Inspired by The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Pestilence, War, Famine and Death, here are my Four Horsemen of the Left: Relativism, Secularism, Arrogance and Hate. The former is a Biblical reference signifying the last days. One can but pray that the latter may signify the last days of the Progressive/Liberal creed.
Relativism
The doctrine that knowledge, truth, and morality exist in relation to culture, society, or historical context, and are not absolute.
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/relativism
Relativism impacting my profession arose at a social event a decade or more ago. A group of us, all trial lawyers, were talking shop. I opined that I always preferred a jury to a judge because I thought the jury got it right far more often than individual judges. But beginning in the 90's, I found I could no longer rely upon juries' common sense.
Another lawyer agreed. She attributed it to relativism. She pointed out we prepared our cases and argued to the jury based upon shared values - principles to which we could refer that we knew were understood by the jury. All that changed with relativism, the idea that "your truth is your truth, and my truth is my truth." There no longer was objective truth. That changed the whole ballgame because jurors believed they could do whatever they felt like doing with the case before them.
I remembered that occasionally students I taught in graduate school made the same claim: there was no such thing as objective truth. Fortunately, there were not many of them and they were invariably in their 20s.
I asked them, in an autombile personal injury suit, was it not an objective truth that the traffic light was either green or red or yellow. Their response was to assert the jury could find any one of those. I agreed but pointed out that did not change the objective fact that the light was one of those three.
The implications of their attitude is frightening. Was the Holocaust not a fact? Is the Law of Gravity not objective truth? If one believes it is not, is one not destined for a damaging fall?
The theologian and author R. C. Sproul nailed it when he said
“I do not want to drive across a bridge designed by an engineer who believed the numbers in structural stress models are relative truths.”
Secularism
... indifference to or rejection or exclusion of religion and religious considerations.
It follows that people who believe there are no objective values will not only devalue religion but feel threatened by it. Religion becomes a barrier to justifying their actions.
Consider: They assert that partial-birth abortion is not only acceptable but a desideratum . Partial birth abortion is the barbaric practice of extracting all but the head of the baby from the womb, puncturing her neck with a scissors, sucking out her brains and collapsing her skull. Legislation banning it was twice vetoed by President Clinton. Despite continued opposition by the Left, it was passed again and upheld by the Supreme Court 5-4.
Other methods of abortion are also horrific. For example, in suction aspiration, a hollow tube with a knife-like edged tip is inserted in the womb and a strong suction tears the developing body to pieces and draws the pieces into a container. [Archive Issue 4]
How can that be defended? It cannot unless moral values are discredited.
Mother Teresa said it best: "...if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? ... Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love but to use any violence to get what they want. . ."
Nevertheless, Progressives/Liberals want not only government endorsement of abortion on demand but funding of it with taxpayer dollars; they view objective moral values with contempt. They will use the power of government to destroy those values. An overstatement? Not so.
Hillary made it plain what she planned to impose upon us when she was elected president.
“Laws have to be backed up with resources and political will. And deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed.” [Emphasis added.]
Religious liberties? People would be forced to fund abortions and to sanction same sex marriages. If they refused, they would be subject to civil and criminal penalties, with their churches/synagogues losing tax exempt status.
Make no mistake about it. Secularists believe in an all powerful government - one which can demand even that parents must accept men entering their daughters' locker rooms.
Arrogance
An insulting way of thinking or behaving that comes from believing that you are better, smarter, or more important than other people.
Recently, we were subjected to a dramatic example of the arrogance of the Left.
Vice President Pence went to the theater to see a performance of the hit show Hamilton.
The play pretends that the Founding Fathers were not "dead white men"; the roles are played by people of color.
At the conclusion of the show, one of the actors, to the applause of the cast and majority of the audience, called out the Vice President:
“We, sir, we are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our parents, or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights, sir. But we truly hope this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and work on behalf of all of us. All of us. Again, we truly thank you truly for (sharing) this show, this wonderful American story told by a diverse group of men and women of different colors, creeds and orientations.” http://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2016/11/19/pences-hamilton-lecture-is-a-reminder-that-urban-elites-just-dont-get-it-n2247932
The 'diversity' referenced by the actor was not what Martin Luther King thought important.
