Liberals Just Don't Get It

In the weeping and gnashing of teeth following Kerry's defeat in last week's presidential election, there has begun the process of trying to figure out why the Democrats lost, not only the presidency but the Congress as well. It really comes down to a simple fact: liberals just don't get mainstream America. David Brooks writes

If you want to understand why Democrats keep losing elections, just listen to some coastal and university town liberals talk about how conformist and intolerant people in Red America are. It makes you wonder: why is it that people who are completely closed-minded talk endlessly about how open-minded they are?

Watching news talk shows the last few days, I've seen this shown time and time again. I saw Paul Begala sarcastically ranting about how we should have a discussion on the conservative desire to "discriminate" against gays. Maureen Dowd writes

Even as a child, I could feel the rush of J.F.K.'s presidency racing forward, opening up a thrilling world of possibilities and modernity. We were going to the moon. We were confronting racial intolerance. We were paying any price and bearing any burden for freedom. We were respecting faith but keeping it out of politics. Our president was inspiring much of the world. Our first lady was setting the pace in style and culture.

W.'s presidency rushes backward, stifling possibilities, stirring intolerance, confusing church with state, blowing off the world, replacing science with religion, and facts with faith. We're entering another dark age, more creationist than cutting edge, more premodern than postmodern. Instead of leading America to an exciting new reality, the Bushies cocoon in a scary, paranoid, regressive reality. Their new health care plan will probably be a return to leeches.

The common thread is that the liberals see a world where their views are glorious and liberating, and any deviation from that utopia is evil hate-mongering. As Brooks says, analysis of the defeat must "reassure liberals that they are morally superior to the people who just defeated them." This is seen in Dowd's language. The liberal vision is "thrilling" and "inspiring", "confronting" injustice with great sacrifice (cue Lord of the Rings theme), whereas the opposing view is "backward..., stifling..., intoleran[t]."

Old-time liberals have faced a growing problem for years, but it has been largely ignored. Several years ago there was a big discussion about a survey of American women, which found that most younger women did not consider themselves feminists. Drilling down, the survey found that on typical "feminist" questions, e.g. equal work for equal pay, the women aligned with the typical "feminist" viewpoint. But they refused the label "feminist." The reason was that feminism, as it has come to be known through the workings of the liberal establishment, is a far more encompassing ideology that many women reject. Yet, the "feminist" establishment requires support for the whole agenda. That represents a growing disconnect between the liberal establishment and ordinary people.

This disconnect played out in this election, where gay marriage became a hot topic. To again quote Brooks, "This year, the official story is that throngs of homophobic, Red America values-voters surged to the polls to put George Bush over the top." Is opposing gay marriage tantamount to discrimination, gay bashing, and homophobia, as many liberals, including Begala, believe? No, it is opposing gay marriage. Most Americans support basic gay rights. They don't believe a man should lose his job or be denied housing just because he's gay. That doesn't mean they will support a legalization of marriage that will place a gay relationship on the same social (and, by implication, moral) footing as a heterosexual relationship.

Liberals have a tendency to lump an assortment of positions into one single viewpoint. To be a feminist is to support a laundry list of ideas, from equal access to the workplace to abortion rights. To support gay rights is to support a broad slate from equal access to housing to gay marriage. To have a more à la carte viewpoint is to reject the whole thing, so anyone who supports basic gay rights but opposes gay marriage is a homophobe, full of hate toward gays. Furthermore, this hate, according to the establishment, is rooted in ignorance.

Most America falls into this category, but the liberal establishment can only call these people ignorant hate-mongers. Then they are surprised that middle America votes Republican? The Democrats, if they ever want to connect with mainstream middle America must break out of the chains of outdated 1960's liberalism and recognize the distinctions those Americans make in viewing the world.