Leftist or Liberal?

            I have never claimed to be an expert on politics or anything political, and I know that I have made mistakes in the past and will most likely do so in the future. I am, however, always willing to learn and to admit my mistakes. I admit that I made a mistake when I grouped leftists and liberals together. Today I would like to set the record straight, and I will do so with the help of an article posted at The Daily Signal by Dennis Prager.

            

            I always thought that the words “leftist” and “liberal” were just two different names for the same group of people. Prager says that I was wrong. He also says that it is “vital” for people to know “the difference between a leftist and a liberal” in order to understand “the crisis facing America and the West today.”

            The first truth that Prager wants us to understand is that leftists and liberals “have almost nothing in common.” He says that the reason that we think of them as being the same is because the “left as appropriated the word `liberal’ so effectively that almost everyone … thinks they are synonymous.” So, neither you nor I need feel alone if we thought that they were the same.

            Prager then gives several examples as to why leftists and liberals are different. The first area is race. He says that “the color of one’s skin is insignificant” to liberals and that liberals “are passionately committed to racial integration.” To leftists, the very idea that “race is insignificant is itself racist.” So, I suppose that one way we can separate the leftists from the liberals is to determine who is throwing around the race card.

            Prager’s second example is capitalism. “Liberals have always been pro-capitalism.” They see capitalism as “the only economic means of lifting great numbers out of poverty.” They differ from conservatives in the size of the role played by government in “lifting people out of poverty.” As for leftists, Prager says that “Opposition to capitalism and advocacy of socialism” are their “values.”

            Prager’s third example is nationalism. He says that liberals have a deep belief in the “nation-state, whether their nation was the United States, Great Britain, or France.” He says that liberals have “always wanted to protect American sovereignty and borders.” Leftists oppose “nationalism because leftism is rooted in class solidarity, not national solidarity.”

            Prager’s fourth example is their view of America. He says that Liberals venerated America. Watch American films from the 1930s through the 1950s and you will be watching overtly patriotic, America-celebrating films – virtually all produced, directed, and acted in by liberals. Liberals well understand that America is imperfect but is `the last best hope of earth’” (Lincoln). Prager’s comments on leftists deserve to be quoted in their entirety.

To the left, America is essentially a racist, sexist, violent, homophobic, xenophobic, and Islamophobic country. The left around the world loathe America, and it is hard to imagine why the American left would differ in this one way from fellow lefts around the world.

Leftists often take offense at having their love of America doubted. But those left-wing descriptions of America are not the only reason to assume that the left has more contempt than love for America.

The left’s view of America was encapsulated in then-presidential candidate Barack Obama’s statement in 2008. “We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America, he said.

Now, if you were to meet a man who said that he wanted to fundamentally transform his wife, or a woman who said that about her husband, would you assume that either loved their spouse? Of course not.

            Prager’s fifth example is free speech. “The difference between the left and liberals regarding free speech is as dramatic as the difference regarding race. No one was more committed than American liberals to the famous statement, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” Leftists on the other hand are leading the fight to suppress the free speech of anyone who opposes them, such as universities and Google. The left “claims to only oppose hate speech. But protecting the right of person A to say what person B deems objectionable is the entire point of free speech.”

            Prager’s sixth example is western civilization. “Liberals have a deep love of Western civilization. They taught it at virtually every university and celebrated its unique moral, ethical, philosophical, artistic, musical, and literary achievements.” Prager says that Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) is the “most revered liberal in American history” and claims that FDR “frequently cited the need to protect not just Western civilization but Christian civilization.” Leftists climbed all over Donald Trump when he spoke about “protecting Western civilization” in his speech in Warsaw, Poland. They say that this term is “a euphemism for white supremacy.”

            Prager’s last example is Judaism and Christianity. “Liberals knew and appreciated the Judeo-Christian roots of American civilization” and often went to “church or synagogue” or appreciate that “most of their fellow Americans did.” Leftists have “always had” contempt “for religion (except for Islam today).

            Prager ends his article with this warning: “If the left is not defeated, American and Western civilization will not survive.” He says that good liberals must join the fight against the left in order to defeat it.

            I think that this is an outstanding tutorial on the differences between liberals and leftists. I certainly will not confuse them again. My concern now is knowing what percentage of these people that I lumped together are true liberals and what percentage are the leftists. Have the leftists nearly destroyed the liberals or persuaded them to move to the dark side, or are liberals holding the line against the leftists? Prager says that the “good liberals” must join the fight, or the war will be lost. Knowing the difference between liberals and leftists should improve our battle skills.