Important Article [Archive] - Ron Paul Forums / Liberty Forest

rnestam

01-11-2010, 11:16 AM

Long long time reader, First time post...I have visited at least once a day since the site was formed.

I was reading this article and couldn't agree more...

http://dissidentvoice.org/2010/01/left-and-right-against-the-empire/

I am a converted Liberal/Socialist, going so far Left in my thinking I even had a Hugo Chavez poster on my wall. Jeez, must have been 5 or 6 years ago now I was watching C-Span late one night and couldn't believe the words I was hearing, I had to know who this "Democrat" was...the second they flashed the name Ron Paul (R) Texas below I was floored and have never looked back. I have learned SO much since that night it amazes me how wrong I had always been...The day Ron Paul announced his candidacy was one of the happiest I can remember for me. Anyway, having my Liberal background has given me the leverage to convert over many many people. A kind of "I used to think so too, but..." goes a long way when talking to anti-bush liberals, A crowd which makes up 90% of the people I know. Someone on this site once quoted an old phrase..."The Libertarians biggest mistake was aligning themselves to closely with the Republicans rather than teaching Democrats basic economics" ...I think this is so important it's hard for me to even explain. To swell the movement, I think you will find MANY where you least expect it. Especially with all Obama is doing to "end the wars"

To take a play from the Neo-Cons we need a common enemy: Imperialism, Taxation and Sound Economics should be it. Everything else should be put aside and you would be amazed at much you really have in common with "Liberals"...not the politicians, but the real, true, Honest Americans who want to do good but just don't know any better. Your Job to teach them and it starts with common ground and it will spread to ending big government, Monetary Policy and Basic Freedoms before you know it. It worked for me, and I was as hopeless as they come.

Thanks for Reading,
-rnestam

LittleLightShining

01-11-2010, 12:07 PM

You should post more! You're right, we HAVE to reach out more to the Left.

I love that article and I'm going to spread it around. You might be interested in the text of the speech one of our VT C4L members gave at our convention on Saturday:

The Danger of Political Labels (http://vermontcampaignforliberty.blogspot.com/2010/01/danger-of-political-labels.html)

This is the text of the speech I gave on January 9 at the 2nd annual Vermont Campaign for Liberty Convention

Some of my friends in the liberty movement become furious when someone calls them Republican or Conservative or by any other political description. At first I thought the reaction a bit excessive considering the common practice of grouping people according to their beliefs and affiliations.

However, I've come to understand and share their frustration. When I first ventured into political activism about a year ago, I, too, struggled with what to call myself. Somehow none of the party names quite fit. I knew what I believed and what I didn't believe, yet no one label seemed to encompass or exclude everything. I was a person without a party.

Finally it hit me - I was not the problem, the labels were. For too long society in general and political society, in particular, have tried to create boundaries around our beliefs and force us into one-size-fits-all designations - Republicans, Democrats, Liberals, Conservatives. These labels are notoriously inexact and also quite fluid. For example, exactly what does it mean to be a right-winger? In the United States it might mean someone who believes in less government and more personal and financial freedom while in the old Soviet Union the right wingers were those who sought to perpetuate government control of the population and the economy. Any term that changes meaning according to the group it is describing strikes me as rather meaningless.

Labels reduce us to members of groups rather than individuals, allow people to judge each other without really knowing each other, and sometimes cause us to behave and believe in ways that actually are inconsistent who we truly are. They also create divisions and animosity between people who should be united in their efforts to understand and sustain America’s founding principles and find solutions to problems that are consistent with the philosophy of limited government and personal liberty and responsibility.

Each of us is a unique individual with thousands of fascinating facets to our personalities, intellects and characters. Being grouped diminishes this uniqueness and helps remove barriers to unjust and even violent treatment from those who hold a different viewpoint or are in the "other group." Many years ago I read The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom. The Hiding Place tells the story of two Dutch sisters who sheltered Jews from the German invaders and were eventually discovered, arrested and sent to concentration camps. Midway through the book there was a description that impressed on me the importance of accepting each human as an individual rather than as a member of a group:

Color drained from the man's face. He took a step back from me. “Miss Ten Boom! I do hope you're not involved with this illegal concealment…it's just not safe! Think of your father!” I pulled the coverlet back from the baby's face. The man bent forward, his hand in spite of himself reaching for the tiny fist curled round the blanket. For a moment I saw compassion and fear struggle in his face. Then he straightened, “No. Definitely not. We could lose our lives for that Jewish child!” Unseen by either of us, father had appeared in the doorway. “Give the child to me, Corrie,” he said. Father held the baby close, his white beard brushing its cheek, looking into the little face with eyes as blue and innocent as the baby's…”You say we could lose our lives for this child. I would consider that the greatest honor that could come to my family.”

