Terry Applegate | On December 5, 2016

Protest march against Donald Trump in Minneapolis
(CC BY 2.0, Resized/Cropped)

The hypocrisy of the left wing is becoming increasingly stunning.  Liberals’ righteous dismissal of opposing opinions one minute and their feigned devotion for open-mindedness the next is simply too wonderful for words.

Wall Street Journal columnist William McGurn has reported several instances of the anti-Trumpians (who were so vocal about Trump’s purported divisiveness and intolerance) total inability to maintain civility and decorum, let alone to exhibit tolerance.

The left’s bigotry took center stage as V.P -elect Pence and some of his family attended a play only to get bullied by the cast during their curtain call.  A CEO got himself fired, (yes, a la “You’re Fired” by Trump) for making death threats against the president-elect.   Another CEO (of GrubHub) e-mailed employees that they had no place at the company if they agreed with Trump.  And a fashion designer declared that she is so fervently against discrimination that she would never design a dress for the first lady-elect.  She said this just after she called for “respect for all lifestyles.”

The left’s vehemence is so intense that it almost takes your breath away, even as they verge on snuffing out those who think differently.  Yes, they don’t stop at words; they have become violent.

Their victims include a middle-aged man dragged from his car, a teen-age girl beaten for wearing a Trump hat and a university student chased down and hit at a Black Lives Matter rally.

This liberal political intolerance demonstrates the extent to which the leftwing has made politics its religion.  In a sweeping example of mind-bending hypocrisy and projection they have made the political order their God and they consequently deny the validity of any others.

Just as they accuse others of doing, they express only disdain for those who think differently than they do.  And, when they have the power to do so, they permit no dissent from their dream-state.

It is manifestly apparent that the liberal cry for non-judgmentalism applies only to their own beliefs and objectives:  Deconstruction of marriage, destruction of the innocent and vulnerable, discouragement of the productive and dissolution of any remaining remnants of Judeo-Christian morality in the social order.

In order to accomplish the latter, massive numbers of immigrants, many of whom bring values that clash with traditional U.S. principles, have been introduced, in great part illegally.

Americans have been tongue-lashed into being broadminded and welcoming to those who are different.   They have been told ad nauseam that there are no absolutes, that all ideas and every ethos have equal validity and everyone should be tolerant of whatever others do.

We are paying the heavy price of our tolerance for some of the progressive ideas ideas that washed ashore:  Divorce as common as marriage, children suffering from family break-up and absentee mothers, over 50 million Americans MIA from the abortion war, the economy flagging as the hard-working and diligent are crushed under high taxation, severe regulation and ever-increasing litigation.

The left has succeeded in elevating its version of “tolerance” to the apex of the American value system, leaving much of society to fend in a culture framed by the lowest common denominator.

Apparently the left can pretend to possess the moral high ground when holding the reins of power and setting the cultural agenda.  It serves its interest to have those who are not on their side to be ever so tolerant.

But, when the screw turns and the left is out of power, it no longer throws up the pretense that tolerance is the supreme virtue after all.

Since the hypocritical left can’t summon the sincerity to walk its talk, all the wind should come out of its ‘open-mindedness’ sail.

We need not apologize for not tolerating evil, stupidity, and unrealistic projects that fly in the face of accepted wisdom which took thousands of years to form.

Maybe we would be better off to know what we believe and why we believe it and then not tolerate syncretism to creep into our proven belief system.

Could this be what the Second Commandment is really all about?

Could its meaning extend beyond just wood and stone idols?  Could its wider application be to not tolerate all kinds of false gods, whether these are physical idols fashioned by our hands or conceptual/political idols fashioned in the sometimes dark recesses of our minds?

If so, then it is in our manifest interest to quench our desire to introduce our own ideas of how nature and the universe should operate and quietly, happily and humbly submit to the laws of the creation as we find them.  For, if by chance, there is a Creator, to do otherwise will result in anarchy, pain and death, both individually and culturally.

Terry Applegate

Terry Applegate writes from Utah in the winter and Michigan in the summer. He is CEO of Applegate Insulation, serves on the board for Citizens for Traditional Values, Cellulose Insulation Manufacturers Association and the European Theological Seminary and is married to Val with three children and four grand-children.