The Lie of Liberation

The central theme of the left since Rousseau has been the theme of liberation. Liberals are going to liberate the secular from the judgment of the Church. They are going to liberate workers from the exploitation of the capitalists. They are going to liberate women from the exploitation of patriarchal marriage. They are going to liberate blacks from the legacy of slavery. They are going to liberate gays from--well it used to be the closet and the fetters of middle-class morality but now it seems to be that liberals are going to liberate gays into the joys of gay marriage.

It's all a lie.

Liberals promised to liberate us from the rigid judgementalism of the pulpit. Now we have the rigid criminilization of--get this--recycling. Some liberation, liberals.

Liberals promised to liberate the workers from the exploitation of the bosses. So they smashed the authentic safety net built up by the workers in the 19th century, the benefit clubs, the friendly societies, the mutual-aid associations, the labor unions, and replaced it all with a system of government welfare of liberals, by liberals, for liberals. And it's broke. Some liberation, liberals.

Liberals promised to liberate blacks from the legacy of slavery. Special privileges would accrue to blacks: affirmative action, multiculturalism, diversity: quotas by any other name. Now something like 70 percent of black children grow up in a single-parent home. The black family, that persevered through centuries of slavery, Jim Crow, and discrimination, has been blasted to smithereens. Some liberation, liberals.

Liberals promised to liberate women from the sins of the patriarchy, to liberate them from unhappy marriages into the joy of personal fulfilment and career. Is that really what women want? To be turfed out of their homes and neighborhoods into the rat race of government health care and education employment? To leave their pre-school children in day care? To dump the fathers of their children for government benefits? No wonder conservative women report higher levels of happiness than liberal women. Some liberation, liberals.

Liberals promised gays to liberate them from the shadow of the closet and the stigma of marginalization. First gays were to be liberated from the confining rules of heterosexual fidelity, free to love who they chose. Then gays were to be offered all the joys of marriage because, after all, if you loved someone you ought to be able to marry them. What a lie. What a double lie. There is no law and no liberal cultural bullying that can liberate gays from the fact that homosexuality is a marginal "life-style." It is not, and can never be, the mainstream of life, however you dress it up. Some liberation, liberals.

The facts of life, said Margaret Thatcher, are conservative. And the facts are that every group that liberals have seduced with the promise of liberation has ended up, or looks to end up, like the proverbial victim of the one-night stand. Used and abandoned.

The lesson of history is clear. When the politician comes calling with a seductive story about your horrible exploitation and the wonderful vision of liberation available in return for your vote, don't believe him. All he wants is your vote so he can get his hands on the levers of power. He'll toss you a bone or two, but eventually he'll tire of you and go onto another lover.

And what will you do then, poor thing?