The Divide

Cliff May over at The Corner opines:

...I’m distressed that conservatives and liberals have grown so far apart that it perhaps no long pays for the one to read the other, for the one to even attempt to communicate with the other.

Of course, liberals have never seriously read conservatives* – the only exception being when The New York Times Magazine or some such liberal publication would occasionally assign James Atlas or some such liberal writer to examine their strange practices and mores.

But on the right, many of us did read them. We knew their ways and spoke their tongue, because many of us had been raised in their villages. And I hadn’t given up on a cross-cultural dialogue. But, as I said, maybe I’m behind the curve.

* Quick true story: In 1994, when Republicans took control of Congress, I said to a friend, an editor at the NYT: “Well, I guess you’ll have to start reading the Wall Street Journal and National Review.” He scowled at me: “We can’t read that whacky stuff!”

With limited exceptions, I think Cliff is on target...liberals don't take conservatives as seriously as the conservatives take the liberals. And Cliff's approach to why conservatives understand the "language" of liberals is right on target: the liberal agenda is being spotlighted in our schools at all levels. Liberals will have to start taking the conservative agenda seriously if they wish to regain their political power...it isn't enough to blow it off with elitist quips of arrogance and malice.

Islamofascism Delenda Est!