From an A.P. report: “Two former presidents — one Republican, the other a Democrat — will chair a new national institute to promote civility in political discourse in the city where U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was severely wounded in a shooting rampage that left six dead, officials said. The National Institute for Civil Discourse will be run by the University of Arizona. Former presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton will serve as its honorary co-chairmen. ‘Our country needs a setting for political debate that is both frank and civil, and the National Institute for Civil Discourse can make a significant contribution toward reaching this goal,’ Mr. Bush said in a prepared statement. Mr. Clinton said the institute ‘can elevate the tone of dialogue in our country, and in so doing, help us to keep moving toward ‘a more perfect union.’ “
Organizations like this do not aide freedom, individual rights or anything close to civil discourse. What they aide is the liberal/socialist cause. They do so by implying that acts of political violence are perpetrated by people who don’t agree with liberals. It’s appropriate that George Bush I and Bill Clinton team up for this effort, because Bush I represents the conventional Republican thinking that if conservatives were simply ‘kinder and gentler’ — that is to say, more liberal — all would be well. This is far too one-sided to constitute “discourse.”
Any lack of civil discourse does not arise from a lack of commitment to the policies of Obama, Pelosi and Harry Reid. It does not stem from a failure of society to actualize the ambitions and goals of people like Karl Marx and contemporary versions of Marxism to be found throughout our media, academic and political culture.
Lack of civility comes first and foremost from a lack of commitment to reason.
Reason speaks the language of logic, facts, honest objectivity and proof. Liberalism is not associated with these methods of cognition. Consider the environmentalist movement, which publicly shifts facts around or even obliterates facts in order to support the claim that humans are destroying the earth. Consider socialized medicine, which requires unconstitutional mandates along with a national health board to monopolize all medical decisions and determinations in favor of the federal government. The entire welfare-regulatory redistributive state, sanctioned and expanded by liberals like Obama, is based not on the results of persuasion, but mob rule and bureaucratic coercion. Liberal socialists seek majorities where they can, but when they can’t find them they take action anyway (or run into hiding, as in Wisconsin).
Liberalism and socialism do not, and by their nature cannot, speak the language of reason, logic, and factual discourse because by definition this ideology is committed to the use of force — not persuasion.
Liberals in the United States want to be associated with reason. Most of them are still savvy enough to understand that America is a mostly rational place. This is not to say that everyone in America is rational all the time, but they know that most Americans must be convinced with facts, logic and proof in order to be sold on something.
Liberals remind me of psychological abusers and dictators. Such people gain control over families, children or spouses by disguising the nature of what they’re doing. ‘Angry? I’m not angry. What are you talking about?’ Abusers are known for attacking their victims verbally and physically, and then turning around a few hours later and pretending to be the picture of reasonable virtue.
This creates confusion in their victims, amplifying their already low self-confidence. ‘Maybe it’s just me? He’s being so reasonable now. Maybe I’m overreacting to everything that happened.’ Not all victims of abusers react this way, but many do, and it’s this very self-doubt and inner weakness that bullies of all types — familial or political bullies — rely on in trying to gain control over others. This is how Big Government increases its suffocation of liberty and reason more with each passing year: Through gradualism and guilt.
When liberals form organizations with names like ‘The National Institute for Civil Discourse’ it reminds me of the family abuser who says, ‘We’re all reasonable people here. What’s the problem?’ And then, an hour or a day or a week later, the abuser proceeds to throttle you. Rest assured that the liberals who fund and promote these pretentious parodies, seeming so decent and calm in one context, are more than ready to expropriate your wealth (if you have any), determine your medical treatment, authorize what kind of cars you’re to buy and how much fuel you’re allowed to have to put into them. They attack the private sector with taxes, rules and contradictory regulations and then scream it’s the private sector’s fault when unemployment rises.
Advocates of liberalism are control freaks, and it’s control over every aspect of your life that they seek. There’s no ‘discourse’ to be had about that!
Don’t mistake the sweet tones of ‘civil discourse’ for the fraudulent, phony rationalization of brute force that they are. Socialism and liberalism are not about reason. They’re about coercion, plain and simple. No words can alter that fact.