Tuesday, August 12, 2003

Dennis Prager has written a wonderful column today on the pathology of liberalism. "How," he asks, "can decent and often very smart people hold liberal positions?"

Though Prager is not a Christian, he precisely demonstrates why one cannot be consistently Christian and politically liberal (at least as it is defined today):
..."feelings" and "compassion" are two of the most often used liberal terms. "Character" is no longer a liberal word because it implies self-restraint. "Good and evil" are not liberal words either as they imply a moral standard beyond one's feelings. In assessing what position to take on moral or social questions, the liberal asks him or herself, "How do I feel about it?" or "How do I show the most compassion?" not "What is right?" or "What is wrong?" For the liberal, right and wrong are dismissed as unknowable, and every person chooses his or her own morality.
This explanation is so simply, yet so demonstrably, true. Speaking as a former flaming liberal, I can attest to the revulsion of absolutes that underlied my philosophy.

Liberals may caterwaul about Prager's characterization, but I defy them to disprove it.

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