Joining a fraternity, sorority or some exclusive club requires certain initiation rites known as hazing. Idiotic, dangerous, and sometimes deadly antics demanded of the inductee reduces him or her to a fool. This describes to a tee the long-established practice of progressive elites in the political spectrum of the country. Not only does the left disqualify those who fail the hazing, they subject the victims to contempt, abuse and blackballing. Here are some of the criteria on which hazing turns.
- Abortion on demand.
- Support and endorsement of all LGBTQ platforms.
- Acceptance and advocacy of climate change theory.
- Strict gun control laws which may include confiscation.
- Elimination of the electoral college.
- Sanctuary cities.
- Limited or weak support for law enforcement officers or agencies.
- Reduction of military support.
- Full rights for undocumented immigrants.
- Elimination or re-structuring of ICE.
- Open or porous borders.
- Government-sponsored health care insurance.
- Programs to reduce or eliminate student loan debt.
- Politically correct language enforcement.
- Globalism.
- Support of the United Nations.
- Hatred of populism.
- Hostility toward President Trump, his family and all his associates.
The foregoing list represents absolute shibboleths of progressives. They are to be accepted on their face without argument, question or substantive tweaking. Anyone who disagrees with one or more of these positions incurs the wrath and rejection of the left wing of American politics.
Two exceptions to these positions exist. One occurs when a high-profile conservative concedes to the left on a component of the progressive litany of beliefs. That person is heralded as a champion, but only as long as it serves the purposes of the left. Whenever that individual no longer benefits the left, they withdraw all support. The other exception happens when they discover that one of their own has a divergent view on some point. That fact, if it is mentioned at all, is quickly and summarily dismissed, and they brutally attack anyone who has the temerity to point out the inconsistency.
For the left, the concept of truth must bear the imprint of the progressive narrative or it cannot be so labeled. All views resisted or rejected by the left must, of necessity, be considered lies. Independent thinking, wandering off the reservation or speculating about alternative viewpoints are strictly prohibited. The left demands total loyalty and they put blinders on all their adherents. It amounts to an evisceration of everything that stands in opposition to progressive thought. Thomas Sowell opines, “There are only two ways of telling the complete truth—anonymously and posthumously.” Go undercover or underground (literally) if you oppose the left.
This is a new civil war. In some ways, it resembles the Civil War of some 160 years ago. President Lincoln’s admonition at Gettysburg bears repeating:
“It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”