Last October, I observed, “Too often, people on the left try to browbeat others into submission with what they are convinced is their superior command of the facts. Then they wonder why it doesn’t work.”
In part, that is because (not to invoke Rush Limbaugh) we argue with one half of our brains tied behind our backs. Furthermore, we think our political fights are strictly intellectual ones when our opponents a) don’t give a rat’s ass about facts, and b) are not really committed to their own arguments, just to winning.
Neal Katyal, the former Acting Solicitor General of the United States, gets a lot of face time on MSNBC because he has argued about three dozen cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. But as I noted in October, he recognizes the emotional component of making an argument is as important as the rational. The Federalist Society lists Katyal as a member, FWIW.
But our inclination to try to win arguments with dishonest opponents is a trap we fall into time after time. Liberals want to be right. We need to be right. And we’ll waste insane amounts of time and effort trying to win a game our political adversaires have rigged while they sit back and snicker. Dumb libtards.
A friend asked Friday, why don’t more Democratic politicians point out what Republicans are doing with their rhetoric? That they are deliberately trying to create wedge issues and stoke anger rather than solve problems for people? That by doing so, and by trying so desperately to keep opponents from voting, they are tacitly admitting that they have no ideas, no programs, no answers, and nothing to offer Americans except rigging elections to remain in power as a minority?
Because Lefties want to be right more than we want to win. Conservatives would rather win than be right.
Because sometimes we are our own worst enemies.