The politics of thought control

By Tom Quiner

Feelings are more important than actions.

This simple sentence explains one key difference between liberals and conservatives. Put another way, the way you think is more important than the way you act.

A true story from a Quiner’s Diner reader …

Two girls grew up together and were the best of friends. Each married fine young men. One moved far away to another state. Now women, they began to drift apart in other ways, including the way they viewed the world. One became quite liberal; the other quite conservative.

On a visit home, the conservative asked the liberal about her husband’s contracting business. The liberal was comfortable admitting her husband wasn’t paying his taxes. The conservative expressed her shock. The liberal responded, “oh, don’t worry, we’re going to make a contribution to the Democratic Party.”

Democrats are all about higher taxes on the rich.

The liberal in the true story above expressed her moral superiority because of her “intentions” to make a donation to the political party  with so-called good intentions, the Democratic Party.

The conservative, who votes Republican and who does pay her taxes, is stuck paying the tab for the free loaders like her liberal friend.

The liberal’s good feelings excused her unlawful behavior, in her mind.

We are living in an era of political correctness (PC). PC is a form of tyranny that attempts to control the way you think through the use of stigma, censorship, and sanction.

If you disagree with liberal policy on race relations, such as affirmative action, you are accused of hating blacks.

If you disagree with liberal policy regarding abortion, you are accused of hating women.

If you disagree with liberal policy on so-called gay marriage, you are accused of hating men and women with same-sex attractions.

Debate is not an option. Dissent is not an option. If you embrace the wrong public policy, the liberal proclaims, loudly, that your feelings are ugly and disordered. You are obviously a “hater.”

PC excuses bad behavior, such as disease-producing promiscuity; illegitimacy; and even some criminal behavior … as long as the offenders hold the right feelings and are members of a “protected” class. Even more, they may blame the bad behavior on policies embraced by those with the wrong set of feelings.

In other words, the poor saps behaving bad are truly “victims” of people who think wrong.

Political correctness has been around since the 1980s in the U.S. It reached its zenith last week with the revelation that the IRS targeted groups that thought the wrong way.

They went after groups that advocate for limited government.

Sorry! That is politically incorrect thinking.

They went after groups that advocate for lower taxes.

Sorry! That is politically incorrect thinking.

They went after Catholics and pro life groups.

Sorry! That is politically incorrect thinking.

They even asked this last group to divulge the content of their prayers.

The politics of thought control have been embraced and implemented by the current administration in unprecedented ways. The First Amendment rights of freedom of religion and expression are under attack. We’re living in an era of liberal McCarthyism.

Ironically, the actions of conservative Christians is measurably different than liberal secularists. A letter writer to the Des Moines Register raged:

“The more some people profess to be “Christians,” the meaner and selfish they seem. Their refrain seems to be, “It’s my money, and I know best how to spend it.”

A liberal professor from Syracuse, Arthur Brooks, studied the groups. He agreed with the sentiments of the writer above and expected that liberals would blow conservatives away in terms of compassionate actions and how they used their money.

He got quite a comeuppance. There WAS a huge difference, but not what he expected. He wrote about it in his book, “Who really cares?” Here is a summary of his findings:

• Liberals make more money than conservatives.

• Despite this income gap, conservatives give 30 percent more to charity than liberals.

• Religious conservatives give an average of $2367 per year to charity compared to $1347 for the rest of the country.

• Religious conservatives give more to secular charities than everyone else.

• Conservatives donate more blood, sweat, and tears than everyone else as measured by blood given to blood banks and personal time devoted to directly helping others.

• Brooks looked at attitudes of folks concerning distribution of income and religion. Folks who do not believe in income redistribution schemes and attend church services give away a hundred times more than folks who do believe in income redistribution schemes and don’t attend religious services.

• Secular liberals are the “whitest” and richest of the four groups Mr. Brooks identified. Nonetheless, they give 19% less to charity than religious conservatives.

So in a sense, the writer to the Des Moines Register IS correct. Conservatives DO agree that “It’s my money, and I know best how to spend it.”
They spend it on others, even though their “feelings” are wrong, in the eyes of the liberal. Liberals, even though they have more money, spend it on themselves. But that’s okay, because their feelings are politically correct.
I humbly propose that actions speak louder than politically-correct feelings. What would you expect? I’m a conservative.

15 Comments

  1. sally1137 on May 25, 2013 at 4:36 pm

    Reblogged this on Tin Foil Hat Book Club and commented:
    Well said, Tom.



    • quinersdiner on May 25, 2013 at 4:48 pm

      Thanks for the re-blog!



  2. David M. Green on May 25, 2013 at 7:08 pm

    Depending on the issue both liberals and conservatives – such as yourself – rely on dishonest arguments by taking out of context moral axioms in order to justify an immoral act. This also has the effect of allowing someone like yourself to appear as an angel of light in spite of the reality of their being a wolf dressed like a sheep. In order to deceive the ignorant and unwary masses into making the decision that will plunge them into the lake of fire at the end of time.



    • quinersdiner on May 25, 2013 at 9:00 pm

      Hi David: Once again, you accuse me of lying. Please tell me, where?
      Is it that the IRS targeted conservative groups? No, that is documented. They admit it.

      Is it that they asked their conservative targets what they thought and what they prayed? No, that is documented.

      Is it that religious conservatives are more generous than secular liberals? No, that is documented in a book researched by A LIBERAL!

      I know liberals like yourself put a lot of stock in feelings. Clearly, you feel it’s perfectly okay to come to my blog and call me a liar. Fine. Please, tell me: where? If you can’t, you might want to rethink your approach. Try logic instead of rage next time.

