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Monday, April 11, 2005

When the left starts getting it right

Legend has it when Lord Cornwallis surrendered his army to Gen. George Washington after the British defeat at the battle of Yorktown, a British band played a song called "The World Turned Upside Down."

If true, it was a fitting selection. What else could best describe the October 1781 defeat of Great Britain, the world’s reigning superpower at the time, by a rag-tag militia of Colonists? The world truly had turned upside down.

I’ve been thinking about that tune as more evidence surfaces that liberals (well, not all, but some) are coming to their senses. I’m not sure what to make of this. Maybe it’s part of a left-wing campaign to lull the majority of Americans into a false sense of security while the left and its cronies (the ACLU, the Hollywood elite, radical college professors, activist judges and the few Democrats left in Washington) continue their assault on the country from within.

Or maybe, just maybe, people who have been wrong so many times about so many things have finally seen the light. I submit the following evidence to support my theory:

Exhibit A: The Philadelphia Inquirer, a newspaper that published 21 consecutive editorials endorsing John Forbes Kerry for president last fall, criticized Democrats in a recent editorial about Social Security. I can’t recall ever reading an editorial critical of the left in this newspaper. But just about every day, you can read about how George W. Bush/Karl Rove (they’re interchangeable in this newspaper) are responsible for bad weather, traffic jams, reality television, obesity and the fact your kids won’t listen to you.

The Inquirer’s editorial board, all charter members of the Michael Moore Fan Club, blasted Democrats for obscuring the debate about the future of Social Security by flooding the country with inaccurate information, much of it promulgated by the Democrats left-wing propaganda machines. The editorial also pointed out, correctly, that the Democrats have yet to offer a single alternative to the proposals advanced by President Bush.

Exhibit B: Nat Hentoff, a card-carrying member of the ACLU and one of the most liberal columnists in the country, went after his own kind for their coverage of the Terri Schiavo case. Hentoff described the behavior of the established news media (the networks, CNN, the big city newspapers) as "the worst case of liberal media bias I’ve ever seen." Hentoff said the network coverage was politically motivated, with the established media painting Republicans as villains and liberals as saints during the agonizing two weeks that Schiavo starved to death.

Exhibit C: The New Republic, a small circulation magazine that is the gospel for many left-wingers, recently published a column by its editor-in-chief, Martin Peretz that praised George W. Bush for his handling of the Middle East, which is erupting in Democracy, just as Bush predicted. Peretz goes a step further and blasts his fellow Democrats for their do-nothing stance on major issues facing the country. The election is over and Bush won, Peretz argues. It’s time for Democrats to get over their superiority complex and stop the knee-jerk opposition to everything the Republican majority puts on the agenda. In other words, Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton and Harry Reid, put the country first and let your partisan prejudice go until 2008.

Exhibit D: The Washington Post, one of the big five liberal newspapers in the country, ran a front page article last week proclaiming to the world that yes, as those right-wing fanatics have been telling us for years, college campuses are littered by left-wing professors. "By their own description, 72 percent of those teaching at American universities and colleges are liberal and 15 percent are conservative," The Post reported as it detailed the findings of a study conducted by political science professors at two universities. Surveys have found a similar left bias in the mainstream news media. So what you have is a minority of liberals controlling the dissemination of information in this country and indoctrinating our next generation of leaders.

What’s wrong with having so many liberals in academia? Here’s the problem. Liberals represent a splinter group within the minority governing party in this country. Why should they be allowed to indoctrinate so many young minds? Why can’t college students be exposed to alternative viewpoints?

Even if you labeled all Democrats as liberals, that would still be 49 percent of the population based on the outcome of the November election. Why shouldn’t conservatives make up 51 percent of college faculties? Suppose you showed up for a baseball game and one of the teams could field only six players while the other team put nine men on the field. Is that fair?

This growing evidence that liberals have come to their senses is unnerving. What am I going to write about if everybody starts getting along and treating each other with respect? It’s almost as unsettling as the sight of George H.W. Bush holding hands with his new best pal, Bill Clinton.

E-mail Tony Phyrillas at tphyrillas@pottsmerc.com

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