I left the left but that doesn't mean I am right.

When I was growing up I really believed that being liberal was the highest form of political thought one could achieve. It was a no-brainer. All the cool people were crypto-socialists and proud of it. We had real live celebrities on our side and powerful folk music full of deep lyrics that proved how horrible and cruel the human race was and how enlightened we were. Yes, yes, one tin soldier rides away with Abraham, Martin and John forgetting O-hi-O! The right were all stuffy old rich guys or, worse, clean-cut Hitler Youths that always seemed so weirdly positive and utterly clueless. We cared about things. We were anti-discrimination so we naturally figured the right was pro-discrimination. We were for women's rights to wear tube tops and abandon the shackles of traditional sexual mores and we wanted the right to grow our hair and smoke Marlboro reds whenever we wanted.

In short, we were liberal because we were selfish and judgmental. Being liberal meant that you were free to make fun of people in the most personal way. We mocked people for being fat, for having lisps, for being religious. We made fun of their hair and dress and their wives and their kids. Being liberal meant that no one had the right to judge you even as you judged them mercilessly. It was never really about ideas inasmuch as it was a way of showing how superior we were by mocking and ridiculing everyone with opposing views. I have a book by Gary Trudeau called "Inside Reagan's Brain" which was the Doonesbury treatment of Ronald Reagan. It painted him as senile, dim and confused - basically, we now know, everything that he wasn't, but that was the prevailing view on the Gipper. He was a doddering old man who took a lot of naps and the government was run by a secret cabal of ultra right wing puppeteers and corporate cronies. To our lazy, self absorbed way of thinking that narrative made perfect sense.

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It is my sincere hope that anyone who reads this blog will be greatly informed, engaged and entertained. This is how I see the world and what goes on between my ears.