The response that took way too long

At long last, I just finalized my response to Karli, the girl who replied to my email about my muslim extremism post. It's kinda long, but (in my opinion) worth the read.

Karli, I am genuinely surprised that you have never heard that comparison made. Just read the New York Times (or New York anything, for that matter). Often times Christian conservatism are lumped together with radical Islam and labeled as a threat to modern society.¹ My post was not a turn-around attack on liberalism in response to the claim against conservatives. I simply observed that, if anything, certain aspects of Muslim extremism coincided more with liberalism than Christian conservatism. I just found it ironic that the accusers (however ridiculous the accusation might be) were more deserving of the attack than conservatives were.

I'm not sure what you mean by "moderate liberal." My impression is that you identify with most of what the Democratic Party stands for. Let me tell you some negatives I see it representing: anti-Christianity-but-pro-every-other-religion, anti-absolute truth, pro-abortion and anti-woman (by their oppression of women--see my previous email), anti-equal rights (aka pro-affirmative action), pro-gay marriage, anti-personal responsibility (government control over personal freedom), anti-intellectual.²

I am not comparing liberals to Muslim extremists; I agree that the equation is ridiculous. And perhaps that assertion about conservatives is made only by kook fringe liberals, not the moderates. But unfortunately, those kook fringe liberals are slowly becoming the mainstream in your party. It's not that I'm looking for leftist extremism. Leftist extremism is coming to me. Here are some examples:

• "Bush won 55 percent of white women...I don't think you can lay all that at the doorstep of moral values. I think that this President unabashedly and abjectly took the issue of terror and used it to terrorize...white women." ~ Harold Ickes, Clinton advisor and Kerry aide, on Washington Journal, C-SPAN
• "I mean they're not bad guys, especially, just people that disagree with us." ~ Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC's Hardball, referring to the insurgents in Fallujah.
• "If indeed all those blue states all got together and seceded from the union, think what would be left for those red states, nothing. There would be no educational system. You would have nothing. What would be left to you? I mean, where is all of this talent in this country?" ~ Geraldine Ferraro, vice-presidential candidate and former Ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Commission, on Hannity & Colmes, 11/6/04
• "I hate the Republicans and everything they stand for" ~ Howard Dean, failed presidential candidate and DNC Chairman, late January 2005
• "The issue is not abortion. The issue is whether women can make up their own mind instead of some right-wing pastor, some right-wing politician telling them what to do." ~ Howard Dean (hat tip to Temujin)
• "We don’t know whether in the long run the Iraqi people are better off, and the most important thing is we don’t know whether we’re better off." - On the question of whether getting rid of Saddam Hussein was a good thing. ~ Howard Dean, Meet The Press 6/22/03
• "[Osama bin Laden has been] out in these countries for decades, building schools, building roads, building infrastructure, building day care facilities, building health care facilities, and the people are extremely grateful. We haven't done that." ~ Sen. Patty Murray, (D-WA)
• "I've got a little map here of pre-Civil War, free vs. slave states ... It looks like the [red-blue] map of 2004. And when you say, 'Let's let the states decide,' I remember what the states decided when they had slavery." ~ Carole Simpson, previous anchor of World News Tonight Sunday, at the National Press Club, 11/8/04
• "Many of you are well enough off that . . . the tax cuts may have helped you. We're saying that for America to get back on track, we're probably going to cut that short and not give it to you. We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good." ~ Hillary Clinton, June 2004

Or take perhaps the most obvious kook voice in your party: Michael Moore. I’m sure you already know he’s a whacko, but here are a couple quotes anyway:

• ''The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not 'insurgents' or 'terrorists' or 'The Enemy.' They are the revolution, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow -- and they will win.'' ~ on his website
• "These bastards who run our country are a bunch of conniving, thieving, smug pricks who need to be brought down and removed and replaced with a whole new system that we control." ~ in his book Dude Where's My Country?

Now, I'm sure that you will respond that Michael Moore is not in the mainstream, that he's a kook fringe liberal. OK, maybe all that's true. The mainstream might not be saying the same things (except for the first string of quotes…), but they sure as heck aren't contradicting them, and they sure aren't distancing themselves from him. I particularly like the way Michael Barone--political analyst, author of The Almanac of American Politics, Fox News contributor, U.S. News and World Report columnist—puts it:

"It's a very basic question: 'Is this a good country?' Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy, and a lot of other Democrats before believed it is, as have Republicans like Dwight Eisenhower, Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush. That's the opinion generally of the large majority of the American people. But the Democratic party is split. You have people like Joe Lieberman, Dick Gephardt, who definitely think this is a fair and decent country. They disagree with some policies, but they think America is a force for good in the world. Then you have the Michael Moores, who think Americans are 'the stupidest people in the world' -- his words -- and that we are a force for evil in the world and the Iraqi insurgents are a force for good. You have elected Democrats going to the premiere of his movie and embracing him, and you have the Democrats seating him with Jimmy Carter in the President's box at the DNC."³

Karli, you have yet to respond to the actual meat of my post. What of my assertions about liberalism? What ideology is intolerant of other religions? Or should I say, what ideology is tolerant of every religion but Christianity? Liberalism.⁴

What ideology promotes sexual freedom and absolutely no responsibility for one’s actions? Liberalism.⁵ What ideology does much of the Hollywood culture—such as degradation of women through promiscuity, objectification, and the doctrine of “sexual freedom” and irresponsibility—identify with? Liberalism. What ideology pretends to protect a woman’s right of “choice” while simultaneously fighting tooth and nail anything that would educate women more fully, such as the risks of abortion and the alternatives to it? You guessed it, liberalism. (That definitely qualifies as oppression against women.) ⁶
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1. For example: Fundamentalist attitudes in US and Islam 'have similar basis' story in the Irish Times, 12/9/04 An article in the London Times argues that conservative Christianity and radical Islam are not fighting each other, but are both on a mission to destroy "secular modernity." The writer compares the oppression and lack of freedom in radical Islamic societies with the Christian views concerning "extramarital sex, abortion, homosexuality, and contraception." He claims an all-inclusive "militant religion" as the "gravest threat to the secular modern world," making no distinction between conservative Christianity and radical Islam. Religion must be kept in its place story in the London Times, 3/18/04

2. These are generalizations, things I see around me daily, not something I traced back to a specific article. #1 is similar in that you can pick up the insinuation/bias against conservatism in general, and Christians specifically.

3. The Limbaugh Letter, December 2004.

4. some recent attacks by the ACLU and/or other liberals, for example: prayer in schools, the assault on the Boy Scouts concerning gay troop leaders, the effort to remove historic Christian documents from public display

5. promotion of condom use over abstinence, and the portrayal of abortion as a means of birth control.

6. ACLU suits against parental notification, against the choice of hospitals to opt-out of performing abortions, liberal opposition to educating women about the full risks of abortion, including cancer and fetal pain.