When I was growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, the term “liberal” was associated with “open-minded,” “consider all sides of an issue,” “truthseeking,” freedom of expression” and the questioning of authority. The contemporary “wokesters” and the staunch cult of “Covidians” – who identify as being “left of center” – are, if anything, anti-liberal. The Democrats have become the party of war-mongering neocons, populated by an army of mini-dictators, also known as “Wokesters.” Perhaps Neil Young is the quintessential personification of the neo-liberals. Hell, I self-identified as a liberal in the 1970s and went to several Neil Young concerts back then. But in the 1970’s context, the term “liberal” has become radioactive.
James Kunstler has written a must-read essay that encapsulates all that has become rotten and corrupt with those who self-identify as “liberal,” “woke,” “Democrat” and “progressive” as personified by the likes of Neil Young, AOC, Hilary Clinton, etc. Sorry for your loss on Spotify, Neil, but I doubt you’ll miss the 90 cents per month in royalties:
Today the Left is not only all-in on speech suppression, but also censorship of print and broadcasting, and is especially avid for the diverse punishments of cancellation — ruining careers, reputations, livelihoods, and families of anyone who opposes Woke right-think. Alternate views are not tolerated, labeled “unacceptable” (Mr. Young put it exactly that way), and flagged as “misinformation” (ditto Mr. Young). It’s gotten to the point where the word misinformation has acquired a distinct odor that signals bad faith in everyone who flogs it. These days, the charge of misinformation is deliberate misinformation.
Today, the Left is all-in for FBI home invasions, DOJ malicious prosecutions, CIA manipulations of public opinion, a fake president fronting for an unseen cabal, and a news media that wouldn’t know the actual shape and substance of reality if it jumped up and bit Jim Acosta on the lips. Ideas and principles don’t really matter to the Left; they’re just window-dressing for their sole interest, which is pushing other people around, in a word: coercion. That is the moral quagmire the Left is in and, having captured so many institutional transmitters of our polity, that is the nature of the evil they represent.
You can read the rest here: Old Man, Look at Your Life….
