PrintJuly 29, 2010
The Unhealthy Motivations of Liberals
In general, low self-esteem and a lack of self-love are the basis for the ideology of liberals.
Liberals are those who would use government to reduce the freedoms of some people to provide benefits for others. Liberals argue for fairness and equality for all people, but neither is possible. Other than identical twins, all people are genetically different, and without exception, each has unique life experiences that are interpreted differently. We are necessarily and naturally unequal in a worldly sense. (If "all men are created equal" in a Godly sense, nothing more needs to be done to ensure it.) Liberals, progressives, socialists, fascists, communists, and statists seek similar means to the same end. They want control of an expansive, intrusive government using taxation, regulation, and takeover of private property and businesses to achieve an earthly equality -- an equality that is unnatural, unhealthy, and unattainable. This irrational political ideology is rooted in psychological shortcomings.
The U.S. Constitution correctly identifies the purpose of government as protecting the freedoms of its people. Being free is the natural state of all lifeforms. Soldiers risk their lives and die fighting for freedom...not equality. The Statue of Liberty welcomes those "yearning to breathe free."
Having an internalized sense of being less than others drives a desire for equality. The liberal's internal motivation is: "If we are all the same, I can't be less." From a practical perspective, making people or situations equal involves punishing the successful; which can be a welcome expression of jealous anger for those with low self-esteem.
Having low self-esteem makes freedom something to fear. Freedom means being free to succeed or fail. For those with a low sense of self, the expectation is that one's failure is inevitable. Freedom is not desirable under those conditions.
Liberals' personal problems become a societal problem when liberals try to address them by requiring changes to the lives of others. They seek a government with extensive power and reach that can limit freedoms and penalize success so that we seem to be more equal. It's as if I were to address a problem of poor posture by requiring everyone else to slouch. The adequacy of self-love or self-esteem one has is not determined by comparison to others. It is not measured by net worth, which government can adjust. Whether one has healthy levels of self-love and self-esteem is determined by personal physiology and psychology. No matter how much government can disrupt the lives of its citizens, it cannot make anyone love or esteem themselves more or make anyone happy.
What liberals really need -- greater self-esteem and self-love -- government is completely powerless to provide.
Given their motivations, statements, and actions, liberal politicians and their supporters can be understood through awareness of the common characteristics of those with a low sense of self.
Low Sense of Self Characteristics
Feelings About Self
- Has a general sense of unhappiness, depression, unease, malaise
- Feels a victim, largely powerless
- Fears looking foolish and is unable to laugh at self
- Afraid of forming own opinion and having it challenged
- Takes disagreements as personal affronts, seeks revenge
- Prone to rapid and sudden anger or sadness
- Seeks to suppress "bad" emotions; afraid they may become all-consuming
Thoughts about Self
- Tends towards negative attitude and pessimism
- Lacks confidence in self
- Rigid
- Blind to unpleasant realities, delusional
- Over-dependence on people or things
- Inability to accept criticism
Presenting Self to Others
- Secretive
- Exaggerates, pretends, and lies to conceal insecurity
- Arrogant and boastful (intended to appear self-confident) or extremely shy (to avoid inspection)
- Cool, detached, aloof (intended to appear "in control")
- Uses language for its emotive value to persuade others
- Seeks first for others to connect with him/her emotionally
- Denies mistakes and blames others when things for which he/she is responsible go badly
- Takes credit for others' achievements
- Irrational (psychology trumps philosophy)
- Breaks agreements, violates professed standards, hypocritical
- Performs poorly in pressure situations
Perception of Others
- Projects own inadequacies and motives onto others
- Sees others as impotent victims
- Jealous and envious of others, especially those perceived as having a high sense of self
- Fear of or hostility towards others, blaming others for own inner state
Relationships with Others
- Drawn to others with a low sense of self
- Has difficulty loving others
- Seeks control and power over others
- Outwardly aggressive or passively aggressive
- Discards people when they become a personal liability
Efforts at Self-Improvement
- Does not seek self-improvement, as it requires acknowledging one is currently lacking
- Lacks self-discipline
- Closed-minded, unwilling to accept new ideas
- Tends to have addictions -- they serve as personal distractions
Our sense of self-value is rooted in our childhood, nurtured by the love and affirmation we received from our parental figures. Consider the nation's leading liberal, President Barack Obama, and how he embodies nearly all the characteristics of a person with a low sense of self. Barack Obama's teenage mom became pregnant out of wedlock, had two failed marriages, and apparently was a socialist. His dad was -- or became -- an alcoholic, physically abusive polygamist and communist. The likelihood of such needy and damaged people being healthy, nurturing parents is nil.
Obama's childhood included an early abandonment by his father; abandonment by his stepfather; abandonment by his mother; frequent moves so he could not develop long-term childhood friendships; being teased by peers for being neither black nor white, for having big ears, and for being skinny; and he had an elderly childhood mentor (Frank Marshall Davis) who was a communist and pedophile. (A poem written by 19-year-old Barack Obama suggests he may have been violated by Davis.) Obama predictably turned to illegal drugs (marijuana and cocaine) in his youth and remains addicted to nicotine. With this background, he could not escape being seriously psychologically damaged. From his behaviors and relationships, it is clear that he has not successfully addressed his inner deprivations.
The liberals' emotional neediness leads them to identify and experience a bonding with others who also have low self-esteem and low self-love. Collectively, they long for a greater sense of self and strive to attain it by achieving equality among people using the power of an ever-growing government and irrational arguments (for equality and against freedom) that they find emotionally compelling.
Curtis Frantz, schooled in physics, philosophy, and computer science, is by profession a software quality analyst. His Weltanschauung is of a tester. www.e-pamphlets.com.