The phrase that struck me at first reading and stayed with me all these years was "the tiny fist curled around the blanket." Through that image the infant's humaness overflowed on to the pages of Corrie Ten Boom's story and took him out of the confines of what was supposed to be a disparaging label. No longer was this infant merely a member of a group but instead was recognized as a child, a human being, an individual. Labels take away our humanity and we should never allow our personhood to be stolen from us.

Labels allow society to judge us superficially and, most often, erroneously. The most offensive result of identity politics is the ridiculous assumption that all the members of a group believe the same things and are working toward the same goals. When members of society judge individuals according to group designations rather than by the content of character, they assume much and know little. If someone has a negative viewpoint of your group, which in itself may have been formed from incomplete information, he thinks he knows you. Likewise someone may like you for no reason other than he thinks you agree with him. Both approaches reduce individuals to caricatures and are destructive to genuine human interaction.

When we identify with a group we experience cognitive dissonance when we find are in disagreement with that group. Sometimes we adopt the opinions of the other group members even though in our hearts we believe something different. It’s hard to defend these positions when we don't really believe them and we feel we are being untrue to our own understanding. We can also adopt positions in opposition to someone else's just because we don't normally agree with that person and his group. Both reactions stymie personal intellectual analysis and growth.

The first time I was aware that I was doing this was when the United States invaded Iraq. Most of what I studied about the situation convinced me that this invasion was neither justified nor moral nor even wise. Yet on the other side of the question were so many people with whom I vehemently disagreed on most issues that I thought "it must be the right thing." It took some political and philosophical navel gazing to admit that my group was not always right and the other group was not always wrong. This realization was not so much upsetting as it was both exciting and freeing. Though assuming the burden of thinking for ourselves can be somewhat daunting, stepping outside our groups puts us back in control of our own thoughts and opinions. We take total ownership of our own belief systems and move to new levels of knowledge, awareness and intellectual maturity. Thus we become worthy participants in the public discourse.

Group politics are a dangerous way in which unscrupulous leaders can use people toward destructive ends. Throughout history despots have used labels to identify those who threaten their ambitions, and then encourage persecution of these people. Such actions eliminate opposition and solidify support. Labels such as intellectuals, peasants, workers, bourgeoisie, rich, poor, Jews and Christians are just a few examples of names that have been assigned to individuals in order to make them seem less human and therefore more deserving of either praise or condemnation.

At its worst group politics lead to state-sanctified theft and murder but even at best the tactic of assigning groups is destructive to the free and open exchange of ideas between members of society. When disparaging group names are attached to people who differ in their political philosophies the debate is no longer a rational discussion about the validity of ideas. Instead it becomes an ongoing collection of personal attacks. This discourages many from even entering the public discourse. When the people still watching from the sidelines hear liberty activists dismissed as teabaggers, racists or rednecks or described as “dangerous” or “nutty” by the media or the people’s so-called representatives in Washington they are not going to be anxious to enter the arena and fend-off these verbal punches. Opposition comes only from the few undaunted souls willing to withstand these blows and, though they may represent a majority opinion, they look outnumbered and their position seem unpopular.

Turning citizens into combatants also distracts them from watching the real enemy, those who seek dominance over sovereign individuals and use their power toward that end.Clever politicians use such opportunities to deflect anger from themselves actually justify their interference in our lives and liberty. Since we Americans “just can’t seem to get long” - someone has to take control. Then the same politicians who created the animosity in the first place can rise above the fray and assume the authoritative role they crave.

the time has come to discard the labels that separate us and put new emphasis on the basic principles we share. To be fair, this is not easy - old habits die hard. But the liberty movement affords us an unprecedented opportunity to come together as Americans through our love for this country and its founding principles as well as our respect for the embodiment of those excellent principles, the Constitution. Our reverence for the rights of individuals and our appreciation of liberty transcend partisan politics and unite us under the only name we should accept, the only designation that allows what is best in each of us to develop and flourish, the label that Americans can accept and should, in fact, demand - that of free citizens.