Posted On: March 7, 2008, 2:41 pm CST

Posted By: Al

"Maybe someone could explain rationally, how being liberal is justification to argue and advance a proposition or issue through vicious, personal diatribe and degradation."

Because liberal political views spring from emotion. Liberals judge by intent rather than effect. Conservative views spring from facts. The consequences of actions are what's important, not the hopes of the actors.

So e.g. libs are content to continue throwing billions of $$ at the welfare state because they mean well, despite the fact that it has destroyed vastly more lives than it has helped (which is close to zero). Conservatives can look at the situation and decide that it should be abandoned rather than fed, given the string of failures in its wake.

Therefore, the left gets very testy when its policies are questioned or disparaged, because they sense that their dearest ideals are being attacked despite their good intentions. So they lash out ferociously with ad hominem arguemtns and obfuscation designed to deflect attention on the questioner rather than on the problems caused by liberal "solutions."