Monday, May 14, 2012

CSPAN: In Depth With R. Emmett Tyrell (2011)

Source:CSPAN- interviewing right-wing author Emmett Tyrell.
"R. Emmett Tyrrell is author of nine books:

Public Nuisances (1979); The Liberal Crack-Up (1984); The Conservative Crack-Up (1992); Boy Clinton: The Political Biography (1996); The Impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton: A Political Docu-Drama (1997); Madame Hillary: The Dark Road to the White House (2004); The Clinton Crack-Up (2008); The Best of the American Spectator's The Continuing Crisis: As Chronicled for Four Decades by R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. (2009); After the Hangover: The Conservatives' Road to Recovery (2010).

He is also editor of The Future that Doesn't Work: Social Democracy's Failure in Britain (1977); The Report on Network News' Treatment of the 1972 Democratic Presidential Candidates (1973); and Orthodoxy: The American Spectator's 20th Anniversary Anthology (1987)." 

From CSPAN

Emmett Tyrell is correct in one aspect about liberalism, that so-called Progressives (who are Democratic Socialists, in actuality) have co-opted liberalism to make it look like what they call progressivism, which is really a form of socialism. Which is same thing thats common in Canada and Europe which is a political ideology thats centered around centralized, national government. With the theory being that we give a lot of power to the national government to take care of the people through high taxes.

So-called Progressives can be somewhat liberal on social issues. At least for women and gays and to some extent what people should be allowed to see in entertainment. People who would call themselves Socialist Liberals. Some so-called Progressives describe their politics as Progressive Libertarian or Socialist Libertarian. Progressive or socialist on economic policy and even foreign policy, but liberal on social issues. But these people aren't Liberals, but Democratic Socialists, with some liberal views on some key social issues. 

There are also so-called Progressives that are statist on come social issues as well, like gun rights, hate speech, and even pornography to a certain extent. And believe in things like progressive class's. That government should give special attention to certain populations in our society. But these aren't liberal values, these are collectivist values.

It's not just so-called Progressives that have co-opted liberalism, that has given liberalism an inaccurate description and definition of what it really is. Which is about individual liberty, limited government and equal of opportunity, equal rights, and other things. But hyper-partisan right wingers so-called Conservatives, who've spent forty years attacking liberalism. And trying to make it look like socialism and to a certain extent they've had a lot of success with that. The Tea Party is a perfect example of this and how they've falsely described liberalism as well. The way they've falsely attacked President Obama and other Democrats, but this is now changing.

As I've argued before, this idea of the "Death of Liberalism" the claim that Emmett Tyrell has made. First of all, I'm a Liberal Democrat and proud of it, the link of this blog is FRSFreeState.Blogspot.com. People who really are Liberals, are believers in liberal democracy and all the individual rights and guarantees, that come from our Constitution. Which might be the most liberal document ever written. People who are the real Liberals in America, would be Center-Right in Europe, and Britain, perhaps Canada. 

The modern Democratic Party is now a modern Center-Left (not Far-Left) progressive (not social democratic) party, that still has a Center-Right faction in it, that I'm part of. You could say that the Liberal Democrats today are the real Conservative Republicans, because the Christian-Right and Tea Party, Populist, Nationalists, have taken over what was once the Grand Ole Party in America. But Liberals aren't Socialists, if anything they're the opposite of people who are even Social Democrats. 

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