What Makes A Leftist Tick?

Scott Strzelczyk tackles this question at American Thinker, and I think it's an excellent read:

Enamored of the promise of a utopian society and aided by a complicit mainstream media, leftist ideologues constantly assail free-market capitalism, the Constitution, religion, and individual responsibility. Their actions are rooted in and justified by a dogmatic ideology. Their ideology is a charade providing a self-serving presumption of moral superiority to others. 

Dig deeper to reveal their greatest motivation: fear.

Leftist ideologues comprising environmental extremists, progressives, liberals (the hijacked definition), socialists, and communists believe that the ends justify the means -- that governance may use any means necessary to achieve predetermined outcomes. Characteristics of the leftist ideology include a heavily regulated economy and/or government owned industry, equal outcomes and economic leveling, multiculturalism, moral relativism, and the perfection of mankind. 

According to Russell Kirk, father of modern conservatism, characteristics of the conservative ideology include the beliefs that an enduring moral order exists, that prudent change is necessary but ought to be slow and gradual, that freedom and property are inextricably linked, the desire to uphold voluntary community and oppose involuntary collectivism, and belief in the principles of variety and prescription while recognizing that man is imperfect.

The philosophical, political, moral, social, and economic principles of the leftist and conservative ideologies diametrically oppose one another. There are numerous practical examples to support this assertion.

The Constitution is the law of the land and formed our style of government, a constitutional republic. The Constitution was established to protect individual rights and liberties against a coercive government. Indeed, it protects the very smallest minority in this country: the individual. To ensure adherence to this principle, the Constitution created a federal government with limited powers that specifically designate what the legislative, executive, and judicial branches can legitimately do. In other words, the means must conform to the constraints of the Constitution, and the ends cannot violate individual rights and liberties. 

However, the leftist ideologue dismisses the Constitution's original intent and meaning, as it constrains the leftist's pursuit of ideological supremacy. To confiscate a person's property, redistribute wealth, restrict free speech, or force a person to purchase a product would violate the very principle the Constitution was established upon. The leftist must subvert constitutional intent and usurp power that was otherwise not granted to advance the leftist ideology -- often violating individual rights and liberties in the process.

The leftist ideologue believes that the needs and rights of the nation-state supersede the needs and rights of the individual. Through legislative fiat and judicial activism, leftist ideology is forced upon society. The leftist believes that the Constitution is a stale document created centuries ago by some old, crotchety men. The leftist believes in a living, breathing Constitution that adapts to the leftist ideology, which justifies the leftist's methods and outcomes. The leftist cannot acknowledge the Constitution's original intent and meaning ,as it would circumvent his ideology. The leftist functions as though the country is a democracy, where majority rules and laws of men prevail. Naturally, the leftist ideologue fears the Constitution.

The basis of our economic system is free-market capitalism.  Over the past two hundred years, capitalism eroded into an economic system based partially on free markets and partially on a heavily government-regulated marketplace. Recently, the government has taken ownership positions in private companies and is attempting to nationalize the health care industry. The government manufactures, produces, and creates nothing in a pure economic sense. The government acts as arbitrator and allocator of existing resources. Tangible resources such as energy, money, or health care are allocated based upon some set of government regulations, priorities, or preferences.

Resource-allocation is primarily driven by political outcome such as captivating voting blocks, backing unions or companies that advance their causes and fund their political campaigns, or providing preferential treatment to specific industries while restricting others. In other words, governments don't rely upon free-market mechanisms like supply, demand, and price signals to allocate resources.

The anthropogenic global warming scandal illustrates how leftist ideologues in the government, environmental, scientific, and academic communities and non-governmental organizations work in concert to ensure a specific outcome: worldwide acceptance of AGW. Leftist ideologues have influenced scientists, falsified data, broken laws, and conspired with other entities to ensure AGW's acceptance. Moreover, government policy based on AGW acceptance provides an opportunity to institute new laws and regulations ensuring the leftist's outcomes is successfully implemented. American Thinker's environmental editor Marc Sheppard documented the outright lies, deceptions, and criminal activity involved in the AGW scam. Two of those articles can be found here and here. 

In a leftist utopia, government would determine winners and losers in the energy industry. Entire sectors and companies would succeed or fail on the whim of a government agency or bureaucrat. Government would regulate how much and what type of energy to consume, the cost of energy, where exploration can occur, what car to drive, what light bulbs to use, and how often to shower or flush a toilet. 

The leftist ideologue elevates the needs of the nation-state over the individual and tramples individual rights and liberties in the process. The leftist would never allow free markets to create and maintain the energy marketplace without the leftist's own influence. Instead, the leftist conjures up the man-made disaster known as AGW. Naturally, the leftist ideologue fears free-market capitalism because it threatens his ideology.

A conservative knows that government's role is limited and that government institutes those laws and regulations necessary for the free market to transcend it. The free market determines the outcomes -- the winners and losers -- rather than the government. A conservative insists that the scientific study of AGW is a repeatable and reliable process, conducted by multiple independent and competing entities, including peer-reviewed data and results. Only then can any government, NGO, company, or person assess and determine an appropriate course of action.

Leftist ideologues loathe moral order and religion, especially Christianity. Religion provides the basis not only for our Constitution and founding principles, but for many morals and values Americans possess. The leftist believes in multiculturalism and moral relativism. According to author Steven Lukes, moral relativists "hold that moral judgments are relative to their time and place, so that they cannot be objectively justified and so cannot be absolute." The leftist places social, economic, and racial justice above moral order. To the greatest extent possible, leftist ideologues must diminish moral order and religion from the American landscape.

A conservative believes human nature is a constant and that moral truths are permanent. Russell Kirk explains the importance of a moral order:

It has been said by liberal intellectuals that the conservative believes all social questions, at heart, to be questions of private morality. Properly understood, this statement is quite true. A society in which men and women are governed by belief in an enduring moral order, by a strong sense of right and wrong, by personal convictions about justice and honor, will be a good society-whatever political machinery it may utilize; while a society in which men and women are morally adrift, ignorant of norms, and intent chiefly upon gratification of appetites, will be a bad society-no matter how many people vote and no matter how liberal its formal constitution may be.

The leftist ideologue fears the Constitution. The leftist fears individual responsibility. The leftist fears free-market capitalism. The leftist fears a moral order. The leftist fears absolute truth. In Franklin D. Roosevelt's first inaugural address, he said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." The leftist ideology embodies fear.

I think this was a great contrast between liberalism and conservatism, and the fundamental underpinnings of both.  It's also a great illustration of how the foundations of America were set squarely on top of the things that liberalism is actively fighting against.

Something to think about, no?

There's my two cents.