By Steve Thompson, Chairman of the Butte County Republican Party
I have often wondered, and maybe you have too, at the intentions of those of the American Political Left (liberals, leftists, progressives, socialists, mostly residing in the Democrat party). On any given specific issue they’re often given the benefit of the doubt as to their intentions. It is believed that liberals have good intentions, even when the outcome of their efforts are disastrous. Contrast this to popular opinion about conservatives as having bad (or at least outdated) intentions even when the outcome produces positive results.
Time and again, liberal philosophies don’t pan out. Raising taxes stifles economic growth and leaves families with less money to survive on. Extreme environmental policies kill jobs and encourage illegal activity to go around the expensive laws, causing more damage to the environment in the long run. Public employee unions, once championed by leftists like former California Governor Jerry Brown, now run rampant and are bankrupting the state. Welfare encourages dependency on government and further seeds the entitlement mentality, creating generations of poverty.
In each of these areas it could be said that liberals had the best of intentions but couldn’t see where the path was taking them. They’re like early doctors who used bloodletting to cure fevers, often killing their patients. It seems like insanity. Why would they knowingly kill the economic engine that pays for their entitlement programs? Every business lost to our state means less tax revenue, which in turn means more teacher layoffs and less money to help those in need.
But what if this is too generous, and too simplistic, of an explanation? What if liberal ideologues really don’t have good intentions and actually seek the downfall of our country?
It doesn’t seem so far fetched when you read the more extreme opinions of the left. Here’s a couple quotes to ponder:
“Phasing out the human race will solve every problem on earth, social and environmental”. — Dave Forman, Founder of Earth First!
“The collective needs of non-human species must take precedence over the needs and desires of humans.”–Dr. Reed F. Noss, The Wildlands Project
“To feed a starving child is to exacerbate the world population problem.”–Lamont Cole
These quotes all came from radical environmentalists, which is fitting, as no liberal movement quite hides its true intentions like that of radical environmentalists. Again, look at California, where extreme environmental regulations, imposed by unaccountable commissions like the California Air Resources Board (CARB), are driving businesses and jobs out of the state in droves. These quotes at least explain why environmentalist groups like Sierra Club would both promote and oppose solar power at the same time.
It makes sense though. If you want a cleaner environment in California you have to drive down the population, and there’s no better way of doing that than destroying the business sector and drying up middle class jobs. Clean energy just means more jobs and people which is why they can’t let it work. This theory explains a lot. Leftist democrats aren’t insane, they’re just ruthless. They will do anything for their cause.
I still point to the difference between leftist democrats and average voters. Many of our grandparents were democrats, it’s true. But they belonged to a more conservative party that has been cast aside in nefarious deals between the various interests now guiding the party. If you still love the flag, eat red meat, and prefer to work for a living over receiving welfare, there is no place for you in today’s democrat party.
The final, most interesting question is this. If the democrat party is mostly ruled by environmental and union interests, two causes that should naturally be against each other, how long before this tears the party apart? How long before union steelworkers get tired of environmental laws that put them out of work? How long before foaming mouth enviros decide that any job that builds anything should be banned forever to save their beloved Gaia?
Meanwhile, democrat legislators in California continue to rearrange the chairs on the deck of a sinking ship. They are heading for an economic and political disaster that could finally bring about their demise. The liberal press can only keep voters in the dark for so long, change it is a coming.