Essay:Liberal Intellectualism

It is interesting to observe how the liberal ideology, and liberal arguments, appeal most to educated, informed persons who are short on intellectual achievements of their own. Put another way, the biggest advocates of liberal arguments are the intellectual wannabees or pseudo-intellectuals.

Examples of not-quite-intellectuals who promote liberal arguments include:

• John Kerry
• Al Gore
• Bill Clinton
• Richard Dawkins
• Stephen Jay Gould
• Laurence Tribe
• Robert McNamara
• Henry Kissinger
• J. Robert Oppenheimer
• Jon Stewart
• Noam Chomsky
• John Maynard Keynes
• Linus Pauling
• Gandhi
• Michel Foucault

Please add other examples.

Motivation

There are two primary motivations for the liberal advocacy by pseudo-intellectuals:

• it is easier for them to obtain acclaim from the liberal press than from real intellectuals

• they genuinely fail to understand certain abstractions, such as:

• how cutting taxes often increases government revenue (Laffer Curve)
• how guns save more lives through deterrence and prevention than they harm
• how childbirth has a positive effect on health, and thus abortion harms health
• how cease-fires always help a determined opponent in war
• how arms limitations treaties always helps a dishonest adversary

• they expect superficial, flawed logic to persuade others, such as:

• claiming that inequality in outcome implies discrimination
• demanding equal treatment for genders in all situations
• claiming that the gay agenda is like the civil rights struggle by African Americans
• insisting that government can reduce poverty with more programs

Please add to these lists.