How To Talk To a Leftist

Leftists, progressives, liberals... label them how you want.  If you are a student of political science then you know who I'm talking about.  They are our fellow citizens (and sometimes relatives) who practically view the government as god.

"There's no problem the government can't solve.  There's no problem the government shouldn't solve.  Government is the answer, the solution, the savior.  The government should take money from the rich and give it to the poor.  The government should control and oversee everything because people aren't smart and virtuous enough to run their own lives.  The government is never the problem; the problem is that people have too much freedom.  But we can trust the government, because the government is god.  If we only gave the government more money and more control, we could achieve utopia!"

Since the leftist view of the government strongly conflicts with that of America's founders, leftists call themselves progressives rather than conservatives.  Progressives want to "fundamentally change" America from its original design.  (Conservatives on the other hand have deep respect and affection for the first principles of our founding -- freedom, limited government, natural rights, federalism, and the unbreakable link between religion, virtue, and freedom.)

Because leftists practically view the government as god, then to them religion is not very important, and is sometimes even viewed as a threat.  To a leftist, everyone must put the government and its goals of equality and social justice above everything else, including religion.  This is why leftists are the ones fighting to get God out of the schools, out of the courtroom, out of city hall, out of the military, and out of the workplace.

As well, because leftists worship government instead of God, they tend to reject traditional Christian morals, and they also tend to undervalue religious liberty and see it as much less less important than the highest goal of all -- sexual liberty.  To a leftist, religious liberty is not genuine, but only a mask to conceal hatred, bigotry, and discrimination against the LGBT community.  (This is why leftists view evangelical Christians, Roman Catholics, and Orthodox Jews as hate groups for their beliefs against gay marriage, abortion, and transgenderism.)

So the question is, How do you talk to a leftist?  They definitely need help.  They are wrong on many accounts, and their ideas are damaging our nation and culture (hopefully not beyond repair).  To persuade those on the left, we need to be able to talk to them.  But how?  If you've ever tried to talk to a leftist, then you know how challenging it can be.

All you need to effectively talk to a leftist is to understand one thing.  Leftists do not want to discuss ideas, they want to discuss how hateful you are.  Leftist ideas don't make sense.  They are not based on science, on history, on logic, on the Bible, or on reality.  Therefore leftists don't want to discuss ideas.  If they did they would lose.  So leftists have one tactic when they confront disagreement:  Avoid discussing ideas and attack the person.

For example, if you say that you are against legalized abortion, a leftist will attack you for hating women.  If you say that you are against affirmative action, a leftist will accuse you of racism.  If you say that you are against welfare, a leftist will accuse you of not caring about the poor.  If you say that you are against gay marriage, or that you think a wedding vendor should have the freedom to not participate in a gay wedding, a leftist will accuse you of homophobia.  In other words, leftists won't attack your ideas, they will attack you.  They want to change the topic from legalized abortion to your hatred for women.  And before you know it, rather than debating abortion you are debating whether or not you are a bad person; you are spending all of your mental energy on defending your character rather than defending the right to life!

The goal of the left when using this tactic is two-fold.  Number one, steer the conversation away from ideas so that they don't have to defend their views.  Number two, label you as such an evil person that they are justified when they become uncivil and when they avoid genuine discourse.  "You're not worthy of a conversation, and you deserve to be reviled until you repent of your views."

The key to talking to a leftist is simply to understand their tactic.  As soon as they change the topic from abortion or gay marriage to how hateful you are as a person, simply ignore their personal attacks and steer them back to the discussion of ideas.  If you can do this with gentleness and respect (without raising your voice and resorting to insults), then you will be able to plant some seeds that have the potential to bear fruit down the road.

Speaking to the left is scary.  They hit below the belt, and they hit hard.  They will not hesitate to unfriend you on Facebook and ban you for life from their social circle.  But our country is at war.  It's a civil war.  It's a battle of ideas.  And if we don't speak up, then the left wins, and we forfeit the greatest country in the history of the world.