Don't confuse the left with liberalism
By: Alan Dershowitz (nydailynews. com)
The political left (and the political right) throw around the labels 'liberal', 'progressive', and 'conservative' in the same way they throw around the labels 'Nazi', 'Fascist', and 'Socialist'. Such political discourse is an outgrowth of profound ignorance, deep prejudice, and unquenchable greed.
The greatest dangers to democracy are posed by political activists seeking to obtain political power through undemocratic means.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Many on the right blame "liberals" for the current spate of censorship and cancel culture. In doing so, they confuse liberals with leftists. There is a critical distinction.
Liberals are tolerant and open-minded. We welcome debate on divisive issues. We are even sometimes persuaded to change our minds. We try to disagree without being disagreeable. We do not end friendships over political disagreements. We do not impose our values and preferences on others. We accept George Bernard Shaw's admonition: "Do not do unto others as you would that they should do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same."
We defend the civil liberties of everyone, even those who would deny our liberties. We demand due process, freedom of expression and the right to assemble for all, even those we abhor. We are process-oriented — fair elections, fair trials — rather than result-oriented. We understand that fair processes will sometimes produce bad results, but that is the price we pay for democracy.
The above characteristics do not describe many on today's left. Especially since the election of Donald Trump, many on the left have abandoned tolerance, open-mindedness, civil discourse, free speech and due process.
They have devised a "Trump exception" to civil liberties. They insist that Trump is different: that his presidency posed unique dangers to democratic values. They have short memories. History shows that in nearly every generation, result-oriented and intolerant extremists have found excuses to deny civil liberties to their enemies.
A few examples will suffice to prove my point: In the earliest days of our democracy, George Washington supported the Alien and Sedition Acts put forward by the Adams administration that denied free speech to Jeffersonians. Abraham Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus during the Civil War.
Woodrow Wilson authorized the Palmer Raids and closed our borders to Jews and other "undesirables." Franklin Delano Roosevelt detained more than 100,000 Americans of Japanese descent. Sen. Joseph McCarthy denied due process to accused Communists and their enablers.
All of these were done in the name of "emergencies." "This is different," opponents of civil liberties would argue in each instance.
Now it is the left that is insisting that Trump was different and that his words and deeds justified constraining constitutional rights, especially free speech and due process. It is many on the left who have been intolerant of opposing views, who have ended long-time friendships with those with whom they disagree, who would report lawyers to bar associations, and who would keep Trump supporters off university campuses.
Traditionally, many on the center-left have also been liberals and civil libertarians. That has never been true of the hard left, which has always been intolerant of free speech and due process for those with whom they disagree.
The Trump years moved many from the center-left to the hard left, especially with regard to civil liberties. That is a great tragedy. There used to be a large number of civil libertarians on the center-left who exhibited the characteristics of liberalism described above.
The Trump presidency truncated that group to near-oblivion. Under Trump, everyone had to choose sides. Tolerance became a vice, not a virtue. Censorship became a weapon to be used selectively in favor of one side and against the other. Free speech for me, but not for thee became free speech for those who opposed Trump but not for those who supported him.
Those of us who opposed Trump's policies but supported his constitutional rights found ourselves isolated and lonely. We were attacked by the left for supporting Trump's constitutional rights, and we were attacked by the right for not supporting Trump's policies. I felt comfortable in my principled isolation, but my family paid a heavy price for my insistence on remaining a liberal civil libertarian rather than one who simply chose partisan sides.
Now that Trump is no longer president, I can only hope that some of those erstwhile liberals who were pushed to the intolerant left by the perceived "emergency" and danger presented by Trump will now return to the center and appreciate the virtues of free speech and due process for all. If a "Trump exception" to civil liberties were to be accepted, it would soon be applied to other perceived emergencies and dangers that recur in every generation.
Liberals and civil libertarians must stand strong against those on the left as well as the right who would sacrifice the liberties of their enemies to serve the interests of their friends.
Tags
Who is online
111 visitors
The political left is no more liberal than the political right is conservative. Political ignorance, prejudice, and greed are self-serving vanities seeking to subvert democracy in service of autocratic expediency.
NYET!
The above characteristics do not describe many on today's left. Especially since the election of Donald Trump, many on the left have abandoned tolerance, open-mindedness, civil discourse, free speech and due process.
Several label throwers hereabouts.
This a good summary of how many people, Left and Right, and have moved away from true liberalism. Many won’t want to consider the argument, but that is a feature of the extremism that Dershowitz describes.
He has been trying for years to remind Americans of the liberties, rights, and standards we are supposed to value, but the Left doesn’t want to hear it. The “for us or against us” attitude means you don’t defend the rights of people you disagree with.
I think that’s sad, but hopefully there are enough people who remember what we are supposed to be about that we can bring some of our fellow Americans back to the fold.
Who gives a shit what Dershowitz has to say?