Answering a Liberal Diatribe
The release Monday of our Fall issue of Thinking Minnesota, with its cover story exposing how test results have dropped in Edina as left-wing ideology has taken over their schools, has created quite a stir, especially since we mailed a copy to every Edina household. All I can say (after monitoring calls and receiving emails for three days) is that liberal snark and arrogance is breathtaking.
But, inspired by Michelle Obama (“when they go low, we go high”), I wanted to attempt something constructive, hence this post.
Thursday I corresponded via email with a woman from Northwestern Minnesota who was very angry she had received our magazine, again, after previously requesting to be removed from our list. I apologized and explained the mix up and then she replied to me with a longer, somewhat substantive, diatribe against Trump and Republicans.
She is expressing what many liberals are thinking and feeling, and too often the left and right talk past each other and don’t listen to the other side’s perspective. Therefore, I am going to share her email with you and do my best to honestly answer the questions she asked me. Her words are in bold.
Why don’t you do some reading on the founding of this country and learn that the Founders had the most liberal idea ever, “free men can rule free men” and find out that you are on the completely wrong track?
I’m sorry but I don’t know what point you are trying to make here. Conservatives, as the name implies, believe that overall their proposals represent a greater fidelity to the Constitution that our Founders blessed America with.
What is happening in this country right now with Trump in office, is extremist right wing politics run amok. Are you proud of the President that you have elected? Do you want your children to grow up thinking that it is just fine to grab women, denigrate them, toss them aside when he is tired of them, regardless of the children he has? What sort of example are you setting?
Donald Trump is a very imperfect vessel and I don’t know anyone who can say they are “proud” of him. His election is just as much, if not more, about Barack Obama’s left-wing overreach and Hilary Clinton’s spectacular flaws as it is about Trump’s skill in articulating the dramatic change that resonated with middle America.
Do you think he is improving the standing of this nation in the world?
I’m not sure but I think he is doing more to improve our nation’s security than the precious administration, which is more important than how the United Nations or the European Union happen to view the U.S. at the moment.
My oldest son just died. He had a lifelong disability, Tourette Syndrome and he was greatly impacted by it. He was 34 years old. Do you know that the Republican war against the ACA would likely have taken Medicare support from him? What do you want people like him to do, die in the streets?
I discussed this question with our health care expert Peter Nelson, and we think you may be referring to Medicaid instead of Medicare. Currently discussed proposals would not make it “likely” that your son would have lost support for his care, instead it would have been highly unlikely. I’m afraid you’ve been misled by liberal scare tactics, in the United States the only place people with disabilities die in the streets is in left-wing rhetoric and fund raising appeals.
If you go to church on Sunday and sit in a pretty little row, you are missing the message that Jesus preached. He said we are to care for one another. And yet every Republican politician out there, so sure that they are more Godly than God himself votes for legislation that removes protection from the most vulnerable.
Again I think you are falling victim to simplistic liberal caricatures of Christians and conservatives.
I used to be a Republican. I was an active member of the party and I was invited to Richard Nixon’s inaugural. I will NEVER vote or support a Republican politician again.
Shame on all of you.
[Name withheld]
Peter Zeller is Director of Operations at Center of the American Experiment.