Teaching the Ultra-Left
Mood:  rushed
Topic: The Left
It always kills me how na?ve the ultra left wing is. I am talking about the staunch, anti-korporate klass, anti-WTO, anarcho-environmentalist, green party types. The thing is that I love their passion. They believe they are right with all their hearts, yet if they really knew the truth instead of the propaganda supplied to them by the elites, I believe they would turn their energy to aid in the fight for liberty.

Their error is in their belief that the State is somehow a more moral vehicle for society than a free market. If only the State heavily regulated all businesses, workers would get a better deal and the environment would be saved. If only the State would force multinationals to pay their workers in Indonesia $7.50 an hour with benefits we wouldn't have sweat shops around the world. If only the State would raise taxes on the rich and redistribute the wealth to the poor, we wouldn't have poverty. If only the State would give more money and aid to other countries, those countries wouldn't hate us and we wouldn't have war. The State is the answer to all our problems.

This misguided faith in the State is truly frightening. So how do we convince the ultra left that the focus of their hate should be the very object of their faith? Many people will tell you that you can't--that you are wasting your energy. Maybe that is true. What is for certain is that most people who firmly believe something will tend to believe in it no matter how many facts and truths you assault them with. What you have to do is start with a general idea--a frame.

For example, if the discussion is about evil corporations, take WalMart. WalMart is a common evil sited by the ultra left (pretty much because they are big and successful). Ask them if WalMart is more of an evil than the State. Does WalMart force you to buy its products? No. Does the State? Yes, at gunpoint.

Is the poor worker better off if the State sets a minimum wage at $15.00 an hour or if the market determines the minimum wage is $5.00 dollars an hour? Ask the two people who lost their jobs so that the employer could pay the minimum wage of one, and ask the consumer who now has to pay $10.00 more per man hour for everything they buy.

Would the people of Indonesia be better off if they were paid $7.50 an hour to make Nike shoes? Ask the Indoesian who can't find a doctor or a teacher because they are all making shoes at Nike where they can make far more money than practicing medicine or teaching children.

You get the idea.