Thank you for sharing your thoughts on Bernie Sanders with people on and off campus. I respect them. I comment not with any sense that I will change your mind. I comment just to encourage you to do what you are at college to do: open your minds. Hear and think about the best of ideas. On this subject of politics, do listen to the leftism of the Democrats but also listen, read and understand what you are rejecting when you reject the other side.
In our schools today and in our media what you basically get is an avalanche and embrace of leftism. You just don’t hear the traditional values of America- the values that founded this country and made it great. I recommend you watch Prager University’s five-minute videos on government size, left/right differences, and the morality of capitalism. I have nothing to do with P.U. but it is one of the best sites to present the other side- the side essentially banned from our universities, the side you are rejecting These are the values that gave Bernie everything, that makes his life dignified. These are the values he and you, right now, reject.
I was young once too. Most young people are attracted to leftism. I campaigned and voted for George McGovern. Passionate and idealistic, many young people are arrtacted to leftism. They are attracted because leftism is very alluring. It is utopianism- almost a heavenly kind of thing. “All will be pretty much free. We will just take from the greedy rich and distribute it to others and then everyone will have great healthcare, and free college, and a nice warm place to live, a good safe car, no polluting fossil fuels, and plenty of healthy food, good clothing and shelter.” I know the idea too, “corporations are what are pulling us all down. If only we crush those 20 million dollar a year CEO’s, all will be well again.”
But I tell you, college is just the first tiny step into the world of knowledge, wisdom, experience and idealism. Most people when they leave college and get married, take care of a spouse and kid, start working, start experiencing and understanding the world around them change markedly. I think they become better people. I think they grow up and become actually more idealistic and more compassionate but with mature ideals and compassion. They come to understand true morality, maturity and love with American values- not leftist ones.
American values tell us lots and lots of liberty is at the core of our lives. Leftism is about taking and more taking of liberty. That money you have worked hard for is yours, not Bernie’s to give to others who deserve it more.
Americanism is about us living in a sea of liberty populated with small islands of government power. Leftism is the opposite. Bernie and his like are about seas of coercion and power populated with small islands of freedom and liberty. Bernie and his massive government’s, after reaching into your pockets and taking most of your property will then will tell you and I what schools to go to, what kind of healthcare to receive, what cars to drive, how to educate our kids, what type of energy to use, how to save for retirement, how much income is enough and what kind of light bulbs we can screw into our desk lamps.
But leftism and Bernie are alluring to us all. The child never leaves the core part of our souls. We all yearn to be taken care of from the day we are born to the day we die. But Americanism, American values help us grow up. They help us leave Eden and face the real beautiful and yes challenging adult world out there. Bernie has never really left that world of childhood. He is a kind, decent, well meaning man but stuck in childish fantasies. Good luck to you. I hope you leave college continuing to learn and experience. I wish you well. I hope you someday embrace Americanism as strong, tough, self-reliant and very free people. I hope you reject someday the mean, coercive, freedom and maturity -crushing ideology of leftism. Life is complex and a challenge for all of us, those on the left and those of us who embrace American values. Onward.
Just wow!
When does the “learning and knowledge” part start?
Sorry, open young minds, for the partial double post
Just wow!!
Still waiting for the “knowledge and learning” part for young, open minds. What I got instead was stale dogma, stereotyping and sloganeering.
Please don’t tell me the damn leftist do the same. That was not your stated intent (“hey ma, they did it too”) — it was to inform open minds.
Why is this article even allowed here? I’d welcome a well-written and thought out piece on what the “other side” has to offer, but instead I got a jumbled mess of an article. Weak.
Thanks for even reading it. Why don’t you enlighten many of us about the beauty of leftism. Maybe tell us the greatness of the ideas and policies that brought us the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, Venezuela, and North Korea. Help us all understand why we should embrace our leftist Democratic party that has the same notions of taking most of our money and freedom so the State can divy out social justice. They are the same notions that were embraced by Fidel, Mao, Lenin, Karl Marx, Ho, Chavez. Tell us a place where these utopian Big State concepts have worked.… Read more »
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This is 1950s anti-communist rant combined with smug condescension toward Bernie, young people, and old people who think instead of clinging to childish fantasies of “maturity.” But it is s voice from the other side. The first side is those who think for themselves
Puhleez!!
