Michael Barone Accuses Liberals of “Stifling Dissent”
Michael Barone, writing at Real Clear Politics, informs us that liberals are not used to dissent, and so are trying to stifle it:
It is an interesting phenomenon that the response of the left half of our political spectrum to criticism and argument is often to try to shut it down. Thus President Obama in his Sept. 9 speech to a joint session of Congress told us to stop “bickering,” as if principled objections to major changes in public policy were just childish obstinacy, and chastised his critics for telling “lies,” employing “scare tactics” and playing “games.” Unlike his predecessor, he sought to use the prestige of his office to shut criticism down.
Now, no one likes criticism very much, and most politicians would prefer to have their colleagues and constituents meekly and gratefully agree with them on pretty much everything. And yes, Rep. Joe Wilson did seem to have broken the rules and standards of decorum of the House (though not of the British House of Commons) when he shouted, “You lie!” in the middle of Obama’s speech.
I would submit that the president’s call for an end to “bickering” and the charges of racism by some of his supporters are the natural reflex of people who are not used to hearing people disagree with them and who are determined to shut them up.
It’s hard to know where to start with this. Michael Barone does not appear to exist in the same American political, social, cultural, and historical reality that I do.
I guess I’ll begin with a couple of basic points:
- Urging people to “stop bickering” is not stifling dissent.
- Shouting “You lie!” would be a violation of decorum and of the rules in the British House of Commons just as it is here. One could always add, of course, that Congress is not the British House of Commons, that the United States is not Britain, and that as Ezra Klein suggested, “If we’re going to adopt British norms of political behavior, we should also adopt British norms of governance.”
Now let’s move on to Barone’s explanation for why (as he believes) liberals “stifle dissent”: because liberals are ”not used to hearing people disagree with them.”
This is so counter to reality that I feel like I have to take this man by the hand and instruct him very gently, as one would a child. First of all, Mr. Barone apparently has forgotten that the United States is a center-right country, and that most Americans are conservatives at heart who believe in few or no government services and traditional family values (no premarital or non-marital sex, no contraception, no abortion, no public education, no gay marriage, and lots of prayer in the public square). I mean, this is what we were told endlessly during the election campaign and even after Obama took office: This is a center-right country, this is a center-right country, this is a center-right country. Liberals are, in conservative ideology, barely Americans — and certainly not the kind of people “real” Americans — you know, those in the “heartland” — are used to interacting with.
You probably can figure out where I’m going with this. If center-right conservatism is the American norm, and if liberalism is such an alien philosophy for most Americans, then how can it be that “liberals are not used to hearing people disagree with them”?
I don’t want to say anything too controversial, but I would think the reality is rather the other way around.
Finally, I have to go back to this definitional thing. I noted above that telling people to “stop bickering” is not “stifling dissent.” Perhaps I should give a few actual examples of “stifling dissent.”
- Being arrested for wearing t-shirts with anti-Bush messages (similar incidents occurred dozens of times during the Bush administration).
- Quarantining anti-Bush dissenters in pens called “free speech zones.”
- Treating dissent as treason.
Now, I’m not saying that liberals and/or Democrats are not capable of stifling dissent or have never stifled dissent. I am merely saying that when Michael Barone or anyone accuses liberals of “stifling dissent,” they should have a basic understanding of what “stifling dissent” means.
13 Responses to “Michael Barone Accuses Liberals of “Stifling Dissent””
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Proof that RCP has gotten out of control. Ever since that McD's ad went up, they seem to care more about posting links to wack jobs that get clicks than anything else.
Thankfully they still have something worth reading, but I probably don't read half of what I used to on that site.
Michael Barone is a reasoned conservative. I've enjoyed what he's had to say in the past, but his words in response to Rep. Wilson's outburst are too tepid by half. Having said that, President Obama himself introduced the vocabulary of “lies” and “fabrications” in his speech about health care. Both sides, unfortunately, have resorted to that kind of terminology and continue to do so.
To a large degree, the progressives are trying to control the message rather than to win the argument. They attack Conservatives but anyone with half a braincell and an understanding of the issue knows that its the lack of moderate democratic votes that has prevented them from enacting legislation. Republicans are not to blame, progressives are for not reaching out to the middle, at least at this point.
What Leonidas said…. And it's “swastikas,” “hate-mongers,” and being attacked by SEIU thugs in St. Louis and LA, not “stop bickering.” Let's face it, Obama is a little old lady who simply responds childishly and churlishly to criticism, by not giving Fox an interview when everybody and his dog [Letterman] an interview in the last few days. And the WH spokesman saying “They can show a dancing show” in a petulant display of ninnyhood. I suggest that reading the entire Barone article might be good for the mental stability of people who call Tea Party attendees obscene names. And the reason Michael helps sanity is because he doesn't live in the “same American political, social, cultural, and historical reality that I do.” That “reality” of the writer above, as Bill Clinton aptly said of Al Gore, is “Neverland.”
While its true that there is much dissent on both sides of the political spectrum, one issue unites all under a 70%+ and climbing umbrella: the wish for a Public Option in healthcare reform.
Anyone interested in picking up votes and online holiday shopping for their state, take note.
If Barone had any idea what stifling dissent looked like he would have been banging the drum for the last 8 years. As it stands he is just one of the chorus people screaming “ok when we did it but your side is not allowed” all while missing that Obama is not stifling dissent like Bush did. It seems they are projecting what they would have reacted like if Obama acted like Bush, the fact that he is not just makes him sound crazy. Where exactly did he stand to fight against “free speech zones”?
Reading some of the above comments makes me wonder if certain individuals actually read the article which they are ostensibly commenting upon.
First: who brought out the swasticas? Was it the progressives? Was it Obama? No. It's not slander or at all untrue to look at a swastica and call it a swastica.
Second: what's wrong with little old ladies?
Third: Obama responds childishly to criticism? On what planet are you living? After 8 years of “I'm the decider” and “you're unAmerican” as responses to criticism, it is a breath of fresh air to have someone who actually responds to criticism like an adult.
Fourth: Obama didn't go on opinion shows, he went on news shows. He also didn't interview with Rachel Maddow or Keith Olberman — or anyone on MSNBC. These are political opinion shows, as are everything that comes out of Fox.
Hey has anyone told Sil about Santa Claus yet? the Easter Bunny? Bigfoot?
NBC POLL: PLURALITY OPPOSES PUBLIC OPTION
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/08/…
Political correctness includes suppression of dissent — the resentful and revanchist Left has been more reactionary than the Right ever has been, since Ronald Reagan was elected. The “correctness” in the term “political correctness” stands for the most stifling and intolerant kind of conformity uber alles.
Leo — I don't know where Silhouette continues to get the bogus 70%+ figure that some of us have corrected her about time after time, after time. Maybe at an SEIU meeting or something (where the signs saying “83% love the public option” and “health care is a right” and other fiction were obtained).
The public option is not dead; ironically, Baucus's bill's bad showing probably kept it on life support. But the lib Dems in the House (such as Barbara Lee, featured today on the Stephanie Miller kiddie show on the radio) are far out of touch with the public (or most of it, anyway) if they insist on a public option that is “robust,” as they're fond of saying, or “strong,” or anything reeking still of overreach.
Related to the dissent stiffling:
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/sep/23/hou…
God forbid they vote after reading the bill and getting a cost estimate!!!!!
LOL
Democrats…..