Much of what we are seeing today, I believe, had its roots in the 60’s (I was born in ’48, so I am part of that wave of baby boomers). A major part of this dynamic is the Liberal leanings of academia and its impact on news, information flow and the nature of our political debates.

I think that many Liberals of the 60’s and subsequent decades went into academia. In some ways this is natural. Liberals want a safe world. They want it to be a world where you may not be able to rise very high, but you are never going to fall very far either. Academia is a microcosm of that safe world. A tenured professor will probably seldom become a multi-millionaire. On the other hand, the salary is comfortable, benefits are good, after a point you don’t work too hard (that is what graduate assistants are for), and there is a certain prestige (students have to sit enthralled with your lectures) - so, all in all, not a bad life. For entrepreneurial personalities, the confines of the academic world are too narrow for their ambitions. For Liberals, it is a comfortable universe. If only the world at large could be like it.

Liberals are utopians. They want the world not only to be safe but to be perfect, at least according to their values: no war, no suffering, no exploitation: perfect harmony among peoples, cultures and religions. It is a binary view. There is little room for discussion. Either you are against war or you are a warmonger that thirsts for the blood of the innocent. Either you support global warming, or you are callously driving the planet and all life on it to extinction. Either you favor abortion unconditionally, or you are promoting female servitude in all of its forms. With these attitudes as the starting point, there is not a lot to discuss. With these attitudes as the starting point, if you disagree you are automatically a monster and need to be shouted down, not engaged in discussion. And the persons doing the shouting have the right (in their views) to do this because they care about people and you don’t. It is the Rosie O’Donnell school of political debate.

The organizational vehicles for Liberals to create this perfect world are the university system, the media, government programs, judicial activism, international organizations, international tribunals, etc. The fact that Liberals have such influence in the university system means that this is the world view that many young, impressionable people will receive and act on. And, that these ideas will flow through, especially into careers in the media or entertainment industry.

And, because the mainstream news media are on board with this Liberal leaning, having been formed by these very same ideas, the Liberal views seldom get publicly challenged in those established channels we turn to for news. Or, if they are challenged, the challenge is presented as some aberrant menace. I think that Fox News leans to the Right, but, is that so bad when most of the other major news outlets lean to the Left? Doesn’t that provide some balance?

Finally, because the MSM will repeat the same position over and over, it becomes the conventional wisdom. It is beyond question. It has become, in fact, the safe message that can be screamed from the rooftops (or car bumpers) and only challenged at one’s peril.

Did 17 years in California. I didn’t “hide” my conservatism, but I also don’t *didn’t* flaunt it. If someone brought up politics, I discussed it without shying away. If it broke up a friendship, then it wasn’t a friendship worth having to begin with.

Now I’m in Oregon, and it’s no different than California. My family is also split, with basically my parents and I being on the one side (despite my mom as a registered DNC), and the rest on the other. Except for one in-law my niece married. I was happy to get another body and voice in there…

But as an aside… anyone notice that the progressive/lib stickers are attached to a very AGW unfriendly vehicle?? :0)

Also, Leah, there is no dearth of “affluent neighborhoods” in Southern Cal… or northern either. But Bookworm’s got it tougher. Marin County is a progressive bastion all to itself… and they’re far more vicious up there than in Southern Cal.

I’ve never understood this type of persistent, public profusion of punditry. Perhaps it bestows some sort of vicarious validation for such polemics.

How pathetically shallow….

We live in a critical time in history. We teeter between Freedom, the bondage of Liberalism and Socialism and oppression of Radical Islam. History will be made by what we now do. History is made by the bold, those who are willing to take risks. If the Founding fathers were willing to risk their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor for my right to be free, then what kind of man would I be to not be willing to risk the same to KEEP our country free from those who would enslave it to the corrupt ideology of Liberalism?

A Car can be repainted, broken Windows can be repaired, and injuries heal. But Freedom, once lost, cannot be easily reclaimed. Conservatives need to be bold. To speak boldly, and to act with courage. The time for hiding who we are and what we believe is over. Speak now. act now, and vote in November. We will reclaim America and hold back the night.

God Bless America.

Damn well said! Here, here!

And the sad thing is, I have lost friends because of my politics. I get very empassioned when I talk politics. I also look at more than our local News Rag for information. I try and not talk politicswith friends and also some family memebrs. My immediate family is conservative, but I have aunts and uncles that are liberals. it is always nteresting when they get to together. There are 3 conserative vs. 3 liberals.

I tend to agree with Wearyman on this also. Conservative are more often more calm and think inward and are not out there admitting to the world who they are, such as CodePink and the rest of their ilk.

1) Conservatism, as a movement, is by it’s nature a more private affair. It is a movement of quiet introspection and study. Of Learning and Reason. It is not a loud, obsequious and obnoxious philosophy. Thus, Conservatives tend to be much more reserved in their approach. Even the titular mouthpiece of Conservatism in America, Rush Limbaugh, sounds quiet and reserved when placed alongside your average Code Pinker.

2) Liberalism tends to be the philosophy of the young, reckless and careless. Thus Conservatives have learned, through personal or vicarious experience, that broadcasting one’s conservatism or association with the GOP can lead to unwanted, vicious, and occasionally illegal attention from young Liberals who don’t care if they go to jail and have no concern for your personal safety or respect for the law. How many of us have heard of Conservatives’ cars being keyed after putting a Bush bumper sticker on?

It’s unfortunate, but when one cannot trust the political opposition to have any respect for the law, or the law to do anything to track down and punish violators, one is forced into silence. Young Liberals are the Brownshirts of our time, sad to say, and the law just coddles them. Is it any wonder that more conservatives don’t speak up or broadcast their views?

Thankfully, I work in a company that tends towards conservatism, despite the fact that I live in a Blue State. So I can proudly display my McCain bumper sticker, right alongside my “Still Voting Democrat? You’re Stuck On Stupid!” Rush Limbaugh bumper sticker. I know my co-workers won’t key my car. And even if they might, it won’t stop me from speaking up.

We live in a critical time in history. We teeter between Freedom, the bondage of Liberalism and Socialism and oppression of Radical Islam. History will be made by what we now do. History is made by the bold, those who are willing to take risks. If the Founding fathers were willing to risk their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor for my right to be free, then what kind of man would I be to not be willing to risk the same to KEEP our country free from those who would enslave it to the corrupt ideology of Liberalism?

A Car can be repainted, broken Windows can be repaired, and injuries heal. But Freedom, once lost, cannot be easily reclaimed. Conservatives need to be bold. To speak boldly, and to act with courage. The time for hiding who we are and what we believe is over. Speak now. act now, and vote in November. We will reclaim America and hold back the night.

God Bless America.

This should be all you need to know about a man. and what his true feelings are:
“…I will stand with them (Muslims) should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.” B Hussein Obama,

page 261 of his book, Audacity of Hope…

Unlike the writer in your link, I don’t think but for exposing your political views, these people make fine friends. They are nutz and if they had their way, this country would be destroyed. They are like a parasite and won’t stop even as they are killing the host. Every one of their political beliefs have been proven time after time to be failures and yet I’m regarded as evil and stupid? Even with ongoing real time, real world examples of their failed policies, they continue to want to institute the same things here? And I’m supposed to be cowed by them? Be quiet with crazy people running around??