No surprise to anyone paying attention:
Strong liberals stand out, however, as the only political group who feel they can express themselves. Nearly 6 in 10 (58%) of staunch liberals feel they can say what they believe. However, centrist liberals feel differently. A slim majority (52%) of liberals feel they have to self‐censor, as do 64% of moderates, and 77% of conservatives. This demonstrates that political expression is an issue that divides the Democratic coalition between centrist Democrats and their left flank.
Go here to read the rest. In the midst of a hysteria driven witch hunt, and that is what is currently underway, the witch hunters assume they will never be the “witches” who are hunted. More fool them.
Liberal sanctimony tends to confer immunity from censure.. The Virus psyop fear campaign has emboldened them even more. They think they have Conservatives on the run. I agree they will be surprised come November.
This result is almost entirely driven by the pernicious effects of the enemedia on public discourse. Lefties believe their views are much more widely shared than they really are.
Tim Pool was having a field day with this news.
https://youtu.be/Hb5wcxU_WVo
Conservatives being afraid to express their views sadly speaks to the cowardice of many conservatives. And we wonder why the left runs rough shod over everything.
Conservatives, by nature, tend to be live and let live people, many apolitical. They have witnessed conservatives being fired for their beliefs, being mobbed on social media for their beliefs and being physically assaulted for their beliefs. Since not all people are brave, or self-employed as I am, I find it unsurprising that a fair number of conservatives decide that discretion is the better part of valor. The Left however is forgetting a key point about Americans: you can push them only so far before they will decide that you are not going to push them anymore. This year of punishment is hastening that day for American conservatives.
I prefer casting entrails to get at the future. And of course there are always problems with sampling…When 30% of the sample says they’re Republicans, then of course the results are biased. I
“Conservatives, by nature, tend to be live and let live people, many apolitical. They have witnessed conservatives being fired for their beliefs, being mobbed on social media for their beliefs and being physically assaulted for their beliefs. Since not all people are brave, or self-employed as I am, I find it unsurprising that a fair number of conservatives decide that discretion is the better part of valor.”
Like St. Thomas More in “A Man for All Seasons”, most of us aren’t interested in going out of our way to become martyrs. Certainly if it comes to that and we are left with no choice, we will make that sacrifice. But, like More, we would rather not. We will keep our mouths shut and our heads down and go about our lives (and we’ll vote accordingly).
It’s not cowardice to not fight on the enemy’s chosen ground.
And that’s exactly what the screechers are: enemies. They happen to be mostly on the far left, but the tactic is the discourse version of arson. (Which is also very popular on the far left at the moment.)
If your enemy really, really wants you to fight in a specific place? You probably don’t want to be there.
“Conservatives, by nature, tend to be live and let live people, many apolitical.”
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I think this is why “conservative leaders” tend to be few and far between. And that is what Leaders tend to do, right? Give orders.
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I am not sure, but I may have just lost one of my favorite friends who moved from jobless, empoverished Michigan to greener pastures down south in a noted conservative state. A woke liberal, he despises his governor and on serveral occasions has resorted to name calling him–using language that could very easily come off as hate speech against the disabled. He was thankful I haven’t called Gov Whitmer HItler, as she is his hero. But, he now knows I don’t share his view of Michigan’s governor, and that I consider her to be an incompetent idiot. He may suspect I will vote for Trump. Friendship over. Cuz liberals are not at all tolerant or diverse.
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I hate the word “enemy” but sadly, it is getting to that point. My sister used the word regarding one of our siblings. And I can’t say she is wrong to do so. It reminds me of Jesus saying he came to set father against son, etc.
Conservatives, by nature, tend to be live and let live people, many apolitical.
That distinguishes the right from the left. The right respects the autonomy of separate spheres of life, the left subsumes everything to political struggle, even knitting. They act like parasitoid wasps in every venue where they gain a critical mass. This presents an insuperable problem for the common life.
NB, the distinction between the left and the ‘center’left’ is a distinction in roles, not a distinction in objects. You know that because because almost no one on the left critiques the left. The few who have are in the unemployment line (Andrew Sullivan, Bari Weiss) or are socially ostracized (Alan Dershowitz).
By the way, have you noticed what the inveterate NeverTrumpers and the faculty-rathskellar libertarians have had to say about the current public atmosphere? Well, as little as they can manage. These are unimportant people generally. They’ve now exposed themselves as useless in any circumstances.
By the way, we have mobs of opinionated leftoids commenting on our Facebook wall. Not one of them has ever said one thing about the conduct of the IRS, the conduct of the security state contra the current President and Gen Flynn, the conduct of the sorosphere, the conduct of various and sundry Hawaiian judges, the conduct of ballot harvesters, the conduct of rioters, the conduct of ‘protesters’, etc. etc. Not a one. I haven’t any time for street-level Democrats anymore.
They’ve now exposed themselves as useless in any circumstances.
Quite right. In too many cases it is obvious that they had no real political beliefs beyond what could enrich them. As for most libertarians, once they have the right to dope themselves into oblivion they are quite comfortable with Big Brother.
Art-
you might get some miles out of this:
https://thewriterinblack.com/2020/07/23/help-im-being-repressed/
Long quote:
There is no “right to protest” that makes illegal things legal. There are certain things that the government is forbidden from prohibiting, certain rights you have that can be used for protest, things like free speech, a free press, the right to peaceable assembly (those things in the preceding paragraph are not peaceable, they are pretty much the exact opposite of peaceable), and the right to petition government for redress of grievances. But criminal acts are still criminal acts even if done in the name of “protest.”
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As for federal overreach, well, I’d warned folk about the danger of making so many things federal crimes rather than leaving it to States and municipalities. But no, you had to push for more and more Federal power. And, indeed, you’re pushing for more now. You don’t object to more Federal power and overreach. You only object to being on the receiving end of it. If you “win” you’ll put even more in place. No thanks. I’m not going to help you deprive me of even more rights.