Posted on Sep 4, 2009

ALEXANDRIA, La. (BP)--Michael Savage maintains that liberalism is a psychological defect. The controversial radio talker even penned a best-selling book titled "Liberalism Is a Mental Disorder." While I have not read the book, I do find the title amusing.

Some consider Savage's characterization judgmental and harsh. And while liberals may not be afflicted with a mental malady, they are certainly lacking when it comes to the application of logic.

Consider that the most strident liberals attack cigarette smoking with a vengeance while at the same time they advocate for the legalization of marijuana smoking.

The far-left goes to great lengths to protect the lives of snail darters and other innocent creatures. However, the same animal-loving liberals maintain that an unborn baby is as disposable as a sack of garbage.

Liberals will protest that the putting to death of a heinous murderer is cruel and unusual punishment. However, at the same time, they insist that the gruesome procedure known as partial-birth abortion is a woman's right.

The left advocates providing for the poor via the government at taxpayer expense. However, studies have revealed that liberals are quite stingy when it comes to personal, direct giving to charities that help the disadvantaged.

Liberals maintain the theory of evolution is an iron-clad fact. However, they constantly interfere with the application of one of the theory's main tenets -- the survival of the fittest. Why rescue any type of beached marine life? If the animal in question did not have the ability to take care of itself, then it should simply die.

I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. The holding of such disparate views in one mind defies logic. Does it indicate the presence of a mental disorder? That, as our president once said, is above my pay grade.

When it comes to politics, liberals are just as poor when it comes to the application of logic.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi recently denounced protestors of proposed health care reform as disruptive and un-American. However, in January 2006, when anti-war protestors showed up at an event where she was speaking, Pelosi lauded their protest.

At one point, when protestors began to become unruly, a Pelosi spokesman said, "Let's not dissolve into a shouting match." The speaker responded by saying, "That's OK, that's OK," indicating the protestors could continue to shout.

As the protest continued, Madam Speaker said, "I am a fan of disruptors." But apparently Pelosi only values certain disruptions. Disrupt against war and she applauds you as patriotic. Make your voice heard on health care legislation and you are un-American rabble.

Logic, it would seem, would dictate that protest that is good for the goose should be equally good for the gander. However, this is not the case in Pelosi's liberal way of reasoning.

While all of the aforementioned make me shake my head and wonder if Savage might be on to something, one other aspect of liberal thinking baffles me. It seems that more and more liberals in America are embracing socialism as a model for the American economy.

Whether it is celebrities or well-heeled politicians, socialism seems to be in vogue right now. That said, all of the people advocating for the radical egalitarian principles of socialism have made their fortunes in a capitalist economy.

When I see actors espousing socialist views, I can hardly keep from laughing. Their liberalism has blinded them to the fact that they would never have had an opportunity at fame or fortune in a socialist economy. Socialism is not kind to the arts.

Liberalism may not be a mental disorder as Michael Savage maintains. However, liberals do consistently hold disparate views that defy both logic and common sense. Their only hope for deliverance is regular doses of reality and significant encounters with the truth.
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Kelly Boggs is a weekly columnist for Baptist Press and editor of the Baptist Message (www.baptistmessage.com), newsjournal of the Louisiana Baptist Convention.