Logic and Reason, Gone With the Wind

Thoughts of a conservative who grew up in a liberal family

Thoughts of a conservative who grew up in a liberal household

My viewpoint that logic and reason are gone with the wind derives from my periodic social media “discussions” with liberals. Those discussions are an attempt to uncover any evidence of logic and reason in their thinking. From what I’ve seen, both continue to be seriously lacking. (Like all generalizations, there are exceptions to this one, rare though they may be). Emotion is still the controlling factor, an indication of the degree to which liberals view reality through the lens of emotion, not logic and reason.

It wasn’t always that way. My parents were Democrats and were neither wealthy nor poor- middle class as defined at the time- and I grew up in the liberal haven of New York City. They had both lived through the Depression and viewed Franklin Roosevelt as the nation’s savior, Democrats as supporters and protectors of the working class and Republicans as members of “the rich man’s” party. As a young child, I accepted my parents’ viewpoints and adopted them as my own.

As I grew older, and began forming my own thoughts independently, I found myself on a different path. My view of the world had become much different than that of my parents. I experienced hard time and good times, but never that consequences of a depression, so my perspective was much different than those who had lived through one.

It soon became apparent to me that I was a Republican living in a Democrat household. Yet our discussions were always just that, two or three people with significantly different viewpoints exchanging their opinions. Those discussions never ended with accusations or diatribes.

Over the years, as I’ve have seen the gap between liberal and conservative philosophy widen, I’m not sure whether my own philosophy has become even more conservative and better defined, or whether liberalism has moved so far to the left that being right of center now appears to be much further to the right than in days past- a past when two people with opposing opinions could have a discussion that was nothing more than an exchange of ideas, without hate, vitriol or personal attacks.

This is the background behind what I write, which routinely antagonizes liberals. And it also causes me to read with disbelief that so many liberals are mentally off in the weeds yet believe they are running on the rails-sometimes on rails that haven’t been built yet.

I don’t expect anyone to have a philosophy that aligns with mine, and I welcome dissenting opinions- provided they are logical and rational. I’ve long thought that opinion is largely a matter of perspective. As an example, if you hold up a coffee cup with the handle to your right, the person facing you sees the handle on the left while the person 90 degrees to your left sees no handle at all. Based on perspective, every person believes their perspective is correct.

Yet a liberal perspective could well be that I wasn’t holding anything, I was holding a glass or a bucket, or that handles were only available to people enjoying “white privilege”. While it may seem preposterous that someone would see a cup and say it’s a bucket, such a pronouncement is consistent with statements that;

men can have babies

there are more than two genders

defunding the police will not lead to an increase in crime

fetuses, even at 9 months, are nothing more than a mass of cells

gender transition involving the surgical removal of body parts is not mutilation

Immigrants who entered this country illegally have not broken the law

And the ultimate in self-delusion- Joe Biden was always “sharp as a tack”

Liberals obviously have a radically different world view than that of conservatives. That’s as it should be, as each person’s view is influenced by perspective. But perspective should be anchored in reality, not a denial of it. As in the coffee cup example above, it’s reasonable to expect a difference of opinion as to the position of the cup handle, based on perspective. But regardless of viewing position, it is unreasonable to state that the coffee cup is a glass or a bucket. Or that handles are only available to people enjoying “white privilege”.

The refusal to grasp reality is the most disturbing aspect of current liberal rhetoric. It was glaringly apparent during the 2024 presidential debate that Biden had suffered a severe loss of mental acuity. Prior to that, on February 5, 2024, Department of Justice Special Counsel Robert K Hur issued a 388-page report covering Biden’s illegal possession of classified documents declared, “We have also considered that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory. Based on our direct interactions with and observations of him, he is someone for whom many jurors will want to identify reasonable doubt. It would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him-by then a former president well into his eighties-of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness.” You can read the entire, Report on the Investigation Into Unauthorized Removal, Retention, and Disclosure of Classified Documents Discovered at Locations Including the Penn Eiden Center and the Delaware Private Residence of President Joseph R. Eiden, Jr. at https://www.justice.gov/storage/report-from-special-counsel-robert-k-hur-february-2024.pdf The statement cited above is on Page 6)

Yet liberals embraced the party line that he was “sharp as a tack”.

With Donald Trump now president, I expect diehard liberals to ignore reality with even more ferocity than in the past. They will also continue to fabricate accusations that are completely baseless. And logical, rational thought will remain nowhere to be found.