The title of this article came from a recent piece written by Dinesh D’Souza regarding playwright David Mamet’s commentary published in the Village Voice (March 2008), but the truth is that these words have been uttered a million different times by people such as myself. David Mamet is just one of the most recent, and more famous, converts to the Conservative ranks. But what prompts a person to suddenly realize what they once believed (Liberalism) was in fact a facade corrupted by “tainted nobility?” The simple answer………..inexperience.
Who we were in our youth is very seldom what we remain as we get older. That’s not to say what we thought and did 20 years ago was wrong, but it was the product of an incomplete life, and therefore our actions were based on “the truths” as we understood them at that moment of our lives. But 20 years ago “our world” was much smaller, and I am not talking about our global presence, but the true borders that defined our life. In our youth most of us lived in a world not much larger than our college campus or small town. Sure, we understood that things were happening in far off places, but it was our immediate surroundings that defined us when we were young. Our “idealism” showed a narrow view of our own restrained, real world presences. We have all read or heard the anonymous quote (in many different variations) – “When I was young I had a heart and voted Liberal, when I got older I got a brain and voted conservative.” The quote may oversimplify the issue, but rings with a great deal of truth.
Through the course of time peoples options and beliefs begin to shift. Getting a job, marrying, having kids, paying taxes, all of these factors are the key elements of a “complete life.” All of these factors, along with our associations, provide us with a comprehensive view of life in the real world. All of these factors require us to reevaluate what is important to us, and the best approach to deal with them. It is not surprising that as we get older we shift to a more Center to Right prospective. That is not a reflection of our ignorance in our youth, but more a manifestation of an inclusive appreciation of all the things that define us.
Liberalism is the product of youth and inexperience; it is a movement of the “unreasoned heart.” An older Liberal is nothing more than a “Peter Pan,” living in a fantasy world where you never have to “grow-up.” This observation should come as no surprise to anyone who has ever witnessed Liberals in action. They yell and scream when they don’t get “their way,” or fall to the ground in temper-tantrums when adults try to talk to them. Liberals charge the stage (and throw pies), or stand up in groups, whenever a speaker tries to present an alternative counterpoint; much in the way a child covers their ears and screams “na, na, na…I can’t hear you.”
Liberals put bumper stickers such as “01-20-09 – Bush’s Last Day” on their cars the day after the 2004 election, or say things like “I am moving to Canada if McCain wins.” Liberals call you a racist or uncaring when you suggest a more responsible fiscal policy, and choose to call you “unpatriotic” for suggesting that the amount you pay in taxes has nothing to do with your patriotism.
Liberals define tolerance, compassion, oppression, the Constitution, and the meaning of America from their own narrow view of idealism. They immediately attach words like bigoted, uneducated, intolerant, “fill-in the blank-phobic,” and heartless to anyone who disagrees with them, which could not be any further from the truth. In fact, this common, narrow view is the antipathies of everything Liberals claim to stand for.
George Will once said that, “A conservative is willing to accept freedom. Liberals tend to favor equality of outcome and are willing to sacrifice freedom to get it.” So with that, let me welcome Mr. Mamet on board, and invite everyone else to the party.
Who we were in our youth is very seldom what we remain as we get older. That’s not to say what we thought and did 20 years ago was wrong, but it was the product of an incomplete life, and therefore our actions were based on “the truths” as we understood them at that moment of our lives. But 20 years ago “our world” was much smaller, and I am not talking about our global presence, but the true borders that defined our life. In our youth most of us lived in a world not much larger than our college campus or small town. Sure, we understood that things were happening in far off places, but it was our immediate surroundings that defined us when we were young. Our “idealism” showed a narrow view of our own restrained, real world presences. We have all read or heard the anonymous quote (in many different variations) – “When I was young I had a heart and voted Liberal, when I got older I got a brain and voted conservative.” The quote may oversimplify the issue, but rings with a great deal of truth.
Through the course of time peoples options and beliefs begin to shift. Getting a job, marrying, having kids, paying taxes, all of these factors are the key elements of a “complete life.” All of these factors, along with our associations, provide us with a comprehensive view of life in the real world. All of these factors require us to reevaluate what is important to us, and the best approach to deal with them. It is not surprising that as we get older we shift to a more Center to Right prospective. That is not a reflection of our ignorance in our youth, but more a manifestation of an inclusive appreciation of all the things that define us.
Liberalism is the product of youth and inexperience; it is a movement of the “unreasoned heart.” An older Liberal is nothing more than a “Peter Pan,” living in a fantasy world where you never have to “grow-up.” This observation should come as no surprise to anyone who has ever witnessed Liberals in action. They yell and scream when they don’t get “their way,” or fall to the ground in temper-tantrums when adults try to talk to them. Liberals charge the stage (and throw pies), or stand up in groups, whenever a speaker tries to present an alternative counterpoint; much in the way a child covers their ears and screams “na, na, na…I can’t hear you.”
Liberals put bumper stickers such as “01-20-09 – Bush’s Last Day” on their cars the day after the 2004 election, or say things like “I am moving to Canada if McCain wins.” Liberals call you a racist or uncaring when you suggest a more responsible fiscal policy, and choose to call you “unpatriotic” for suggesting that the amount you pay in taxes has nothing to do with your patriotism.
Liberals define tolerance, compassion, oppression, the Constitution, and the meaning of America from their own narrow view of idealism. They immediately attach words like bigoted, uneducated, intolerant, “fill-in the blank-phobic,” and heartless to anyone who disagrees with them, which could not be any further from the truth. In fact, this common, narrow view is the antipathies of everything Liberals claim to stand for.
George Will once said that, “A conservative is willing to accept freedom. Liberals tend to favor equality of outcome and are willing to sacrifice freedom to get it.” So with that, let me welcome Mr. Mamet on board, and invite everyone else to the party.
David Mamet’s original Village Voice piece: David Mamet: Why I Am No Longer A Brian Dead Liberal
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