I’m a former Marxist. I studied its ideology from the classical texts of Marx and Engels down through the Frankfurt School theoreticians and Antonio Gramsci. I’ve studied Liberation Theology too. I aspired to be a theologian/philosopher to try to find a “third way” socialism that was faithful to traditional ethics and also avoided the pitfalls of poor economic policy that plagues every socialist failure. Admittedly, I was more of the bookish type and was not very deeply anchored in the activist Left, but I did get involved as much as my studies in college and later the seminary would allow. So, I got to know the Left very, very well. Let me state that expediency trumps honesty among the movers and shakers of socialism, “progressivism,” and Marxism. For starters, they deceive people as to who they are. I was even told by activist leaders to avoid discussing anything intellectual about Marxism with new members of their organizations and with reporters. They did not want anyone to know WHO was really organizing their protests and who was networking and unifying the organizations. We were supposed to parrot the dumb talking points, slogans, and carry the signs with pre-approved messages full of cant about “peace” and ending U.S. imperialism in the Third World. Moreover, Marxists like me who retained their Christian heritage were looked down on and regarded with suspicion.
Over time I also took the conservatives’ critiques of socialism seriously and I looked into how things REALLY were in socialist countries. The evidence of lies just kept piling up to the point where my mental in box of cognitive dissonance was too much to ignore.
Lying and expediency are quite natural to the Left. I’m not saying that there is a complete absence of it on the Right. Clearly there isn’t. However, like Muslims and taqiyya, Leftists and expediency in the service of the revolution are inseparable.
