By Jason Otero
I’ve quietly had enough of my loudmouthed liberal Facebook friends (you know who are, the really UNHINGED ones), and the demagogic talking heads of ratings-challenged MSNBC and other media outlets, constantly trashing conservatism and spewing lie after distortion about the things for which I, as an American LGBT conservative, stand. Although I am capable of admitting that some good things have come from the Left, they are far outweighed by its demagoguery, hyperbole, and lies, which are desperate attempts to hide from the current round of resounding failures of their political ideology, and their economically and socially-disastrous president.
Blindly labeling conservatives and Tea Partiers as “anti-environment,” “racists,” “sexists,” “bigots,” and “homophobes,” without any proof is the height of disingenuousness. On the contrary, I’ve personally heard more racist, sexist, bigoted, AND HOMOPHOBIC rhetoric from within the mainstream of our own LGBT community than I ever did living in conservative Seminole County, Florida, or in Louisville, Kentucky.
One must only look to our liberal strongholds (California, Detroit, New Orleans, New York, etc.), and the disastrous cesspool of democratic socialism in Europe, to see how liberalism, when left unchallenged, causes deep unemployment, overprinting cash (which lowers currency value and increases inflation), inescapable dependence on government, soaring deficits and debt, plummeting property values, high taxes (coupled with higher costs of living and declining wages), and a truly desperate population. This is the path upon which Obama, Pelosi, and other powerful democratic socialists have taken us. (Please, stop with the “Party of ‘No’” rhetoric.The Democrats had two solid years of supermajorities, when GOP interference was not possible.)
Here, now, is my “short list” of the consequences of unchecked, radical liberalism: The emphasis on “good intentions” while ignoring disastrous results; the victim mentality; incitement of racial hatred and class envy; the “thought police” and political correctness; anti-Americanism; Christian persecution; crusades against corporations and small businesses; radical environmentalism and its violent eco-terrorists; white-washing history in the “liberal image” in public schools and academia; the spreading of verifiable lies and exaggerations about global warming, and leaders who become as wealthy spreading those lies; refusing to denounce the numerous criminal and deviant elements among the Occupy Wall Street crowd; the rise of the “me first” mentality, and envious wealth- and success-haters; moral relativism; radical feminism and the “twink”-ification of men; the betrayal by the black “elite” of their own people; the radical gay “elite” who demand devotion to the Democrat Party and Liberalism; absurdly high taxes, over-regulation, and deficit spending, all deadly to an economy; “nanny government” and invasive control of every aspect of our lives, most notoriously under Obamacare; the belief that government knows best; demonization of our military power; the myth of a shrinking middle class; and the monopoly over and corruption of the news media.
Atop my list is the Left’s “living, breathing document” re-interpretation of the Constitution, designed to make violating our rights easier, while inflating the government’s power and size dangerously beyond what our Founding Fathers intended.
Nothing extreme is sustainable or healthy for a nation, and that goes for Conservatism, too. The truth lies in the “sensible center.” Fight honorably for what you believe in, but don’t demonize everything about your opponents while ignoring and enabling radicalism on your own side. This constitutes the height of ignorance in the political discourse of civilized 21st century society.
My advice to the Left: Get it together, girls. Obama has driven this country off a cliff.
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When I was a kid my mom read me bed time fairy-tales. Not quite as interesting as this. An Excellent Opinionated version of the Left through the eyes of a Conservative who’s mind has been tarnished by Right Wing Radicals. Looking forward to your next column.
Not to waste to much time on ignorance, a few points by paragraph.a) I do not blindly label the “tea party”, in order to know your enemy I went to a rally and have the hate, racism and homophobia recorded on my cell phone. b) to insult a whole continent and it’s citizens as a disastrous cesspool of democratic socialism, completely disqualifies the writer. Europe (for any with a decent education) is governed by social capitalism, nothing else and maybe you want to look the words you are using first up in a dictionary !!! c) anybody with a basic knowledge of the last electoral knows, that a lot of very conservative democrats were elected, specially in the southern part of the states. Knowing the GOP would vote NO on everything the administration had to convince those conservatives !!! d) it takes only a basic knowledge about economics to know that the worst crises since the 30s can’t be solved in 2, even 4 years and definitely not just by an American administration alone since it’s a world wide crisis.e) not that I am in general opposed to beat up corrupt CEOs and managers of corporations, strip them of all their wealth etc, but what crusade ??? is going on. Most of the wealthy in this country have increased their money even in the ongoing crisis.f) complaining about government size spending and budget. Go to a non-partisan fact check and look up your buddies, even your hero Ronald Reagan. Complain about radical liberalism ? What about predatory capitalism ?? And for the record :”OBAMA invented oxygen, now go and suffocate…… !!!”
This is what’s wrong with the political discourse in this country. Without giving one example Jason Otero gives a ‘short list’ of things he says are a result of liberals. Wow and what a list! he cites anti-Americanism?, Christian persecutions? invasive control of every aspect of our lives . Could he be thinking of how the righties want to control women’s bodies? absurdly high taxes? Taxes are at their lowest level in fity years. Does he really believe that the middle class is not shrinking? is this guy for real? violating our Constitutional rights like Mitt Romney who wants an amendment to the Constitution prohibiting gay marriage? deficit spending? like Bush did in fighting two wars, passing a prescription drug program for seniors, and No Child Left Behind without paying for them while lowering taxes especially for the wealthy?
