive promises of a better life if only the government has more power. Lenin described them best. “Useful idiots.”

Were there ever “good” liberals. Since modern progressives learned from them it’s doubtful. Liberals produced people like Ward Churchill, who compared 9/11 victims to “Little Eichmanns.” Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s reverend, preached, “God damn America.” President Obama himself went on an apology tour after his election. His wife, Michelle Obama, a very liberal lady, said she was only proud of America for the first time in her adult life when her husband was running for President. Where did these people get those opinions from? One word answer – liberals.

Liberals aren’t tolerant. If you disagree with them you are not just wrong, you are evil. They’ve shown their true colors. They were never “good.”

Support Conservative Daily News with a small donation via Paypal or credit card that will go towards supporting the news and commentary you've come to appreciate.

Related Articles

One Comment

  1. Whether the discussion is about “Liberalism” or “Conservatism,” using the term “good” or “bad” is not appropriate. Why? Because the real “good” and “bad” is about specific programs, not the ideology. The reason early Liberals and Progressives (I see the terms as parallel) favored Free Speech is because they were in the minority and the exercise of Free Speech gifted them with the means to put out their agenda and views. The article understates the disastrous effect of the Liberal take-over of education in America…and the trend continues today. Schools no longer teach the reason for our Republic, its parts, and how the interaction of the three branches (most of today’s young adults cannot even name the three, much less how they interact) to protect minorities from the mob rule of the majority that would occur in a pure democracy. Early Liberals were financially conservative because otherwise they would not convince others to consider their other “safety net:” concepts. And now they feel secure enough to want to eliminate free speech other than for themselves, reveal their Marxist/Socialist goals and join with the “Agenda 21” United Nations effort to create a World Government that would do away with borders and national interests. Ultimately it will come to a showdown between the Liberal/Progressive/Socialist/Marxists and the multi-nationals for the ultimate control to become the Hegemon of the world. My bet is on the Multi-national businesses since they will never run out of money.

Back to top button