Quote of the day
posted at 10:50 pm on March 27, 2008 by Allahpundit
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“Mr Brooks proposes that whatever their respective merits, the conservative world view is more conducive to happiness than the liberal one (in the American sense of both words). American conservatives tend to believe that if you work hard and play by the rules, you can succeed. This makes them more optimistic than liberals, more likely to feel in control of their lives and therefore happier. American liberals, at their most pessimistic, stress the injustice of the economic system, the crushing impersonal forces that keep the little guy down and what David Mamet, a playwright, recently summed up as the belief that ‘everything is always wrong’. Emphasising victimhood was noble during the 1950s and 1960s, says Mr Brooks. By overturning Jim Crow laws, liberals gave the victims of foul injustice greater control over their lives. But in as much as the American left is now a coalition of groups that define themselves as the victims of social and economic forces, and in as much as its leaders encourage people to feel helpless and aggrieved, he thinks they make America a glummer place.”
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Right on the money.
DeathtotheSwiss on March 27, 2008 at 10:56 PM
Not for much longer. The Obamas will unglum the place. Wait and see!
Without inspired victimhood, and promises to ’save’ all from such, what would be the raison d’etre of the liberals?
Entelechy on March 27, 2008 at 10:57 PM
Basically conservatives believe if you work hard and play by the rules, you can truly be successful. Libs believe that the world is out to get them, nothing is fair, and things should be handed to them.
amerpundit on March 27, 2008 at 10:57 PM
There’s a reason you hear the phrase “Guilty White Liberals” so often…
MadisonConservative on March 27, 2008 at 10:59 PM
I tend to think those who don’t care about/follow politics are the happiest of all. Ignorance is bliss.
VolMagic on March 27, 2008 at 10:59 PM
Al Gore must be one happy duck.
loganthompson on March 27, 2008 at 11:01 PM
loganthompson on March 27, 2008 at 11:01 PM
Heh. He’s not stupid. I think he’s the Left’s Karl Rove.
You can’t roll around in cash like he does without knowing Barnum’s Golden rule, and how to exploit it.
VolMagic on March 27, 2008 at 11:07 PM
“American liberals, at their most pessimistic, stress the injustice of the economic system …”
Or maybe they’re just losers who can’t make it in a free market economy? Like the “Starving Arteeeest” who needs tax dollars to support his “art” … because it SUX! If your paintings are any good, people will buy ‘em.
In whiney liberal voice: “But but but Tony, look at Ben and Jerry, THEY made it!”
Yup, and I can name just as many white basketball players.
Tony737 on March 27, 2008 at 11:13 PM
Well…yeah.
Bob's Kid on March 27, 2008 at 11:14 PM
This Way To The Egress!
Ugly on March 27, 2008 at 11:14 PM
The tune for unhappy Liberals is the song by Tom Petty,
I don’t want to live like a refugee!
canopfor on March 27, 2008 at 11:21 PM
‘everything is always wrong’
reminds me of the DUmp
windansea on March 27, 2008 at 11:23 PM
The Petty song is ‘You don’t have to live like a refugee’.
Anyway, it is a great quote, well said, and I agree completely with this ‘quote of the day’.
ThackerAgency on March 27, 2008 at 11:24 PM
The liberal mascot,the donkey——-is—Eeyore
from Winnie the Pooh,everything is bad,things
aren’t good,everthing is your fault!
canopfor on March 27, 2008 at 11:27 PM
Poor liberals. I guess they are always living in fear that the donkey might kick them in the arse.
Travis1 on March 27, 2008 at 11:30 PM
The economy is booming and the occupation of Iraq is going great!
Wow, it works.
alphie on March 27, 2008 at 11:39 PM
Al Gore is a Queer Duck.
The liberals ought to thank God (or Satan, whomever they worship) for conservatives. Whom would they blame for everything if we weren’t gas-guzzling, racist, hateful, heartless, homophobic misogynists?
emailnuevo on March 27, 2008 at 11:42 PM
The petty song is “You don’t have to live like a refugee”
Anyway,its a great quote,well said, and I agree completely
with this ‘quote of the day’.
ThackerAgency on March 27,2008 at 11:24PM.
ThankerAgency: I thank-you.
canopfor on March 27, 2008 at 11:45 PM
oops,appilogy that should be ThackerAgency on the bottom
and not ThankerAgency.
canopfor on March 27, 2008 at 11:47 PM
“A positive attitude may not solve all your problems,
but it will annoy enough
peopleliberals to make it worth the effort”. - - Herm AlbrightEntelechy on March 27, 2008 at 11:48 PM
Translation: The American left can not deal with good news.
highhopes on March 27, 2008 at 11:49 PM
“American Liberals, at their most pessimistic” are so pissed about being betas, that they compensate by taking up the causes of and thereby exploit the gammas.
shaken on March 27, 2008 at 11:54 PM
That pretty much sums it up.