Who is this grumpy old Howard Sachs dude?
It is interesting. With 8 comments, not one actually responds to what Howard said–but that’s kind of understandable–his post is just window dressing to go around his suggestion that you try Prager U for a crash course. He’s big enough to admit that he probably won’t change minds, he just wants you to give the other side a listen. So there’s not really a whole lot to respond to. But there is a point to this. Howard’s scared. He’s scared because he thinks that you can’t see that you’re making the wrong choice because you have been systematically denied the… Read more »
The Right should be snuffed out forever…
These responses are proof that McCarthy was right
McCarthy was an alcoholic piece of shit who should not have been elected to anything, not even dog catcher. The country took a giant step forward when he died. Good riddance to human trash.
Thank you for teaching us what America is, you sad old man
Sorry, but the right has gone totally insane! I opened my eyes and I am shocked and disgusted!
What a ridiculous article. There is no substantive argument here, just a silly rant and links. Is condescension an American value? Maybe the author doesn’t realize that the Americanism his generation touted isn’t sustainable. Maybe he doesn’t realize that without liberalism, society would stagnate – which may be fine if you’re old enough to campaign for George McGovern, but not for those of us in college. Even more absurd is the idea that with age we will grow out of our naive belief that our economic insecurity isn’t entirely our fault. Maybe when Bernie sanders grows up and has a… Read more »
“They come to understand true morality, maturity and love with American values- not leftist ones.” What is true morality? How did you arrive at such truth? You speak as a theologian. You cannot just forward such a philosophical statement and have no definition or justification. Are we simply supposed to blindly accept that “left” morality is wrong, which isn’t unified and varies among individuals, and that your vague and undefined morality is right? The closest thing you get to a definition is liberty. Yet what kind of liberty are you speaking of? I assume to a degree it is economic… Read more »
Oof, I feel nausea after reading this. Your “Americanism” seems to be stuck in the last century. #byeqween
I am sorry to say but leftism is the old, the worn, the regressive, the throwback ideology that many of our young people embrace. American values are the beautiful, progressive, liberal values that have made and will make our country great. Thanks Howard Sachs
As long as you have too big to fail it is not American Capitalism either.
Excellent. We’ve done these kids no favors in coddling them and letting them think there is only one way to enlightenment. Liberalism a dead end.
When clicking on this article I knew I would most likely disagree with its contents, but I kept an open mind as it advised me to. However, the largest problem I have with this article is not the contents, it’s the way the contents are delivered. It seems to be directed at people who have never known a leftist adult. I think it is irresponsible to report something as fact (in this case that liberalism is the ideas of childish individuals who have never reached the nirvana of conservatism) when in actuallity these ideas were presented in a condescending manner.… Read more »
Dear Anonymous: Sorry. Im not sure what idea you are agreeing with or disagreeing with. I do think you are right that I have a condescending attitude towards leftism. The root of the word means “with descent”. And I do acknowledge, I think for adults to hold leftist values is a form of descent, a form of descent from adulthood to childhood. There is no free college on planet earth. There is no right to or free healthcare . As adults we have the right to go out and work and earn money to pay for the stuff we want… Read more »
Howard, you need to chill a bit. When I was an undergrad at UCSB, I supported Jerry Brown for President. But, I graduated, went to grad school and then entered the workforce. After a few years of paying lots and lots of taxes (and seeing where their tax dollars are going), they will change there political views. Middle class college kids are Bernie’s base. The political fringe are the ones voting in the primaries. When it gets to the real election, Bernie doesn’t have a chance. So chill a bit, Howard.
Howard Sachs – I’d encourage you to look into founding an Un-American Activities Committee.