{"id":10976,"date":"2011-01-27T05:53:52","date_gmt":"2011-01-27T05:53:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2011\/01\/27\/are-you-a-liberal-take-this-test\/"},"modified":"2011-01-27T05:53:52","modified_gmt":"2011-01-27T05:53:52","slug":"are-you-a-liberal-take-this-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2011\/01\/27\/are-you-a-liberal-take-this-test\/","title":{"rendered":"Are You a Liberal? Take This Test"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>The following statements in boldface are taken verbatim from Dennis Prager's Are You a Liberal<\/a>? I comment briefly on each in turn. Mirabile dictu<\/em>, it turns out I am not a liberal! I could make of each  of these items a separate post. (And you hope I won't.) I don't want to hear anyone complain that I am not arguing my points. I argue plenty elsewhere on this site. In any case, that is not my present purpose. <\/span><\/p>\n


\n
1. Standards for admissions to universities, fire departments, etc. should be lowered for people of color.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

No. People should be judged on an individual basis, by merit. They should all be held to the same standard. The race, sex, or creed of the applicant ought not be considered in hiring decisions.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Bilingual education for children of immigrants, rather than immersion in English, is good for them and for America.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

No. It is not good for immigrants in that it impedes their assimilation. It is not good for America since it promotes division, lack of communication, and ultimately ethnic Balkanization.  As one of my aphorisms has it, "No comity without commonality."  Prominent liberals such as Obama have confused the question whether it is good to study foreign languages with the question about bilingual education.  They are obviously distinct questions.  The learning of foreign languages is wonderfully enriching.  But English is and must remain the one official language of the United States.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Murderers should never be put to death.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

No. Justice demands the death penalty in certain cases.  <\/span><\/p>\n

4. During the Cold War, America should have adopted a nuclear arms freeze.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

No. It was the non-adoption of such a policy, inter alia<\/em>, that led to the defeat of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War.  And it was our overwhelming superiority that kept the Soviets in check.  Marginal superiority would not have done the job.  <\/span><\/p>\n

5. Colleges should not allow ROTC programs.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

No. If journalism and law can be legitimate professions, then so can the military.  Military forces are a necessary evil.  But then so are lawyers!<\/span><\/p>\n

6. It was wrong to wage war against Saddam Hussein in the Gulf War.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Perhaps, if the case for foreign non-interventionism is strong. But I don't see that it is strong.  <\/span><\/p>\n

7. Poor parents should not be allowed to have vouchers to send their children to private schools.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

No. Parents who send their children to private schools face a double-whammy: they must support the public schools with their taxes and they must shell out for private education to make sure their<\/span>
children get a good education as opposed to politically correct indoctrination. So it is only fair that they should receive vouchers.  Besides, competition breeds excellence. Competition with private schools can only redound to the benefit of public schools.<\/span><\/p>\n

8. It is good that trial lawyers and teachers unions are the two biggest contributors to the Democratic Party.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

No, but it says something about the Dems.<\/span><\/p>\n

9. Marriage should be redefined from male-female to any two people.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

No. The State is involved in marriage in order to promote a legitimate common interest, namely, that there be healthy families in which men are tamed, women are protected, and children are socialized. There is no reason to extend these protections to any two people who choose to cohabit. On the other hand, the State should not prohibit cohabitation. This position may be consistent with the allowance of <\/span>carefully crafted civil unions.<\/span><\/p>\n

10. A married couple should not have more of a right to adopt a child than two men or two women.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

No. If you understood the immediately preceding comment, you will understand why.<\/span><\/p>\n

11. The Boy Scouts should not be allowed to use parks or any other public places and should be prohibited from using churches and synagogues for their meetings.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

No. This is too idiotic to comment on.<\/span><\/p>\n

12. The present high tax rates are good.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

 No. Higher taxes, less liberty. Liberty is good.  High taxes impede economic growth.  Economic growth is good, leading as it does to full employment, which in turn leads to — increased tax revenues!<\/span><\/p>\n

13. Speech codes on college campuses are good and American values are bad.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

No. Beneath refutation.  One shouldn't waste too much time debating liberals\/progressives or trying to refute them.  They need defeat, not refutation.  Work to get them out of power.  Defund them.  Of course, to persuade fence-sitters you will need to be able to make a dispassionate case for conservatism\/libertarianism and against leftist folly.  But leftists themselves ought to be viewed as enemies, not as dialog partners.<\/span><\/p>\n

14. The Israelis and Palestinians are morally equivalent.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

No. Are non-terrorists and terrorists morally equivalent?  Not nuanced enough for you?  Then see my 'One Man'sTerrorist is Another Man's Freedom Fighter.'
<\/a><\/span>
15. The United Nations is a moral force for good in the world, and therefore America should be subservient to it and such international institutions as a world court.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

No. Were they able to handle Saddam Hussein or the outbreaks of African genocide?<\/span><\/p>\n

16. It is good that colleges have dropped hundreds of men's sports teams in order to meet gender-based quotas.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

No. The quota mentality is political correctness at its most idiotic.<\/span><\/p>\n

17. No abortions can be labeled immoral.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

No. If you can't see that partial-birth abortion is morally offensive, then you are morally obtuse.<\/span><\/p>\n

18. Restaurants should be prohibited by law from allowing customers to choose between a smoking and a non-smoking section.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

No. Tobacco extremism is a prime example of the misplaced moral enthusiasm of contemporary liberals.  A liberal is the kind of idiot who thinks that second-hand smoke is a major health concern while seeing nothing wrong with partial-birth abortion.  <\/span><\/p>\n

19. High schools should make condoms available to students and teach them how to use them.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

No. If I have to explain this to you, then you are too stupid and\/or morally obtuse to profit from any explanation.<\/span><\/p>\n

20. Racial profiling for terrorists is wrong — a white American  grandmother should as likely be searched as a Saudi young male.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

No. Profiling, racial and otherwise, is a legitimate law enforcement technique.  This is a prime example of how liberals stupefy themselves with thier political correctness.<\/span><\/p>\n

21. Racism and poverty — not a lack of fathers and a crisis of values — are the primary causes of violent crime in the inner city.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

No. Poverty no more causes crime than wealth causes virtuous behavior.<\/span><\/p>\n

22. It is wrong and unconstitutional for students to be told, "God bless you" at their graduation.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

No. Why are liberals so contemptibly stupid?<\/span><\/p>\n

23. No culture is morally superior to any other.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

No. Could anyone with a brain believe this?  Perhaps, but it would have to be a brain on political correctness.  <\/span><\/p>\n

\"This_is_your_brain_none_thinking_PC\"<\/a> Those are all liberal positions. How many of them do you hold? And if<\/span>   you don't hold to this liberal nonsense, why on earth are you still a<\/span>   Democrat?<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following statements in boldface are taken verbatim from Dennis Prager's Are You a Liberal? I comment briefly on each in turn. Mirabile dictu, it turns out I am not a liberal! I could make of each  of these items a separate post. (And you hope I won't.) I don't want to hear anyone complain that … Continue reading “Are You a Liberal? Take This Test”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[163,56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-leftism-and-political-correctness","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10976\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}