Well, it has finally happened. What used to be liberal ideas have jumped ship and landed on the Right side of the political spectrum. While Left and Right are loaded names that lack universal definition in different political milieus and which change along the time track of history, we can say, at least in the early 21st century in America, the political Left has had the tag liberal while the political Right has been deemed conservative. While both sides still wave their respective flags, this dichotomy has now flipped. Conservative is the new liberal.
Labels are useless in understanding ideas, policies, or people. Terms like Left or right, conservative or liberal, Nazis or Marxists, and racism have been used as weapons with such inaccuracy, generality, and repetition as to render them nearly meaningless. However, the shifting sands of American politics and society do require some reference points.
Concerns for protecting civil liberties and suspicion of government intrusion and overreach once defined the Left side of the aisle. In the 1960s Age of Aquarius free thinking, free speech, and watching out for “the Man” were prerequisites to obtaining one’s liberal credentials. Big government was the enemy, especially the intelligence branch and the war machine. Looking out for the working class was important. Make love not war was the theme. Free speech and civil rights were causes worth fighting for. Credentials for liberalism were only issued by the Left.
Corporations, wealth, and power were once considered the stock in trade of the right. Conservative fat cats loved big business, big banks, and big military. Intel agency spying and war were the acceptable cost of doing business.
Now the Left controls Silicon Valley where the biggest businesses live. Banks and corporations push leftist DEI and ESG programs and the military has gone full-on rainbow. The Left spun up a forever war in Ukraine and wants to do the same in the Middle East. The Left loves intel and censorship, hates Christianity, and never met a war it didn’t like.
I read three of the most famous speeches made by President John F. Kennedy in the 60s. He was the pinnacle of the liberal Democrat Left when he was president. His speeches would never be made anywhere near the Democrat Party today. If you heard them from a conservative MAGA politician at CPAC they would receive thunderous applause. His nephew, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., has now disavowed the Democrat Party and thrown in with Trump.
It is common to hear staunch liberals talk about still being liberal while the supposed liberal Democrat party has moved away from liberalism and thus from them. Some of the more prominent are Dave Rubin, Tulsi Gabbard, Robert Kennedy, Jr., Naomi Wolf, and even Bill Maher. None of these liberals would ever call themselves Republicans, but they can’t support current Dem thoughts and deeds in good conscience.
self-professed staunch liberal on the Left side of the political spectrum, he considers the current Democrat party to be dangerously totalitarian for advocating war, discrimination, and censorship. He likens the Democrat party to a family dog who has contracted rabies, gone mad, and must be put down. He is working on a project to save the Republic.
Many liberals found themselves alone in the no man’s land of independent thought. The liberal coat they had assumed those on the Left wore no longer fit. The Left had discarded liberalism somewhere along the way, but kept the liberal label and had sewn it into a straitjacket. The rage and hate and intolerance being spewed by the Left at the Right is all that remains — the Democrats are the party of rage and hate and intolerance. Listen to Biden, Merrick Garland, or Mayorkas talk about the Right half of the country. Dozens of leftists in Congress freely use epithets like racists, domestic terrorists, and white supremacists when speaking of the right. Read the hate-filled words of the trial judges to the J6 protesters.
This is all so easy to see. Watch “The View,” Morning Joe, Joy Reid, or any roundtables on CNN or MSNBC. It is Orwell’s “Two Minutes Hate,” but running 24/7. Listen to a Robert De Niro or Rob Reiner rage against Trump or MAGA. Lewis Carroll’s Queen of Hearts has nothing on them. What once was the party of freedom and laid-back tolerance is now the stormtroop of totalitarian destruction.
You can of course find hate-filled rants on the Right as well. But listen carefully to what each side is objecting to and what they are advocating. Only one side demands uniformity, silence, and compliance and advocates using the full force of government to get it. Only one side wants the freedom of free speech, free thought, and the free exchange of ideas.
Tolerance and decency have a new address. Live and let live has moved to a new part of town. There is no denying that conservative is the new Liberal.
Ed Thompson is a podcaster, columnist and author of educational and fiction books with over 25 years experience as a tutor and teacher. Learn More
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