The inscrutable left

What are leftists afraid of? An easier question would be what are they not afraid of?

Here is a partial list of their fears: climate change, fossil fuels, Russia, maskless people, Republicans, carbon, death, words, Donald Trump, chemicals, freedom, masculinity, pipelines, meat, nuclear energy, national borders, guns, light complexions, binary genders, GMOs, debate, election audits, live births, utilizing natural resources, voter IDs, fracking, laughter, capitalism, free speech, private property, conservative values, opinions different from their opinions, pronouns, truth, statues, risk, glutens, mass extinctions, human history, order, triggers, rising sea levels, Christians, law enforcement, Israel, and traditions.

The breadth and depth of their lives are inversely proportional to the number of their fears. The walls close in on them. Their lives shrink to nothingness.

Among the wisest words ever uttered by a politician were FDR's "We have nothing to fear but fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance." Leftists believe, "We have everything to fear, including fears beyond imagining."

Conservatives have trouble understanding the lunacy we see on the left. Having so many fears is a partial explanation. They have so many fears that their brains are depleted, leaving no capacity for rational thought.

Having so many fears shows they're preoccupied with their own existence, which to them is the center of the universe, a universe they believe is out to get them. Actually, the universe could not care less about them. Life is unfair. Believing they're the only ones whose lives are unfair is self-obsession, plain and simple.

The school of psychology known as "transactional analysis" argues that any persistent behavior must have a "payoff." A hybrid of psychology and economics, transactional analysis emphasizes payoffs, while economics emphasizes incentives. Is there a payoff for leftists for living fear-based lives? Could there be method to their madness?

Victimhood is a popular mindset on the left, perhaps the most popular. One payoff of feeling like a victim is that it lets them escape responsibility. Many leftists hate responsibility. Conservatives believe in individual responsibility. That's too tough a challenge for leftists.

The Democrats view the January 6 trespassing of the Capitol Building as "the worst threat to our democracy since the Civil War." For them, it wasn't just trespassing; it was an "insurrection." Lunacy doesn't obey the rules of logic.

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◼ The inscrutable left July 1, 2021

Ron Ross Ph.D. is a former economics professor and author of The Unbeatable Market. Ron resides in Arcata, California and is a founder of Premier Financial Group, a wealth management firm located in Eureka, California. He is a native of Tulsa, Oklahoma and can be reached at rossecon@gmail.com.