Informed Speculation

I may have a couple of minor quibbles with this list by Joe Klein, but for the most part, he nails a certain type quite well:

A left-wing extremist exhibits many, but not necessarily all, of the following attributes:

–believes the United States is a fundamentally negative force in the world.

–believes that American imperialism is the primary cause of Islamic radicalism.

–believes that the decision to go to war in Iraq was not an individual case of monumental stupidity, but a consequence of America’s fundamental imperialistic nature.

–tends to blame America for the failures of others—i.e. the failure of our NATO allies to fulfill their responsibilities in Afghanistan.

–doesn’t believe that capitalism, carefully regulated and progressively taxed, is the best liberal idea in human history.

–believes American society is fundamentally unfair (as opposed to having unfair aspects that need improvement).

–believes that eternal problems like crime and poverty are the primarily the fault of society.

–believes that America isn’t really a democracy.

–believes that corporations are fundamentally evil.

–believes in a corporate conspiracy that controls the world.

–is intolerant of good ideas when they come from conservative sources.

–dismissively mocks people of faith, especially those who are opposed to abortion and gay marriage.

–regularly uses harsh, vulgar, intolerant language to attack moderates or conservatives.

Unfortunately, I’ve been acquainted with more than a few people who fit this description nearly perfectly here in Austin.  It’s not a stereotype, it’s a living, breathing mold for a certain type (note: not all, a certain type) of leftist…I would add a couple of items to the list:

— is so opposed to George W. Bush that it would be better for the surge to fail than America achieve its goals in Iraq, and

—believes that ‘fair trade’ is something other than warmed-over socialism (alternative wording: believes Hugo Chavez is a great man)…