"I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
Nota bene: the actor did NOT mention that the cast had previously hosted a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton.
His speech implied that America had to fear our inalienable rights were at risk from Mr. Pence. The actor and his confederates held Mr. Pence a captive audience with no effective means of reply. It met the definition of arrogance - pompously assuming that the person addressed so belittlingly was inferior. There was not the slightest recognition that the voters had rejected the policies of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
Kevin Dowd said it well:
This sort of juvenile sniveling comes from a company of performers that pride themselves on chronicling the grit, bravery, and struggles exhibited by the heroes of our early republic. Therefore, maybe someone needs to inform the cast of Hamilton that a Broadway musical’s purpose is not to make a cowardly partisan proclamation that Alexander Hamilton would probably react to with complete disdain – it’s to entertain.
An even more stunning example of arrogance not surprisingly involves Harry Reid. In 2012, during the presidential campaign, Reid, on the Senate floor, lied about Mitt Romney. Reid said that Romney had not paid taxes. The accusation was extensively publicized.
Recently, an interviewer asked Reid whether Reid regretted making the baseless accusation. Reid replied: "It worked, didn’t it?" [Emphasis added.]
Arrogance, yes, but also a potent example of Secularism as well - a sneer at the value of truthfulness.
Hate
...intense hostility and aversion usually deriving from fear, anger, or sense of injury: extreme dislike or antipathy.
...the feeling of one who hates; intense dislike or extreme aversion or hostility.
...a very strong feeling of dislike for somebody/something.
While bearing signs that 'Love Trumps Hate,' the protesters seem oblivious that they are personifying Hate.
Sad to say, this attitude is not unusual for Progressives/Liberals.
Adam Bellow:
The Left has always demonized conservatives… Those who cannot win an argument often fall back on ad hominem attacks. … Those who dissent from the prevailing liberal dogma are quickly branded as extremists and declared to be bad people. Do you support the traditional view of marriage? You’re a homophobe who wants to deny equal rights to gay Americans. … Do you believe a human fetus has legal and natural rights? You are a misogynist who wants to control women’s bodies. …Do you oppose any aspect of Barack Obama’s transformative agenda for America? You’re a racist, racist, racist!”
[Archive Issue 19]
and recently:
Our nation is populated by millions of intolerant, whining, malicious, and hypersensitive people who have been indoctrinated by a profusion of like-minded educators, media pundits, and news organizations to despise anybody who happens to embrace the political philosophy of conservatism. If you are a conservative and if you believe in the principles incorporated in the U.S. Constitution, or in our economic system, or in controlling our borders, or in identifying and calling Islamic Terrorism for what it is, then you are at a minimum deeply flawed, or you are an irredeemable fascist…All Americans have a right to protest and voice their opinions… But they don’t have a right to destroy property, attack police, beat or shoot Trump supporters, or threaten to kill the president-elect… http://ronaldyatesbooks.com/2016/11/americas-petulant-post-election-tantrums/l
Did you read outraged statements by Hillary and Obama condemning the protesters’ violence?
No? Neither did I.
But I did read this. President Obama at a press conference in Germany:
“I’ve been the subject of protests during the course of my eight years. And I suspect that there’s not a president in our history that at some point hasn’t been subject to these protests…So I would not advise people [who] would feel strongly or are concerned about some of the issues that have been raised during the course of the campaign, I wouldn’t advise them to be silent.” [Emphasis added.]
Can you remember conservatives rioting in the streets against Obama? I can’t either.
Conclusion
We have an unexpected opportunity to get our country back. It will not be easy. The Left is indefatigable and, undeterred by truth, logic or decency, will use the Four Horsemen to prevent us achieving that goal. We cannot, we must not, let the Left prevail, if the United States of America we love is to be saved.
There are no easy answers, but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what is morally right. Ronald Reagan