Left versus Right

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Left versus Right

The following is from Thomas Sowell. Compassion Versus Guilt. pp. 127 - 129

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Left versus Right

One of the basic problems of conservatives was illustrated by an industrialist in his 70s who was bitterly complaining about a liberal Senator from his state—a Senator who seemed almost certain to be re-elected.

"If I were twenty years younger," the conservative industrialist said; "I would run against him myself!"

Maybe. But there was a time when he was 20 years younger—and he didn't run against any liberals then.

When bright, educated young people are choosing careers, those who believe in a free market economy often choose careers in that economy. Those opposed to such an economy are more likely to become intellectuals, politicians, lawyers, or parts of various liberal or radical movements.

For the intellectual and political battles, the deck is stacked, both quantitatively and qualitatively. The political left sends its A team into battle against the B team of its critics, who have their A team in the marketplace.

The historic drift to the left in the Western world over the generations reflects in good part this imbalance in the world of ideas, rather than any success of left-wing politics when actually put into practice. Such policies have a record of economic disaster around the world, especially in Communist countries, but they are a roaring success politically in maintaining the support of academic and media intellectuals.

All that has prevented the total and conclusive victory of the political left are the defections from its own ranks—people who have been following the facts and have become fed up with what they have seen. Most of the leading figures who oppose the liberals and leftists in the United States are former liberals and leftists.

Ronald Reagan and Milton Friedman were both liberals at one time. As a member of the liberal-left Americans for Democratic Action, Reagan called Barry Goldwater a "fascist." Friedman had a hand in drafting some of the New Deal legislation he now bitterly attacks.

Irving Kristol, the godfather of neo-conservatism, was once a Marxist. Such other leading neo-conservatives as Nathan Glazer and Norman Podhoretz were once prominent supporters of liberal causes.

Among blacks today regarded as "conservative," virtually all were once either liberals or leftists. Harvard professor Glenn Loury, who has criticized preferential treatment programs in recent years, was defending such programs earlier in this decade. Walter Williams was such a vocal radical, while serving as a young draftee in the U.S. Army, that he was court-martialed.

This pattern of young liberals and radicals turning against these doctrines as they mature is not confined to the United States or to our own era. It may simply reflect the fact that the case for the political left looks more plausible on the surface but is harder to keep believing in as you become more experienced.

So many middle-aged conservatives are former young liberals and radicals that many of them find it hard to understand young conservatives, libertarians, and other youthful opponents of the left. Their suspicion may be based on the old cliché: "If you're not radical in your twenties, you have no heart—and if you are still radical in your forties, you have no head."

But some of the young libertarians and conservatives I have seen don't strike me as heartless at all. Many are deeply concerned about the tragic social consequences of high-sounding liberal-left programs. Some of the highest quality thinking and writing among college students today is found in campus newspapers like the Harvard Salient, the California Review, and other student papers that stand up to the dominant leftism among the "official" student newspapers and among the faculty.

These youngsters have no choice but to think, because they cannot get by with simply chanting slogans about "social justice," "divestment," and "world peace," as the political left does.

The left does not have to think on campus, just chant and demonstrate and feel morally superior. They can win by intimidation on campus, given the favoritism of the faculty and the pliability of the administration. As a result, they are now becoming intellectually the B team.

—September 25, 1986

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29 May 2024