Why are liberals incapable of seeing the big picture? 

Don A. Bright 

I am always puzzled when I hear liberals advocating another government program and/or tax increase.  It seems the liberal mind cannot grasp the concept of the future; nor can they consider the past as evidence of anything.  Why? A friend of mine answers this question by simply blaming it on genetics.  He really believes there is a genetic difference between liberals and conservatives that leaves each completely in the dark as to the meaning or logic of the other.  Genetics or not there is a complete disconnect between the philosophies of the two groups.   

My own opinion is that there is philosophical quality or body of principles to only the conservative way of thinking.  Liberal thinking seems to be based on not so much of a philosophical footing but rather a random use of passing thoughts.  Liberals, it appears, actually have no body of thought. 

I have argued repeatedly with liberals about the sacrosanctness of the Constitution -  especially the first ten Amendments.  When you discuss the true meaning of the Second Amendment with a liberal you will usually get peppered with cries about how it doesn’t count anymore because the writers of the Constitution couldn’t have anticipated the development of the types of weapons we have today, followed by the declaration that “the Constitution is a living document”.  Only liberals could consider a solemn contract a “living (read changeable by whim) document”. 

At this point I usually ask them if, since the writers of the Constitution could not have anticipated the development of the varied technological developments in electronic communication we have today, that negates freedom of the press since we no longer use presses.  Invariably they will argue that “that’s different” and “they” can’t violate the First Amendment.  The sad thing here is not so much the inconsistency of their statements but the fact that they think they are consistent. 

In other words when a liberal makes a logically contradictory statement he or she feels no rules have been broken.  I truly think that liberals look at logic, truth and empiricism as “living” concepts which, just as they view the Constitution, meant something yesterday, mean something different today and will, again, mean something different tomorrow.  (It has been my dream for a long time to borrow a great sum of money from a liberal and sign a “living” promissory note.) 

It is this liberal cogitative process that leads them to think only in the present.  Despite the repeated failures of socialism they still think it will work.  Despite the proven concept of the “slippery slope” they don’t recognize it.  They actually can not grasp the fact that complete ownership of assets by the government and capitalism cannot go hand in hand.  Nor can they conceptualize the empirical evidence that proves beyond doubt that for every freedom you provide a government there is an exponentially lessening of freedom for each individual. 

I don’t think that liberals deliberately choose to ignore lessons from the past and their implications for the future.  I do think that liberals have an innate and automatic capacity to shut out all considerations except theirs.   

After Castro they can worship Chavez.  After Hitler they can still strive for appeasement.  After all the evidence of catastrophic degradation of the environment by the socialist dictators past and present, they still want to turn all our lands over to government ownership and care.  After the utter failure of Social Security which led us to the utter failure of Medicare and the obvious failure of the foredoomed socialized medicine schemes in England and now Canada, they are dead set on repeating the failure at home.  After the disastrous results of trusting Saddam to keep his promises they still think diplomacy will solve the Iran problem.  Go figure. 

It has been said that the definition of insanity is doing something over and over again expecting a different result. Are liberals insane?  Of course not.  But they may very well be carriers.  

Liberals do, however, have one belief they are consistent with; they consider themselves to be free thinkers.  I agree.  There thinking isn’t worth one red cent.