Larry Horist and the Ideological Divide

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“There are two types of liberals – the evil and the misinformed.” Thus began a rambling discourse on the ideological divide by conservative pundit Larry Horist at the March RCPB lunch.

From basic definitions – “Liberals look to government, conservatives to themselves”, to the mainstream media narrative – “Liberals are cool, conservatives are old fuddy-duddies”, he examined the common stereotypes.

Horist refuted the false charges that conservatives are racists by examining the records of both parties throughout history, particularly noting that the areas with the most racial strife (Chicago, St. Louis) are one-party governments run by Democrats. “Liberalism is inherently racist”, he claims, because they target minority groups that need special help, who are then “cared for but not allowed to run free”.

The problem for conservatives, he says, is that liberals control the culture – media, publishing, education. With these tools, liberals encourage divisions among us, with hyphenated categories (“African-American”, “Irish-American”), while conservatives prefer to see us all as just “Americans”.

Exploring the behavior of our current President, Horist relates his upbringing outside the US by a mother who didn’t particularly like the country, and his influences in the Kenwood area of Chicago, which he describes as the anti-American part of that city, home of Bill Ayers and the like. Two key advisors – Valerie Jarrett, who is a product of Kenwood, and David Axelrod, an insider with the authoritarian Daley machine, help explain why Barack Obama’s instincts are both dictatorial (ie. “a pen and a phone”) and counter to most conservative’s view of America. This is not unusual for progressives he explains, pointing to similar behavior by both Roosevelts as well as Woodrow Wilson.