29Victor on March 28, 2008 at 12:05 AM
alphie on March 27, 2008 at 11:39 PM
The economy is booming here.
Johan Klaus on March 28, 2008 at 12:19 AM
Liberals also have no sense of humor. That could be depressing too. Instead of making lemonade out of lemons, liberals would rather curse the lemons yet decide they are entitled to lemonade….
Branch Rickey on March 28, 2008 at 12:20 AM
Nietzsche would have called liberism a slave philosophy.
snaggletoothie on March 28, 2008 at 12:20 AM
hmm.
Happiness and hate, hand-in-hand
Reaps on March 28, 2008 at 12:24 AM
No one knows that better than me.
Kini on March 28, 2008 at 12:26 AM
TO
TAL
LY!
homesickamerican on March 28, 2008 at 12:26 AM
It is as we all have known for some time. A liberal has something organically tricked out in his brain that allows him to choose certain whacked out behavior sets and beliefs over others. It will lead him down the road so far that unless he comes from two intact haploid pairs he will choose to allow this propense to be miserable and spread his disease liberally.
This is why we have religious liberals that are no more of a “new creation” than buggy amber. It always comes back to the spiritual condition of the man.
OkieDoc on March 28, 2008 at 12:31 AM
Two words each:
American Conservatives: Personal Responsibility
American Liberals: I’m Owed
Sound about right?
Seven Percent Solution on March 28, 2008 at 12:41 AM
Only because I don’t feel like arguing with you tonight, my friend :)
Entelechy on March 28, 2008 at 12:49 AM
Well, 7.
Most American “conservatives” survive on a government paycheck paid for by New York and California “libruls.”
Or inherit or marry money, of course.
By yours is a nice fantasy…and fantasies make you happy!
alphie on March 28, 2008 at 12:51 AM
Excuse me?
Come again?
It’s that easy is it?
I don’t know what world you are living in, but I hope it has white puffy clouds against a purple sky….
And all this time, I actually read my books in school, attened classes, took and passed the exams, applied for entry level jobs, worked my way up by showing up everyday and trying to improve myself, living on a budget, starting a family on my own, being a responsible parent, all the time fighting affirmative action, higher taxes and greater regulation on my freedoms…………
If I only knew that a government paycheck or someone out there had money for me to inherit…. and I didn’t have to do a damn thing for it, but be a victim.
Who knew?
Thanks alphie, in the next life, I will try to remember that!
Seven Percent Solution on March 28, 2008 at 1:02 AM
I didn’t realize it right away, but I did have a plan. ;)
A conversation, we can always have. Monsieur ami ^_^
Kini on March 28, 2008 at 1:04 AM
Seems like a bull’s eye to me.
Deftly explains why I am not a liberal, in spite of the vast majority of my family and my church being such. I would only like to add that the relative economic success that often follows taking personal responsability (at least in America) helps reinforce this trend.
12thman on March 28, 2008 at 8:24 AM
I thought the Republicans were the ones that passed the civil rights legislation over the objection of the Democratic Party, the Dixiecrats, the segragationists? No, am I remembering American History wrong? LBJ signed the Civil Rights act after the Pubs passed it because he could not run for President after vetoing it? Regardless of how the Dems now package that part of their glorious segragationist past, Liberal Democrats can hardly claim credit for civil rights legislation.
michigan republican on March 28, 2008 at 8:50 AM
- bold mine
To all who are complementing Mr. Brooks aim: Even before coffee, this is a whopper of a myth to be swallowing unnoticed.
Are they slipping Kool Aid into the water water supply or have our crtitcal thinking skills atrophied and the standards bar for historical accuracy been lowered so far we no longer enven notice?
/sarc - with a lite tap on the noggin to wake everybody up
Unquiet on March 28, 2008 at 9:04 AM
If this is not a sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek statement, then I would like to nominate alphie for this years HotAir Drivel award.
The annual HT Drivel Award is given to those individuals who, through their comments and responses, provide the best examples of “drivel” during the year.
This is not an honor, alphie. There is no “Mr. Drivel” upon whom this award is based.
For your benefit, and to hopefully raise your intellect by at least a quarter point, “Drivel” is defined as:
1. Making silly, irrelevant, inaccurate, foolish, and idiotic statements.
2. To let saliva dribble from the mouth.
You have provided abundant evidence of number 1 with your statement. And while I certainly have no evidence of number two, I suspect that you would also meet that criteria. However, to be considered for this year’s award, you will have to provide a picture of yourself drooling.
Good Luck!
Rod on March 28, 2008 at 10:36 AM