Progressives Gotta Lie

Victor Davis Hanson comes through with another important piece, this one on the lies being pushed by progressives at American universities and beyond.

From @VDHanson's fantastic piece today: https://t.co/0TSZFGMnPE pic.twitter.com/JW57b8FTor

— National Review (@NRO) May 3, 2017

He writes:

The entire menu of race, class, and gender identity politics, lead-from-behind foreign policy, political correctness, and radical environmentalism so far have not won over most Americans.

Proof of that fact are the serial reliance of their supporters on deception, and the erosion of language on campus and in politics and the media. The progressive movement requires both deceit and euphemism to mask its apparently unpopular agenda.

What the Benghazi scandal, the Bowe Bergdahl swap, and the Iran Deal all had in common was their reliance on ruse. If the White House and its allies had told the whole truth about all these incidents, Americans probably would have widely rejected the ideological premises that framed them.

Hanson describes the environment on today's college campuses:

No one wishes to discuss candidly that universities are no longer free bastions of inquiry but are descending into would-be boot camps to train progressive shock troops. Careers, reputations, and lots of money are invested in stifling free expression, a project predicated on changing the nature of students, the curricula, and the very atmosphere of the traditional university.

The predicable result is again linguistic subterfuge.

If unprepared students are frustrated that special admittance does not de facto equate to college success or graduation, the university must make the necessary Animal Farm–like adjustments. Segregation by race and gender becomes “safe spaces.” Ancient stress, the stuff of cramming for finals and paper deadlines, gets embedded into politics, as snowflakes are “traumatized” by a culturally appropriated earring or a gendered pronoun. Free speech that can be challenging and liberate young minds becomes “hate speech” and is banned. Odious censorship is redefined as mere “trigger warnings.”

After analyzing the Leftists' lies on the Benghazi scandal, the Bowe Bergdahl swap, the Iran Deal, the Global Warming/Climate Change "science," and radical Islamic terrorism, Hanson concludes:

Without ruse, there can be no progressive project — as was true in the past of any illogical and unappealing ideology.

In short, you gotta lie.

Without their "linguistic subterfuge," the Leftists would find no buyers for what they're selling.

Thankfully, many Americans see through their lies.

Thankfully, the progressive falsehoods presented with all the progressive bluster, their masked faces, their violence and threats of violence, are rejected by enough Americans to fight their "illogical, unappealing ideology."