Friday, July 01, 2005

Armed Liberal has a good question

Wow. Instapundit linked to this piece at Winds of Change that I hope my friends on the left will read.

I'm still following links and mulling it over, myself.

1 comment:

leucanthemum b said...

He points out that, while people like Leiter view political questions as simple, yes or no questions, they are far from it -- he uses the term "wicked", as in, they may have many approaches, but only one may be applied, and after that, the question is immediately changed. The applied answer is either a "good" or a "bad" one, that it either exacerbates or eases the initial problem. Either way, there is no way to return to the starting point.

When Leiter -- and others -- treat these questions as though they are simple "yes or no" questions, he is egregiously in error, and, when he is rude to those who disagree with him, he is showing more than a spot of hubris.

What I also got is that the leadership on the left is going to continue to lose followers from the crucial moderate center, due to the extreme... uh... arrogance they display. The more righteous indignation a party carries, the less the middle wants to hear them (this does go for the Right, as well, but, since they're in power, they don't end up sounding so shrill). As you alienate the moderates, you lose more power, and thereby you are betraying the trust of the "little guy" you are supposedly representing.

Both angry politics and elitist snobbery -- you know, where you refer to the majority of the population as "morons" for believing in Jesus as Savior", and where you assume that anybody who chooses to be right of center is merely brainwashed, and incapable of reasoning his way to that political choice -- cost you power, and that, in turn, denies the benefits to those you were supposed to defend.

Every time you act as though you know more than the "obviously idiot" opposition, you give the opposition another edge. And, every time you give the opposition an edge, you betray your cause (i.e. the People) a little more.