The heart of liberalism: totalitarianism

Scott Johnson notes that

There is an important book that remains to be written about the totalitarian imperative at the heart of liberalism.

Johnson quotes a book entitled "Dictatorship of Virtue" by former New York Times reporter Richard Bernstein,

“It sanctions a cultivation of aggrievement, a constant claim of victimization, an excessive, fussy self-pitying sort of wariness that induces others to spout pieties. And that, in turn, covers public discussion of crucial issues with a layer of fear, so that we can no longer speak forthrightly and honestly about matters such as crime, race poverty, AIDS, the failure of schools, single- parenthood, affirmative action, racial preferences, welfare, college admissions, merit, the breakup of the family, and the disintegration of urban life.”

Johnson adds,

It is not just dissent that must be stifled, it is “incorrect” thought, for incorrect thought may lead to incorrect speech and incorrect speech may lead to incorrect action.

Kevin Williamson expands on the subject in his piece entitled "Liberal Gulag" at National Review.

Why stop at the border?

Did you read about the North Dakota woman who married herself? Steven Hayward writes that he had to check to make sure that the "Puffington Host" had not merged with The Onion, when he read this story the Huffington Post posted in May of 2012.

In the fall of 2013 Hayward attended a University of Colorado orientation for new faculty, then wrote in October 2013,

So why is this gender-bending diversity mandate so prominent at universities these days? The most likely explanation is that it is simply yielding to the demands of the folks who dislike any constraint of human nature in what goes by the LGBTQRSTUW (or whatever letters have been added lately) “community.” I place “community” in quotation marks here because the very idea of community requires a certain commonality based ultimately in nature, while the premise behind gender-bending is resolutely to deny any such nature, including especially human nature.

But by all means, we must let the new royal baby choose its own gender, rather than having it “assigned” arbitrarily by the “patriarchy” just because the infant has a penis. Makes me wonder how the “human rights” community stays in business, since we can’t seem to tell what humans are any more.

Now students and faculty at the University of Colorado are condemning Hayward.

Student leaders at the University of Colorado are speaking out against Steven Hayward, the university’s first-ever visiting scholar in conservative thought, for statements he made in a recent interview and in a blog post.

Chris Schaefbauer, CU Student Government president of student affairs, and Caitlin Pratt, student government director of safety and inclusion, said they’re concerned about Hayward’s “oppressive and discriminatory” ideas.

Schaefbauer and Pratt said statements Hayward made in a March 17 interview on Colorado Public Radio and in an October blog post cause the Boulder campus harm and do not promote inclusivity and respect.

“We realized after thinking about it that somebody had to say something,” Schaefbauer said.

Schaefbauer and Pratt wrote their criticisms of Hayward in an opinion piece published in the Colorado Daily titled “Bigotry is not Diversity.”

Hayward adds that there is more.

There’s more: the chairman of the Boulder Faculty Assembly says my comments “border” on “hate speech.” Why stop at the border?