The Left Loves Diversity — Except When It Comes to Political Views
@51. Donna V.:
David S., aren’t you forgetting about Joe Lieberman? The VP candidate in 2000 who became a reviled man for backing the war? Remember Zell Miller? Casey in PA who broke with his party on the abortion issue?
Joe Lieberman left the party because he lost a party primary. He was not forced to leave. Zell Miller likewise left the Democratic party of his own accord, and elected not to run for office thereafter. Casey was never forced out of the party, despite his staunch opposition to abortion. There is still a lot of room for dissent within the party.
David, the idea that conservatives don’t know liberals is laughable.
Not as laughable as the claim that the media is “liberal”. Conservatives in this country think Fox is mainstream and NPR is a liberal news organization. The fact is that it is almost impossible to find a liberal news outlet. Newspapers, radio and television are dominated by corporate interests that prefer to stick with the center-right story that butters their bread. There is no left-wing equivalent to GOP domination of the airwaves and print media. I know it may be hard to accept, but the media bias in the USA is not liberal by any stretch of the imagination.
I consciously seek out perspectives from all along the political spectrum, and I have to say, conservatism is much better represented than liberalism in most of the major publications. Newspapers are consistently conservative, television news is consistently conservative, and even NPR often fails to balance the conservative opinions that are aired. Large portions of the universities are devoted to “business” schools that are filled with conservatives – there is no lack of conservative expression on our campuses.
Your personal experience of liberal conformity is an interesting one, but in my personal experience, it is the brain-washed masses of evangelical Republicans that are the source of boredom, and an impetus to seek other perspectives. Liberals are a diverse group, who may disagree over any number of topics. Conservatives, at least in my personal experience, are more likely to belong to a social group that enforces conformity of thought and belief – such as a fundamentalist church. By contrast, liberals tend to be independent minded and open to new ideas.
Peace.
DS
