Leftism is not Liberalism

Today, Liberalism has far more in common with Conservatism than it does with Leftism. Op-ed.

By Alex Rose, INN    Sep 23, 2022,

Leftist credit card, Rightist credit cardiStock

“The Left’s view of America was encapsulated in then presidential candidate Barak Obama’s statement in 2008. ‘We are 5 days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America,’ he said.” [Dennis Prager].

Perhaps an understanding of the present day plague which haunts us is best described in “Quotation of the Day on Why the Left is Consumed by Hate ” by Mark J. Perry, featured in AEIdeas of September 24, 2018.

He speaks about the great crisis for the American Left today, its source of its angst and hatefulness being its own encroaching obsolescence. It appears to be slowly dying from lack of racial menace. Despite claims, the Left lacks worthy menaces to fight and hence is driven to find a replacement for racism, some sweeping historical wrong doing that morally empowers those who oppose it. Failing this, only hatred is left.

Hatred is a power which causes or is able to make a change. It can be harmless or inoffensive. The menace of black victimization becomes the unarguable truth of the black identity. And here we are again, forever victims. Yet the Left is still stalked by obsolescence. There is simply not enough menace to service its demands for power.

The voices that speak for the Left have never been less convincing. Then there is the failure of virtually every program the left has ever espoused—open borders, welfare, public housing, school busing, affirmative action, diversity programs, releasing criminals indiscriminately before time served and so on. But, top of the list there is Trump, the outsider, the uncouth, the one who more often than not talks before he thinks. The greater offense is that he succeeds in practically all of the major issues.

For the American Left today, the indulgence in hate is a death rattle.

Dennis Prager asks the question, “What is the difference between a Leftist and a Liberal? Here is the first thing to know. The two have almost nothing in common.” He notes further that on the contrary, Liberalism has far more in common with Conservatism than it does with Leftism. “The Left has appropriated the word ‘liberal’ so effectively that almost everyone – liberals, leftists and conservatives – thinks they are synonymous.”

Prager examines his subject through race, capitalism, nationalism, views of America, free speech, western civilization, Judaism and Christianity. His conclusion , “Dear Liberals: Conservatives are not your enemy. The Left is.”

Yet another gem from Dennis Prager is more specific, honing in on his fellow “Jews”. Published by Investor’s Business Daily on 11/06/2018, it was appropriately named, “Dennis Prager: Left-Wing Jews – A Jewish and American Tragedy.”

At commencement and to the point, he advances the idea in a bald statement. He says that it is impossible to overstate the damage Leftist–not Liberal but Leftist Jews are doing to Judaism, Jews and Americans.

Clearly, it is not new, having been initiated by Karl Marx, the grandson of two Orthodox rabbis [his parents had undergone pro forma conversions to Christianity].”On the Jewish Question”, one of the most anti-Semitic tracts of the 19th century published in 1844, is attributed to him .Some of the less than generous thoughts it generated includes:

[a] “What is the worldly religion of the Jew? Huckstering …”

[b] “What is his worldly God? Money …”

[c] “Money is the jealous god of Israel, in face of which no other god may exist …”

[d] “In the final analysis, the emancipation of the Jews is the emancipation of mankind from Judaism.”

Leon Trotsky, another Leftist Jew, along with Lenin, led the Bolshevik Party in Russia during the early 20th century. It became a catastrophe for Jews and for humanity. Prager captured an old fable from 1920.When Trotsky was head of the Red Army, Moscow’s Chief Rabbi Jacob Mazeh requested him to utilize the army to protect the Jews from Pogrom attacks as tens of thousands of them were murdered. The response,” Why do you come to me? I am not a Jew” ,to which the Rabbi answered , That’s the tragedy. It’s the Trotsky’s who make revolutions, and it’s the Bronstein’s who pay the price.”

Writing in the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs on “Jews and the Left”, Fiamma Nirenstein provides a worthy insight on the topic. [January 14, 2020].

She maintains that President Trump has opened a new Jewish question. Why do Jewish citizens have a tendency to lean to the Left despite all the anti- Semitism harbored by the left-wing groups or parties under the guise of “criticism of Zionism” or of Israel?

Further, why are left-wing Jews so ready to disregard, to cast aside, even the most evident support for Israel, if it comes from conservatives? Regarding Israel, Obama laid the onus of guilt on the “territories,” forgetting that they are “disputed” according to the United Nations; instead they became just “occupied.”

In recognizing that the Democrat Party is no longer what it used to be, Fiamma surmises Trump’s thoughts, as regards its Jewish members.

“How can this be!” he might well think. “I’ve done great things for Israel, like moving the embassy to Jerusalem; recognizing Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights; undermining Iran’s aggressive plans by withdrawing from the nuclear deal and imposing sanctions; cutting US funding to the Palestinian Authority, which uses it to pay terrorists and their families; and stopping funding for UNRWA, the UN Relief and Works Agency, which perpetuates the Palestinian refugee .issue.”<
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Moreover, he certainly thinks, “My daughter is Jewish, my son-in-law and my grandchildren are as well.” For a Jewish American to support the Democrats, Trump stated publicly, “shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty.”

Fiamma Nirenstein observed that during the Obama administration, everything changed. Jewish Democrats sense of guilt “was augmented by the immense process of cultural contrition that was prompted by the accession of a black president.”

A manifestation of the sickness of Leftism was reported on by The Algemeiner on Sept 12, 2016 through John Bolton, entitled, “Barak Obama and the Lessons of 9/11.” In the body of the report, we read, Obama refuses to talk about the ideology of radical Islam, even though more Muslims have been victimized by this theocratic nightmare than non-Muslims. Obama refuses to acknowledge the war being waged against us, even though his own senior intelligence officials have repeatedly testified to Congress that the global terrorist threat is equal to or greater than it was before 9/11. And who can forget the lies about Benghazi, Libya?

Arutz 7 posted, “Those Trump Accusers – They Glory Too Much” by Jack Engelhard on July 3, 2022 which provides a useful completion given contemporary events. He commences with there being “one thing to pursue the facts pertaining to Jan 6 and the chaos that took place at the Capital, but quite something else when the House probe turns into DC Happy Hour – even happier when ex-Trump aid Cassidy Hutchinson comes to testify as a snitch. Then it becomes a gloat -fest. Time to party and play pin-the-tail on Donald Trump.”

On a serious note, what Engelhard is describing is a demonstration of uncontrolled Leftism.

Ron Jager said it succinctly: “Excessive governmental intervention in our daily lives, political correctness and “woke” terminology, the breakdown of law enforcement and the judicial system, and rampant entitlement for all, other than those than those who are “white” have become the norm. Progressive politicians are at the vanguard of the assault on common sense values and principles that we grew with him.”

Let’s hope the New Year will see American Left and its Jewish proponents come to their senses.

Alex Rose, alexrenee.rose@gmail.com, was born in South Africa in 1935 and lived there until leaving for the US in 1977, where he spent 26 years. He is an engineering consultant. For 18 years he worked for Westinghouse until age 60, whereupon he became self-employed. He was formerly on the Executive of Americans for a Safe Israel and a founding member of CAMERA, New York [Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America? one of the largest media monitoring organizations concerned with accuracy and balanced reporting on Israel. In 2003, he and his wife made Aliyah and reside in Ashkelon.