Liberals' Views of Conservatives

* The Democrat Governor of New York had some choice words for conservatives. Speaking of a split between moderate and conservative Republicans, Andrew Cuomo expressed his disdain for conservatives. "Who are they? Are they these extreme conservatives who are right-to-life, pro-assault weapon, anti-gay? Is that who they are? Because if that's who they are and they're the extreme conservatives, they have no place in the State of New York because that's not who New Yorkers are." We need to very clear about the significance of these comments.

* First, these are not isolated comments. See my earlier blog post of 8/2/12 entitled "Why I Am No Longer A Democrat." That post discusses how the Democrat mayors of four big cities (Chicago, San Francisco, Boston and D.C.) said that Chick-fil-A was not welcome in their cities because the owner believed in the traditional definition of marriage. So you need to understand that mainstream liberals have no respect for, nor tolerance of, opposing political beliefs.

* Second, you see how what might be considered traditional American values are now labeled as being "extreme." If you oppose the killing of babies, you are extreme. Yet, public support for abortion on demand and at all stages of pregnancy, is on the decline. If you support the Second Amendment, you are extreme. If you oppose gay marriage, and believe in the thousands of years old definition of marriage, you are extreme. There is absolutely no respect for your viewpoints - if they are contrary to leftist ideology.

* Third, these leftists would be the first to remind everyone of the attack on freedom of speech and freedom of belief during the McCarthy era. When the House Un-American Activities Committee was investigating Communists in the 1950s, the question was: "Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the Communist Party?" These same people, however, are the first to ask: "Are you now, or have you ever been, a conservative?" This is dangerous ground upon which these leftists tread; and I can only imagine what they would be willing to do to conservatives if they had such power. At the very least, it appears they would be perfectly willing to limit where conservatives could live and conduct business. If you are a democrat and this does not frighten you, then you need to ask yourself when you gave up on freedom in favor of tyranny.

* Maria Conchita Alonso is an actress and was scheduled to star in a production of "The Vagina Monologues." The production was being put on by a San Francisco arts group. However, Ms. Alonso committed a horrible offense against the left; she appeared in an ad on behalf of Tim Donnelly, a member of the California State Assembly. Oh, and he is a Tea Party member. Said the producer: "We really can't have her in the show, unfortunately." What the producer meant was: 'We really can't tolerate anybody with opinions that are contrary to ours.' So it's no surprise that conservatives in Hollywood often stay "in the closet."

* Melissa Harris-Perry has her own show on MSNBC. For what soon became an obvious reason, she showed a family picture of the Romneys. Sitting on Mitt's lap was his grandchild, who is black. One of Ms. Harris-Perry's guests started singing, "One of these things is not like the other..." Another guest compared the photo to the "diversity of the Republican Party," because there was just "one black person." It is difficult to imagine a more mean-spirited segment. Black children are in desperate need of adoption. But no credit went to the Romneys. When the left can only see race at all times and in all circumstances, they are blinded to the goodness and humanity that should have been the focus of the conversation.

* New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow recently had a column entitled "Indoctrinating Religious Warriors." In it, he cited a Pew Research poll that made the startling comment that most "staunch conservatives" "agree with the Tea Party, and even more very strongly disapprove of Barack Obama's job performance." Most such "staunch conservatives" were also regular viewers of Fox News. (I am just shocked by that!) I have not conducted a poll on this, but I would be willing to bet that most "staunch leftists" agree with the Occupy Wall Street movement, very strongly approve of Barack Obama's job performance, and watch MSNBC. (Okay, maybe not the last one; not that many people watch MSNBC.) Mr. Blow concludes that Republicans rile up the rank-and-file "to divert their attention from areas of common sense and the common good. After all, infidels are deserving of your enmity, not your empathy." Perhaps Mr. Blow could read the above and tell me how democrats show their empathy to those with whom they disagree and perceive to be "infidels."

* Paul Krugman, another leftist columnist for the New York Times, recently had a column about income inequality. He opined that "American capitalism as currently constituted is undermining the foundations of middle-class society..." Lots of assumptions there. Assuming the middle-class is dying, can this award-winning economist think of no other explanations? What about the globalization of the economy, and treaties like NAFTA, that sent American jobs south and overseas? What about high taxes, excessive regulation and the burdens of Obamacare? About 400 businesses have announced their intentions on cutting employees' hours in order to avoid the mandate/penalty of Obamacare. Think that helps with income inequality?

* During Obama's time in office income inequality has worsened. Median Income is down from $55,958.00 to $52,163. The number in poverty has increased from 46.5 million to 67 million. And the participation in the labor force has dwindled to 62.8% from 65.7%. (Data from Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace.)

* One could learn a lot from looking at how people vote - with their feet. The top three states for net interstate migration for the 12 month period ending 7/1/13 were Texas (up 113,528), Florida (up 91,484), and North Carolina (up 37,240). The big losers are what may be described as the Big Three of Liberal Government: California (down 49,259), Illinois (down 67,313), and New York (down 104,470). (Data from the 1/24/14 USA Today.) The IBD reported that the US lost 1.8 million jobs from 9/07 to 11/13. On the other hand, Texas gained 1.1 million jobs during that same time frame. People went to Texas for jobs. So why did Texas succeed in growing jobs at a time when the country was losing jobs? Lower taxes and less regulation.

Again, I would bet that most people care more about having a job for themselves, than care about incomes at the top rising. The evidence is right there - people left the high tax, high regulation, high unemployment liberal states for jobs. Something that democrats are not particularly good at growing. However, democrats remain quite talented at demonizing conservatives.