How to spot a liberal

I have been a follower of politics since the Carter administration. All these years have taught me that whether they are actors, businesswomen, or life-long politicians, I can spot liberal thinkers the moment they open their mouths. Since they rarely identify themselves as liberals, preferring monikers such as “progressive,” here are some dead giveaways.

Liberals consistently operate on a double-standard. They are exceedingly generous with other people’s money, but shelter their own. They ardently argue that everyone should be free to think whatever they want – unless you disagree with them. They proudly support religious tolerance, no matter how bizarre, unless that religion is Christianity.

They argue that requiring any type of ID for voting is racist, but these same politicians require ID to enter most any of their own social functions. They publicly vilify the “evil Wall Streeters” and then privately pander to them for campaign money. They are 100 percent behind protecting minorities and women unless the African-American, Latino, or female is from the other side of the political aisle. Then they are eerily silent.

Liberals rarely engage in legitimate rhetoric. They use single cases to make their points, while ignoring large amounts of data to the contrary. No amount of evidence that social programs aren’t working will ever be enough to persuade liberals that they are wrong.

When someone dares present them with evidence, instead of refuting arguments, liberals dismiss their opponents as sexist, racist, or they make fun of them. Think of Al Gore who – when questioned about his statement that polar bear populations are decreasing and that the population may, in fact, be stable or increasing – responded with “Nobody told the polar bears that. Hahaha.” These are the rhetorical skills of a middle schooler.

Liberals regularly attempt to bypass scrutiny of their proposed policies by creating emergencies such as global warming, healthcare, housing – you name it. Emergencies allow them to demonize anyone who opposes the policy rather than having to actually defend what they want to do.

Liberal logic is easy to refute, but if a flaw in their logic is presented, they simply scream “racist,” “greedy,” or some other epithet. They will never be satisfied. They will always want more money, more intrusive laws, and no program will ever be successful to the point that it can be terminated.

Liberals are largely people who are unaffected by their own policies – the super-rich, the poor, college professors, and college students. The super-rich shelter their money from exorbitant federal, state, and local taxes. The poor vote to take money from others for their own benefit, while paying no taxes.

College professors, most of whom who have never had to actually implement any of their ideologies, have the luxury of simply talking about them. Of course, college students don’t have to implement or fund their liberal ideas either – not to mention their lack of experience in how life really works. And politicians exempt themselves from many of their own policies, of course.

Liberals resent large segments of the population. They resent the military and police, yet benefit from the safety and freedom they provide us. They resent successful business people and are highly critical of the United States as a whole, but they continue to live here, take advantage of opportunities for success, and utilize our health care system.

For example, extremist film-maker Michael Moore, who produces pseudo-documentaries proclaiming how bad things are in the U.S., has benefited significantly from the very system he says is unfair – and he continues to do so. No liberal ever permanently moves to Cuba, Russia, China, North Korea or some other socialist country.

Liberals are so angry. It seems that liberals can’t simply disagree with someone. Instead, they are always angry at some sector of the population – businessmen, hunters, the Tea Party, Republicans, pro-life groups, Christians, coal companies, pharmaceutical companies, and others.

They idolize such words as “tolerance” and “compassion,” but show little of either to those who disagree with them. Oddly, they express the most anger toward their fellow citizens just arm’s reach across the political aisle while bending over backwards to appease people who want to kill us.

Liberals think the public is either incompetent or stupid. Therefore, they feel the need to regulate every aspect of our lives. We aren’t smart enough to decide for ourselves how large a soft drink should be or how much salt we should consume.

Liberals talk about people having “too much money” or “more than they need” as if there is something evil about succeeding in life and it is up to liberals to punish the rich with onerous tax burdens. Why do liberals think it is up to them to decide how much money a person should earn? Interestingly, “too much” is always more than they have themselves.

Yet as smart as they think they are, liberals rarely see the broader ramifications of their policies. Consider John Kerry’s response to a question about a terrorist released from Guantanamo Bay in 2012 who is now actively recruiting for al Qaeda in Sudan: “He’s not supposed to be doing that.” Really? It is easy to demonize places like Guantanamo Bay when you don’t have to protect a nation from merciless terrorists.

Finally, liberals despise the U.S. Constitution, which protects us from them. When questioned about the constitutionality of a policy they don’t address the question, but rather describe their intentions and what they think is right. Intent is all that matters, regardless of the constitutionality of the policy. The Constitution is always in their way. Thank God for the foresight of the founding fathers.

Liberals are not evil people and I value the two-party system, differences in opinion, and the potential benefits of some liberal policy. And conservatives aren’t perfect by any means either. But the lack of logic, unwillingness to truly discuss policy, and the other issues I’ve noted above leaves me terribly frustrated.

For any liberal who is still reading and is planning a response to my comments, double check your argument against the points I’ve made above before sending it.

[Gregory K. Moffatt, Ph.D., is a college professor, published author, licensed counselor, certified professional counselor supervisor, newspaper columnist and public speaker. He holds an M.A. in Counseling and a Ph.D. in Psychology from Georgia State University and has taught at the college level for over 30 years. His website is gregmoffatt.com.]