I have no problem with a person's choice to be liberal, or even to be a liberal. Do I think they're wrong? Yes. Are they logically challenged? Absolutely. Are they stupid? Well, depends on the liberal, but for many of the more vocal ones (who tend to be the more liberal ones): Extremely. Do they sometimes annoy, frustrate, and anger me? Certainly. Do I disagree with and get annoyed at their opinions? Virtually without exception. But will I defend their right to have that opinion, and to express it, to my death bed? Unequivocally.
The point is this: There are many different kinds of liberals, and the above does not apply to all of them. In particular, I'm talking about the more extreme liberals, the demonstrators, and (cue ominous music) the college students. And though I wouldn't complain to never hear a word from one of their mouths again, I support their right to speak those words, even if I'll invoke my own right to free speech to take issue with them the moment they've been spoken.
There comes a point, however, when freedom of thought and speech crosses the line and becomes verbal assault, vandalism, theft, disturbance of the peace, and violation of my right to freedom of thought and expression. And that is both unacceptable and hypocritical.
The other day, I was doing some work out in front of the house as my dad came riding in from work on his bike. In our front yard were two "Bush-Cheney 2004" signs. As my dad put his bike away, a car drove by the house. An arm was stretched outside of the car, pointed in our direction, with only the middle finger extended, pointing up. From the car, two or three voices shouted "F*** Bush!" in unison. I paused, watched them drive by, and smirked to myself. My dad looked up, smiled, and said, "Boy, they sure are angry, violent people for a bunch of peaceniks, aren't they?!"
A couple of days later, one of our signs disappeared. Someone stole it. Fortunately, my mom found it later on. It had been tossed in the forest farther on down the road, so she brought it back and we stuck it back up.
Tonight, as I drove away from the house to run an errand, I saw that both of the signs had been pulled up and thrown on the sidewalk, an act constituting vandalism. When I got back and came inside, I remembered that they were there, and mentioned it to my sister. By the time she went to collect them, one of them had been stolen. It hasn't been recovered.
And all this causes me to consider the living, walking, breathing, and yes, cursing contradiction that is a liberal. Why do they shout obscenities at us? Why do they lash out so violently at Bush, his supporters, and all republicans? The modern democratic party is one that is fueled first and foremost by a deep, passionate hatred for George W. Bush and republicans in general. I would think they'd have better things to waste their time on than bitterness and hatred. But what I really want to know is this: Doesn't such an attitude go directly against their own self-proclaimed peace-loving nature?
So here's why I'm laughing at them on the inside: For supposed peace-lovers, they're a pretty violent, angry, bitter bunch. And correct me if I'm wrong, but that doesn't seem like the most peaceful approach or attitude to me. And that's what I was struck by that day when people shouted obscenities at my dad and me from a passing car. My dad and I, the supposedly in-compassionate, peace-hating conservatives just smiled, shrugged off the verbal abuse we'd just received, made a good natured joke and went on our way. Meanwhile, our verbal assailants, the supposedly peaceful, peace-loving, compassionate, tolerant liberals, violently and bitterly tossed obscene words in our direction. And they call themselves peace-lovers?
Countless similar contradictions can be found manifested in many liberals, but here's another that just cracks me up. Take a walk around any college campus, but especially a college campus known to be have a very liberal student body, and pay close attention to what you see. Observe the bulletin boards wherever you go. In the hallways, on professors doors, in the student unions, in front of buildings, and especially at bus stops. What do you find? Bulletin boards showing not a single inch of unused space, with many flyers overlapping each other several times. And 90% of those flyers are liberal propaganda, most of it is some form of bitter outcry against George W. Bush. Here's what amuses me: Environmentalist, conservationist liberals use thousands upon thousands of pages of paper each year on a single campus to post their liberal propaganda, including to encourage people to adopt and live by their environmentalist principles. I find that hilarious.
Seeds become trees. Trees become paper. Paper becomes liberal propaganda. Liberal propaganda gets posted all over campuses in the form of thousands upon thousands of sheets of paper. And at least some of those sheets of paper are bound to have some bitter blurb decrying the defilement of our environment, including the destruction of our forests.
I'll just let you think about that one.