If someone comes to you a question and before you respond with your answer, you might think about asking them why they are inquiring in the first place. Not to dodge the question itself, but because understanding what motivated them to ask it helps you to give a more effective answer. This is especially true in political discourse. Many republicans (and even some conservatives) are surprised when the left suddenly begins to support an idea or an action that they previously seemed dead set on opposing. One minute they are crying to defund the police, and the next lauding them for heroism. Or their saying abortion should be “safe, legal, and rare”, and then quickly moving to “It is a fundamental human right to kill babies in the womb.” Or even the wild paradox of the “Queers for Palestine” group. While it is not uncommon for individual politicians to lie or about their agenda, this is different. This is when an entire group says they are willing to die for a cause in one breath, and then entirely abandoned the next. This leaves the average American unsure of who to believe, and the average Republican stunned while trying to make sense of it all and falling into the trap of the left.
We have to begin by trying to find the through line, the thing that connect all of their reasoning. Analyzing someone’s beliefs typically involves learning the underlying principles that they build their worldview on and then applying those principles to the moral and ethical questions that arise. But when you search through the content of the left’s beliefs, it seems impossible to find any consistency in how they form their opinions. How can a politician be an advocate for defunding the police and then use taxpayer dollars to surround themselves with security twenty-four seven? How can they argue that a fetus isn’t a baby, unless the mother wants to keep it and then it suddenly becomes one? How can a lesbian be an ally of Hamas when they would unquestionably dispatch her as soon as they had the opportunity? Because it so confusing it’s tempting to throw your hands in the air and declare that there is no reasoning behind the actions of the left and just move on. Were that to be the case, it would be grounds enough to never believe a word they say, but more to the point. How could there possibly be a consistent thread running through all these scenarios?
And yet, if you watch them when the winds of public opinion change, it becomes clear as day. Simply put, it’s about power. The way they approach these topics is to play the angle which best suits their end goal. And this desire for control isn’t limited to gaining political influence, it is about getting to the point where they can exercise their will in any situation without retribution. People cannot find logic in the actual content of their arguments because there is none; they will say whatever it takes to stay on track to gain power. If the police fall out of fashion, defund them! When the people realize that they need police, turnaround and praise them for their virtues. Always stand up for women, that is until a man wants to compete against them in sports, then the women just have to deal with it since it is more palatable for the base. Whatever it takes to stay in control. And I’m not saying that there are no true believers of left-wing causes; there are plenty of clips of people participating in protests who seem genuinely angry about what is going on. But this subset people are almost worse because they are only directed by their emotions and their desire to participate in the chaos and are easily swayed by those who want to maintain power. When you realize that the left will do or say anything just get their way, everything becomes a lot clearer.
Unfortunately, many prominent republicans don’t seem to realize this and get lured into playing the lefts game. They try to play using the lefts rules, but it never works because the rules constantly change. It’s a lot like playing a made-up game with a 6-year-old, no matter what you do there’s always a new rule that miraculously gives them the win. You can’t beat the left at their own game. Not only because they get to arbitrarily change the rules, but also because playing the game won’t win you any points with the left-wing voters anyway. They will always vote democrat, so why do you care what they think? But so often we find members of the right trying to placate them. How many right-wing personalities cheered and thought it was some sick burn when Fox news added Caitlyn Jenner as a news contributor, when his mere presence undermined the very ideas, they were supposedly arguing for? How many republican women have run cringe worthy ads acting like girl bosses hoping it will appeal to the feminist? All this does is alienate the voters they do have and ruins their credibility with the conservatives who might have been willing to vote for them otherwise. All of this is evident enough if you pay attention, yet it still does not answer the deeper (and more important) question of why. Why is power the primary drive for the actions they take?
The truth is they have no moral compass. Not because God has not provided them one, as if through some act of divine myopia, He neglected to add a conscience when they were being formed in their mother’s womb. This is self-inflicted. They have taken common wisdom and exchanged it for a self-edifying ideology. Meaning, that they feel no guilt over their actions, or suppress it when they do. Their entire lives are centered around one thing: Themselves. Even though the deceit happens on a regular basis, people who understand that there is such a thing as right and wrong struggle to understand the left. It is hard to fathom being able to entirely dismiss the gnawing sense of guilt and to constantly satisfy your own desires. It also means people can be tricked into trusting the intentions of the progressive left by assuming they hold similar fundamental beliefs when in fact they do not. I acknowledge that there are always exceptions to the rule. There are plenty of republican politicians who have the same power centered mindset that play the game as the left (though unlike the left, they can’t even play it effectively). There are those who would consider themselves left wing who would argue that they make their decisions in a principled and consistent way, but that’s beside the point. This mindset is still largely pervasive on the left, from the top down. Even if for the sake of argument, we pretended like this was a minority of the left that felt this way, that group would still be the ones who have the most funding and media coverage, and thus the most influence. From laws and agencies that target average Americans to riots in the streets, they will do whatever it takes to keep the cultural and political power in their hands.
We cannot be surprised when amoral people do immoral things. It is all well and good to observe, criticize, and even draw attention to the contradictory logic on the left, so long as it doesn’t trick us into playing their game by their rules. Come hell or high water, the best tool we have is to ground ourselves in truth and to live lives consistent with our beliefs. This is the only thing that can stand against the manipulation of the left. They don’t just play on people’s emotions because it’s convenient, they do it because it works. When someone is guided by nothing more than a desire for power and control, they will go to any length to fulfill it. It is distasteful realization, but we have no other choice. If we stop assuming that they are making their arguments in good faith, and we can go forward knowing that for the far left, the ends always justify the means.
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