Sez Who?

Hey, this is fun. If you remember, the game is to take a Lefty critique of conservatives, and by substituting a very few nouns, transform it into a devastating critique of the Left.

Courtesy of Yuval Levin, we have this quote from a book written by Diana DeGette, the current Democrat Chief Deputy Whip in the House, castigating the Christian Coalition for inordinate power. For 'Christian Coalition,' let's substitute 'Democrat Left,' and see what we get:

I have seen the power of the DEMOCRAT LEFT and its members. While not representative of the views of the majority (or even a large minority) of Americans, this group wields disproportionate influence over our politicians. Why? Because it is a single-issue group that has enormous power to control campaign donations and the votes of its members. If voters who belong to this group are told to denounce a politician because he or she opposes the wishes of this group, they will. No questions asked — and this right here is one of our fundamental problems.

I like especially her point that the Democrat Left does not represent even a large minority of Americans. So true, so true. These people are the fringest of the fringe of American politics, given to all sorts of deranged conspiracy theories and ignorant nostalgia for ideologies long since relegated to the ash-heap of history.

The reason 'Democrat Left' substitutes so easily into this quote, of course, is that the Left is a religious coalition, just as much as is the Christian Coalition. Except the power the Christian Coalition - and, for that matter, the Catholic Church, another target of Ms. DeGette - has over how its members vote is not as strong as Ms. DeGette's stereotype. On the other hand, the Left exercises an almost Stalinesque control over its denizens. The Left's mouthpiece, MoveOn.org, need but publish a 120 word ex communication against, say, the apostate Joe Lieberman, and the Democrat Party yanks the endorsement of their own Party's former Vice Presidential nominee, and backs another for the Senate seat in Connecticut.

But like most religions that indulge too much the dark side of Holy Righteousness, the Left overreached itself. Senator Lieberman exposed them as the fringe they are when he ran as an Independent against his own Party, and won the election easily.

These people can move money and cadres of grass-roots activists, but its all mostly smoke and mirrors, propped up by the Major Media it controls like Moscow controls Pravda. Nevertheless, Ms. DeGette's revised quote highlights a very real, and grim, problem this religious cult presents for the Republic. Vigilance, people, vigilance.