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Sunday, October 23, 2005

The conservative observer, Marcus, is taking a good look at liberal intolerance. He points out just how illiberal the typical modern liberal is. His focal point: how hard the liberals work to maintain control of public education. One might rephrase Voltaire: Though I disagree with what you believe, I will grudgingly let you believe it as long as I get to teach your child how wrong and ignorant you are.

In spite of my thoughts on I.D., evolution and creationism, whether one or all three are taught is the least of our worries. What is worrisome is that civics education has devolved into classes where you learn to complain to the city about potholes and use your Rep's constituent service office to get your welfare benefits restored... Life sciences classes are increasingly a platform for that other religion, Mother Earth worship. And social sciences offerings have become the place where you learn that every religion and culture is worth honoring except for the WASP culture that founded the modern notions of freedom, liberty and law.

The messing up of our education system owes, largely, to well-meaning liberals who are as baffled by people who don't agree with them as the Pope is confused about people who fail to get baptized in the Catholic church. This is a point Marcus makes far better than I, so I suggest reading the whole thing. But, two excerpts:

The liberals, atheists, and materialists have spent three centuries claiming to be the party of liberty, persecuted by evil authoritarians of the right and of the church.

But look how they react to a plan that would deny them their exclusive power to control the education of so many of the children of people who do not agree with them!.

They are behaving like just another faction that will allow liberty to others only so far as its exercise would comport with their own defining beliefs and agenda. Pretty much like, why, everybody else!

And:

The attentive reader will recall that, as for me, I actually stand with the liberals on about half the interesting issues and with the conservatives on the other half.

For example, I am far more confident God exists than that matter does. In fact, I rather strongly doubt that matter does.

And yet, I do not regard homosexual sex as wrong in itself, nor do I oppose gay marriage. In fact, I rather think it a good idea, and say the same for adoption rights for gay parents.

But on vouchers and private education, and quite unlike liberals, I worry only that they will provide an easy way for the selfish rich to starve the educational means of ordinary people and the poor, or an easy way to starve teachers unions and undermine teachers' incomes.

But I also know that liberals exploit those fears to stave off the danger of mass desertion of gummint schools that a readily available and open voucher program would, for their anti-Christian and anti-religious cultural dominance, represent.

I think, though, that here's where we go off the rails. If the liberals - and I would add the capital-l Libertarians - are as intolerant of dissent as everyone else, to whom do we turn to strike a balance where the various factions can co-exist? The answer, I suppose, is to ourselves, to the extent that we can keep the meddlers back. Which is why robust exercise of our First Amendment rights in the blogosphere is a must. Along with the insurance policy of a robust exercise of our Second Amendment rights, of course.

posted by gbarto at 5:53 PM

Sunday, October 23, 2005

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