Home » Political changer: Buzz Bissinger’s wake-up call continues apace, and in the usual fashion

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Political changer: Buzz Bissinger’s wake-up call continues apace, and in the usual fashion — 23 Comments

  1. Humans are tribal in nature. That is a fact which is not going to change. People organize themselves according to groups: family, community, country, etc. Islamism is a group. Leftism is a group. What do these groups have in common? They want to create a unified world (a single group). They both reject the idea that competing views are healthy for the population as a whole. They want to eliminate competing views and are willing to use any means at their disposal. I think this idea that competition cannot be separated from cooperation and that both are necessary for a stable system is the essence of libertarian and conservative thinking. The idea that you can create a single group and eliminate conflict is not just wrong, it is profoundly out of step with reality.

  2. Unlike Islam apostasy, liberal/progressive apostasy only cuts personal ties, not heads; they only declare “You are dead to me.” I get the impression they’d like to cut off heads, though.

  3. This religiosity of the Left has much in common with that of the religiosity of Islam. They are both products of Gnostic urges, one secular, one ‘religious’. Eric Voegelin, who had much to say about modern political Gnosticism — two books worth — made the connection indirectly in suggesting liberal/Left absolutism would make a censorious war/jihad against unbelievers with special attention paid to apostates.

    Voegelin:
    “At the extreme of the [Gnostic] revolt in consciousness, ‘reality’ and the ‘Beyond’ become two separate entities, two ‘things’ to be magically manipulated by suffering man for the purpose of either abolishing ‘reality’ altogether and escaping into the ‘Beyond,’ or, of forcing the order of the ‘Beyond’ into ‘reality.’ The first of the magic alternatives is preferred by the gnostics of antiquity, the second one by the modern gnostic thinkers.”

    The abolition of ‘reality’ takes a great deal of effort, so much so that changers may not be suffered nor allowed to escape defamation, vilification, and ruination – if it can be managed.

  4. If O loses come November 6, can you imagine how useless he will be from then until January 20? I mean, seriously. Some jobs they march you out immediately after you quit/resign/are terminated because there is too much sensitive info.; others they give you weeks/months. Either way is often somewhat industry standard. But if O loses, I could see him almost admit that the U.S. is no longer “entitled” to his “services” after November 6 and he is checking out. No more speaking with the press, no interviews, no transfer of power efforts. Expect a lot more golf and 5 hour work days while he preps his Hawaiian mansion.

  5. But if O loses, I could see him almost admit that the U.S. is no longer “entitled” to his “services” after November 6 and he is checking out.

    Thanks for cheering me up. Really. My nightmare concern is exactly the opposite: that in the lame duck period he’ll be pardoning every commie and terrorist (and other criminal not already covered) in the country.

  6. Neo, is there a link to the “addendum”? I can’t find it — I apologize if it’s right there and I’m missing it, which is quite possible.

  7. @Jeff, we should be so lucky to have him “check out”. I’m concerned that he’ll burn bridges, which I can see from a petty ego thus bruised.

  8. Occam: Sorry to bring you down. Win or lose, I think at the end of O’s reign he will pardon and jam through a few minor things. That’s a given. But he can only do so much before the “surviving” D’s in Congress speak out against him to try to hedge the bleeding. Even O needs to maintain a sliver of credibility so he can “eventually earn enough,” which I suspect will be quite different from how he currently defines “enough.” I also suspect – if he loses — that he will pretty much trash American voters and the U.S., at least he’ll do it more openly than now. We;re too dumb to vote for him.

    Honestly though, I’m nervous for the resulting riots — if he loses. No way his supporters go quietly.

  9. Sam L says, “Unlike Islam apostasy, liberal/progressive apostasy only cuts personal ties, not heads; they only declare “You are dead to me.” I get the impression they’d like to cut off heads, though.”

    For some on the left, this is undeniably true. Those are the dangerous ones. The majority are merely misguided and incapable of understanding human nature. Anything that conflicts with their concept that it takes a Potemkin Village to raise an idiot is dismissed as a vast right wing conspiracy.

    I refuse to hate the ‘progressives’. I simply want them to stick to chattering and preening at cocktail parties.

  10. “We all want to dance in a ring, to a certain extent. It’s wonderful to be part of a coherent movement, a whole that makes sense, joined with others working for the same goal and sharing the same beliefs.”

    Other than the fact that ‘progressive’ ideology does not make sense in the real world; this statement highlights the character flaw found in those who are in the sway of ‘conventional wisdom’. Conventional wisdom is rarely wise and often is the catalyst that sparks the mob to rape, pillage, and burn. It leads to pogroms, gulags, killing fields, and gas chambers.

  11. “No way his supporters go quietly.”

    Yes, it is very possible that it will be Obamaphone women and men on a rampage once BHO is defeated. Those of you who live in metro areas might want to book a couple of weeks on a sunny beach in the Caribbean starting November 7.

  12. The Wan is a dyed in the cashmere Gonnabee…

    i.e. a Reactive Dependent

    Consequently, he’s destined to self-sabotage his campaign….

    Things like not prepping for the first debate — and not attending to foreign issues — like Libya and Syria.

    But, he’s no Carter. There’s no getting him off that jet.

    His face time in the oval office is apparently the least in history.

  13. I see an exact parallel with the global warming religion. The classic “doubters” and “deniers” are harking back to religion wars.

  14. It is true, changing from left to right is very, very difficult if for no other reason that most of the people you knew as a left winger will disapprove. And, disapprove a LOT. I can understand some disappointment but the level of vitriol can be overwhelming. Real friends will stick around, but not all friends are real enough. I have not had it as bad as some, and I still have a hard time dealing with the angst of it all. For me, it is about going to a social event and knowing that just about every person in the room is in strong, strong disagreement with me on politics and that some would probably be very angry if they knew what my politics are now. Again, my real friends and some others (acquaintances) have stuck around, but there has been some gasping and shuddering and anger from other friends and acquaintances and these have vanished. So, i get it what this guy is going through. Also, once he gets deeper into the change, he will experience the feeling that it is hard to even begin to discuss politics since the assumptions are so different. I mean, you find yourself coming from another universe, of assumptions about reality (Israel has a right to exist, Jews are not all converts, Right wingers are not all Religious conservatives, Islam is not purely a victim of “Islamaphobia”, the world is not going to end in thirty years from global warming and overpopulation) and on and on. Recently, a friend of mine said she thought Obama was like Ghandi. Sigh – how one even have a discussion when someone is that far away? Any way, good luck to this guy and to all of us changers. I am so glad I came to another understanding of politics though, because in a sense it is deeper than simply that. And, it is a positive and life changing experience.

  15. Thanks, Roy! Found it in my local library!

    Neo: there’s no link to Bissinger’s latest post, above.

  16. If folks want to dance in a ring they should join a dance club. There are both square dance and circle dance clubs, something for everyone. and then they might leave those of us who don’t care about dancing alone.

  17. Pingback:Aww, liberal snob Buzz Bissinger discovers that his liberal snob friends are liberal snobs. | RedGalBlueState

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  19. Bissinger is finding out the price of stepping out of the circle, a price that’s probably been steeper than he expected.

    The important question is, now that his eyes have been opened: Will he continue to keep them open, or will he put the blinders back on and step back into the ring while doing his best Sgt. Schultz impression?

    Time will tell.

  20. Thanks for the circle dancing quote. I’ve seen that before on you blog but never followed it up. Turns out that the book is not available on Kindle except as an audio book, but, hey!, I remembered that we have a library and by God they had several copies. So that’s the weekend’s reading.

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