I’ve argued in previous columns that at bottom the problem of the left is a lack of integrity and that it’s hard to find a prominent leftist who truly exhibits integrity—at least in his assessments of politics and public affairs. I’ve also mentioned the obvious inconsistencies in the positions taken by the left, and the persistent pattern of the left of avoiding debate by simply demonizing its opponents. I’ve also said that the left is primarily responsible for the perhaps unparalleled polarization of current American politics. The reason is its unbending attachment to ideology. What would a fuller picture of the left look like and how is it put on display in current controversies?
First, we see a left that pays scant attention to facts, to the evidence. It now, for example, virtually commends abortion as a positive good—all the while, of course, ignoring the obvious facts about unborn human life and scoffing at the thought that abortion does damage to women. It increasingly supports euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, dismissing how they undermine human dignity and the obvious “slippery slope” of how they expand even to the unwilling. It reflexively defends every version of government social welfare programs and ignores their clear failures and adverse effects. And, of course, one could go on and on.