Then in a bizzare twist after giving this absurd list of right wing talking points he says ‘the truth lies in the sensible center.’ I don’t think he would even recognize what that would be. And finally if you weren’t offended enough by this extremist diatribe as a self identified bisexual he insults all of us by ending with ” My advice to the Left, Get it together, GIRLS.” Sounds so junior high school. I don’t think Fox News would even go that far.
There’s crazy and then there’s Republican crazy! No challenge in deciding which one Otero is, the baffling is deciding why The Agenda would publish his rants offensive to readers and advertisers! Sorry for his ilk, that we Liberals were successful starting at the American Revolutionary War. Otero is telling us he would prefer living in a nice Conservative monarchy like Saudi Arabia where LGBT persons can be executed for even having an opinion. He goes on to stupidly complain about Liberals reinterpreting the Constitution, ignoring the Right Wingers choice to just eliminate those parts they don’t like such as “Equal Protection for All” and the “Right to Privacy”.
He more than just needs to wake up from the Rip Van Winkle amnesia of Republicanism. All the faults he moans about and pins on Liberals are his Party’s baggage! Never forget that Ronald Reagan was the first president Not to raise the minimum wage and create the “Third World Americana”, but he raised taxes and the national debt to unprecedented highs. In Republican fantasyland the government spends too much money, except when it comes to military spending, then, no amount of fraud, waste, extravagance or frivolity should be scrutinized!
Republicans repeatedly complain that the government can’t do anything right and that they are the Party of Freedom. Well, except when he come to providing LGBT persons the same right of marriage as straight persons, allowing a woman or anyone the right to do with their body as they choose, and passing laws preventing easy access to everyone voting, then Big Government is never Big enough.
Our cup runneth over with Conservative hypocrisy!
The Conservative Agenda?
Several readers indicated varying degrees of “distress” concerning recent Agenda “Q-Point” opinion pieces written by gay conservatives and/or Republicans (August 1, 2012, “Confessions of a Gay Republican” by Ed Cook, August 15, 2012, “The Consequences of Run-Amok Liberalism” by Jason Otero, and this week, “When I Meet Paul Ryan in Tampa” by Nick Stone).
Concerning the 8/15 piece, reader Lonny Cothron wrote, “In an occupied country [ Jason Otero] would be regarded as a collaborator.” Suggests Richard Claycomb, “You might want to take the time to educate Mr. Otero.” (Mr. Claycomb’s own Q-Point commentary will appear in next week’s issue.)
The Florida Agenda welcomes the opinions of responsible spokespersons promoting their positions. Email your ideas to cliffdunn@guymag.net. Clearly, especially during an election year, it is an ideal that we can disagree without becoming disagreeable
But, as my grandmother would say: “One miracle at a time.”
Everyone is entitled to their interpretations and opinions, and the constraints of space in a half-page opinion editorial (and the fact that I am only putting my writing hat on only once) is the reason my article is a “glossing over” of the ills and consequences of radical liberalism as I see them, and not an exhaustive, parenthetically-referenced volume of Encyclopedia Brittanica.
The primary point of my piece (which, if understood with an actual open and objective mind, would permeate even the thickest liberal skull) is that RADICALISM IS BAD, and as a conservative, obviously I am going to point out the harm that the radicalism of my opposing political and social ideology imposes on us. Conservative, liberal, monarchial, communist, even pacifist: They all have radical elements that, if given any power of consequence, are detrimental to country and society. This has all been highly documented and researched. This is my view, as I see it, based on my knowledge, research, and my political beliefs. (I’ll leave it to a liberal to write a Q-Point about the consequences of radical conservatism.)
The secondary point of my piece is to try to KNOCK SOME REALITY into some of the supposedly “open-minded” militant, “radical gay elite who demand [NAZI-LIKE] devotion to the Democrat Party and Liberalism,” that there are gay conservatives out there, much more than your blinders are allowing you to see or accept, who are in favor of equality on all levels for gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender people, but still hold conservative values and beliefs. I’m a conservative and I refuse to sell out my own beliefs simply because of the fact that I am queer (I choose to use ‘queer’ to mean non-straight, as I point out I am bi-sexual, not gay). As Nick Stone writes in today’s Agenda, “I’m doing more good on the inside than I would by hollering and rioting from the outside.” Queer conservatives have an important role in changing fighting homophobia from within the Republican party. For instance, the Log Cabin Republicans is the group that filed the lawsuit that got DADT overturned… NOT a liberal left-wing organization. The liberal “gay elite” and mainstream GLBT society would be well advised that instead of marginalizing us, you should join with queer conservatives and strengthen the cause for equality by including ALL of it’s supporters and activists, even ones with an (R) next to their names.
I’m no politician or lawyer, just an educated, graphic design and advertising professional with informed opinions. The Florida Agenda is a newspaper that relishes freedom of the press and actually creates a platform for both sides to exercise their freedom of speech without trying to tell YOU what to think. I thank them for that.
In response to Davidrdavid’s statement: “deciding why The Agenda would publish his rants [that are] offensive to readers and advertisers.”
Hey David: Toughen up buddy. The world is full of things that are offensive. “Twink”-ification of men? Prime example here.
To Jason O. Twink-ification? How silly! Assuming advertisers in the Agenda agree with you, then the Agenda becomes merely the schedule of businesses to avoid.