      Thanks for visiting … Tom.



      • David M. Green on May 25, 2013 at 10:42 pm

        Like the religious leaders in Israel who attempted to entrap Christ by bringing to Him a woman accused of adultery. Today’s conservatives overlook and cover up their own political sins – both past and present – in order to deflect blame for the failure of their policies. By making mountains out of mole hills in order to discredit those currently elected into political office. Conservatives seem to have forgotten the old maxim that for every finger they point at the liberals there are three fingers pointing back at them.



        • quinersdiner on May 25, 2013 at 11:07 pm

          David, I don’t mean to be unkind, but I have no idea what you’re talking about.



      • David M. Green on May 25, 2013 at 11:55 pm

        Tom you know exactly what I’m talking about. Instead of taking their job of serving the best interests of the people who elected them into political office. Both liberals and conservatives seek to deflect the blame for the failures of their policies and to keep the msm entertained by playing a game of tit for tat. Just as liberals do conservatives use memes and carefully crafted phrases to insert their own form of propaganda into the unsuspecting public’s consciousness along with public ridicule as a means of thought control. You can put the smack down on liberals for every mistake they make but in the end once conservatives come back into power they will do the exact same things you condemn liberals for. The only difference is that you and your fellow conservatives will remain silent in regards to your own political parties immorality, sins and policy failures.



    • quinersdiner on May 26, 2013 at 9:49 am

      “Tom you know exactly what I’m talking about. Instead of taking their job of serving the best interests of the people who elected them into political office …”

      David, so sorry, I’m not following you. You misconstrue ideology, liberal and conservative, with political affiliation, Democrat and Republican. Of course, you know that they are not necessarily the same.

      I come back to your initial attack on me that I use “dishonest arguments.” If you level such a personal attack on my integrity, I think you should have the decency to back it up.

      Be very specific.

      Keep your remarks targeted to the so-called dishonest arguments presented in THIS piece, “The politics of Thought Control.”

      Point out factual errors.

      Make your case like a man.

      From the harshness of your rhetoric, I know you don’t merely disagree with my position in this piece, you believe I have deliberately set out to deceive.

      A anxiously await your response.



      • David M. Green on May 26, 2013 at 11:49 am

        Tom there three basic ways to lie: 1) Deliberately telling a falsehood when one knows the truth. 2) Lies of Omission and 3) Repeating a lie one has been deceived into believing.

        There are three groups in America today whose ideologies rely on all three types of lies. They are as follows: 1) Liberals, 2) Conservatives and 3) Catholics/Religious right.

        One simply cannot be a part of either one of these groups without becoming tainted by the falsehoods and dishonest arguments all three of these ideologies promote.

        In you article where you falsely claim that Americans are not to blame for the terrorists acts committed upon American soil against American citizens by Muslims.

        You lied by omission by leaving out the despicable acts of state sponsored terror our elected leaders have committed throughout the world throughout American history.

        You lied by omission by leaving out the fact that the US military both trained and supplied the terrorist organizations attacking us today.

        You lied by omission by not explaining how the actions of our elected leaders have provoked these terrorists into striking back at the US of A anyway they can.

        By choosing to coddle your readers you chose to deliberately lie and deceive them by failing to point out. That the American people are just as responsible for the acts of state sponsored and economic terrorism their leaders commit when they choose to elect them back into political office. Instead of casting out of office in disgrace those who willfully chose to violate their oath of office and commit such acts.

        Indeed you and your fellow conservatives are just as guilty and no better than the corporate driven and intellectually corrupt Main Stream Media who intentionally fail to inform the American people of the crimes against humanity their political leaders are wont to commit in their name.



        • quinersdiner on May 26, 2013 at 12:12 pm

          David, I’m being REAL patient with you. You came on real strong in response to my blog post, “The politics of thought control.” You said I’m a liar. I asked you to specifically identify where. Instead, you come back talking about Islam issues, which are not even mentioned in the post.

          You keep changing the subject.

          Ultimately, it comes down to this. It is impossible to have a civil conversation with someone who thinks everyone in the world is a liar, except for himself. There’s probably a name for such a condition, I just don’t know what it is. How about if we simply call it Liar Phobia?

          I know, I know, I’m a liar for saying that. That seems to be your go-to response for everything I say. Nonetheless, you might want to seek treatment.

          As a Catholic conservative, that must make me a “double liar.” But if I’m a double liar, that must mean I’m speaking the Truth.

          Hmmm … think about it!

          Thanks for writing.

          Your favorite lyin’ Catholic conservative,

          Tom



  3. Lori on May 25, 2013 at 8:07 pm

    Is that my story? It sounds familiar :).



    • quinersdiner on May 25, 2013 at 8:55 pm

      I don’t reveal my sources;-)



  4. josephrathjen on May 26, 2013 at 12:46 am

    Sacrificing morals, self-worth and religious value, has always been a necessary expense to be offset by the advancement of social progression, for the liberal. They know no other way. It’s only when their own financial departures descend upon them do they throw grenades then duck back into the foxhole.



  5. Karen Quiner on May 26, 2013 at 12:33 pm

    Basically what David is saying Tom is that you lie by what you don’t say. Now that is an interesting concept.

    Anyone who doesn’t agree with David is a liar. He can’t make his case so he doesn’t even try.

    And I don’t quite get the point he was “trying to” make in the first place, that we stay silent when we see wrongdoing because everyone does it?

    Must be wonderful to stand above it all with such superiority David!!! Wow.



  6. Roundup | Eternity Matters on May 29, 2013 at 7:41 am

    […] miss this piece on The Politics of Thought Control.  It analyzes the mindset behind this true […]