Liberal vs. Leftist

When it comes to politics, I am right-of-center. You can say I’m “politically violet” because that’s the color you get when you combine red with purple. I have friends and relatives that I consider liberal, but not leftist. I can befriend the former, but hardly the latter. “What’s the difference?” you ask. Let me spell it out for you. I define a liberal as a person that holds to liberal political views, period. That’s all, nothing more. One such person was my maternal grandmother Mary R. Kalman. She voted for Walter Mondale for President in 1984, then for Michael Dukakis in ’88. She was all-against Operation Desert Storm. She called it an excuse for oil. She was all-against the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. On abortion, she was “pro-choice” all the way. In her eyes, a woman having an abortion was comparable to a woman having back surgery. You get the picture. She was politically liberal. As you could imagine, we were no strangers to escalated arguments, but at the end of the day, we were still family, and we loved each other. 

Modern leftists (that usually ID as “progressive” or “woke”) also hold to liberal political views, but unlike my grandmother, they will not debate their counterparts. Rather, they will attack, shame, intimidate, and try to silence whoever disagrees with them. Take abortion for example: a highly controversial issue, no doubt. It is one thing simply to support Roe v. Wade, and oppose Dobbs v. J.W.H.O. But it’s another thing to resort to shame tactics that sound like this: “You’re against Roe v. Wade? You want to outlaw abortion? Shame on you! You’re a sexist! You’re a misogynist! You’re against women’s rights!” Huh?! I’ve always respected a woman’s right to vote, to pursue a full-time career, or to avoid marriage and motherhood. However, as a former embryo, I fight to protect every embryo’s right to be born.

Take another controversial issue: immigration policy. How do you feel about more walls and fences along the Mexican border? How do you feel about amnesty for undocumented immigrants? Liberals typically argue for amnesty, and against more border walls, but leftists do more than that. As with abortion issues, leftists also resort to the same shaming tactics with immigration issues as well. “You want more border walls? You’re against amnesty? Shame on you! You’re a racist! You’re a xenophobe! You’re anti-immigration!” That last one is my favorite. I’m all-against illegal immigration, so that makes me “anti-immigration” in the leftist textbook. I’m all-against drunk driving, so I suppose I’m “anti-driving” too.

Do you see the difference? The liberal thinker is the person in the other chair on stage, debating me. The leftist non-thinker is in the audience with a bullhorn, trying to drown me out.

An American can lean politically liberal, and still be a patriotic American. My aforementioned grandmother was one of them. I recall a time when she went with the family to see the U.S. Air Force Symphony Orchestra in concert. She sat next to me, and I don’t recall ever seeing her more elated any other time. She loved her country as well as her family. Presidents Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and Jimmy Carter were politically liberal and patriotic. So were SCOTUS Justices Thurgood Marshall and Sandra Day O’Connor. They had liberal political views, and they loved their country. They were unashamed to call themselves Americans. 

By contrast, modern “woke” progressive leftists are largely unpatriotic. They have little-to-nothing better to say about America than they do about Nazi Germany. They literally walk on the American flag at rallies and parades.  They “take a knee” during the national anthem because they’re convinced that America is still a racist country. (Traces of systemic racism still linger, but they do not define us as a nation.)

It was understandable to call for the removal of General Robert E. Lee’s statue in Alexandria, Virginia. After all, Lee took up arms to defend the institution of slavery. But leftists do not discriminate between the north and the south. Instead, they hate all of America. In Chicago (a leftist city), a statue of President Lincoln was destroyed in 2017. Another Lincoln statue was removed from Park Square in Boston (another leftist city). 

For countless decades, conservative and liberal leaders have still managed to stay friends, even after an intense debate. House Speaker Tip O’Neil was always at odds with President Ronald Reagan. They couldn’t meet each other in the middle over national defense, education, or drug policy to save their lives. Yet despite that, they always treated each other with mutual respect and dignity. They even befriended each other. Unlike some people we know, Tip O’Neil never tore up a copy of the President’s SOTU speech.

Sadly, patriotic, classic liberal democrats are vanishing in droves and giving way to the modern America-bashing, conservative-shaming leftists. I can befriend you if you have liberal political views, but I can hardly befriend you if you’re in cahoots with the modern progressive left. If you are, then my guess is you probably won’t let this “racist, sexist” conservative befriend you.