Liberal Exceptionalism

Heroes of justice and the fallacy of linear thinking

One of the under-appreciated aspects of the Baby Boomers' march through American society is that the New Left culture they spawned is based on pure romanticism. The 60s were nothing but romanticism, pure emotion masquerading as a “movement.” It was all about caring and feelings. Even the self-perceived pursuit of “justice” was a pursuit of feelings about doing good in the world, far more than about achieving demonstrable improvements.

One cannot deny that there is a certain energy generated by this romanticism. That energy was not completely wasted, as it helped to accelerate some desirable social changes and create some real nifty rock ‘n roll. But because it was not (to use a currently popular term) reality-based, it had no off switch. The fact that blacks were granted substantive equal rights did not result in a disbanding of the “civil rights movement.” No, they kept on churning, driven by substantial energy with no goal. They are still out there today, mostly caricatures and fools, churning around without end, slowly descending into self-mockery and jester status.

That romantic energy is still with us, much to our detriment. After the 60s expired, the energy moved to self-help, to drugs, to New Age, to gay rights, to radical environmentalism, to post-modernism, to diversity, to multiculturalism. All of these are hangovers of the original energy, largely empty shells that keep spinning around, of very little substance but unable to stop.

Some of the more dangerous aspects of romantic thinking are the temptations of exceptionalism, heroism, and even the cult of personality. Liberal romantics engage in the fallacy of linear thinking - the idea that history and progress obey Newton’s Laws of Motion, that they will keep moving in the same direction until acted on by an external heroic force. Luckily for all of us, they are there to be that heroic force. One can see this even in the television ads that seek to appeal to wealthy aging boomers - they made civil rights happen, they gave equal rights to women, they fought for justice. They cared. If they hadn’t been there, none of these things would have happened.

Those who stood in the way of 60s romanticism, who cared about things such as facts and figures, numbers and proof, they were the enemy. They were the “Man in the Grey Flannel Suit,” heartless merchants of money and death. As the energy of the 60s spun into the 70s, 80s and beyond, these two strands of thought have more or less come to define the liberal worldview: Good, noble, smart, heroic, exceptional liberal “us,” versus dumb, ignorant, evil, nasty, mundane, conservative “them.”

This sense of liberal exceptionalism manifests itself in all sorts of ways. Watching the memorial services for Rosa Parks and Coretta Scott King, I was taken aback by the over the top praise for these women. Sure, they seemed like classy, upstanding women who made meaningful contributions, but to hear the hoopla, to see four Presidents eulogize Coretta King, seemed a little out of proportion. Sure, Coretta King and Rosa Parks did brave and honorable things, but they didn’t make the civil rights revolution happen. It would have happened with or without them. The civil rights movement happened when it did because the time was right for it, because social changes had made it possible for people to think in new terms. Many people played roles, but the social momentum was bigger than any person or group of people. Romantic liberals saw (and still see) a linear progression of racial bigotry and inequality that could only be cured by the intervention of heroes. They saw themselves as heroes as they boarded the Freedom Busses and headed south. Without disputing their motives, it is obvious in retrospect that what they were really doing was boarding the bandwagon.

The biggest of the left’s heroes of justice remains Martin Luther King, who has achieved demi-god status. His treatment by the left makes sense only if one assumes there would have been no civil rights movement without him. And that is exactly what they assume. They think he willingly took the racist evils of America on his shoulders (in a vaguely Christ-like image) and made civil rights happen. A hero, an icon, a giant among men. As a non-romantic conservative, I see something different. I see a man of some significant talents who was in the right place at the right time and was able to nudge the inevitable along. Certainly a noteworthy and important figure. But it takes a decidedly romantic worldview to make him the oversize hero he has become.

Another aspect of liberal exceptionalism is an arrogance which permeates liberal behavior. If you start from the premise that you are exceptional, that you are a hero, that you are the one acting to make good things happen (and that your opponent, who wants different things, is therefore working against the good) it is difficult not to get an oversized sense of self.

When one hears Teddy Kennedy making outrageous comments about the latest conservative judicial nominee, he is not making political argument, he is scolding the conservative villain. When one hears Joseph Biden’s voice simply drip with condescension towards those who are his intellectual and moral superiors, one is hearing the voice of a man convinced of his own righteousness. Much of what struck conservatives as the screeching adolescent arrogance of the Clinton Administration was in fact the extremely logical result of Liberal Exceptionalism married with political power. One can still hear the echoes of that arrogance every time Hillary Clinton opens her mouth. When you believe that you are a hero of justice, it is not just your job, but your duty, to bludgeon the benighted masses into following you.

Unfortunately, this sort of restless romanticism never really plays itself out. Because it is built on self-image more than on reality, the romantic impulse will morph from issue to issue (even, perhaps, to “conservative” issues). But there is hope that the destructiveness of this impulse will abate as the baby boomers abate. The sheer size of this generation has given it power all out of proportion to its importance. When romanticism is confined to a few poets it is cute. When in the hands of millions of zealous and affluent Baby Boomers it is annoying and potentially deadly.

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