George W. Bush generated headlines and liberal criticism for his line “you’re either with us or you’re against us” during the days following the 9/11 attacks. But Jonah Goldberg tells National Review Online readers that the sentiment is actually one employed more often by those who attacked Bush’s policies most vehemently.
The Left often complains about the culture war as if it’s a war they don’t want to fight. They insist they just want to follow “sound science” or “what works” when it comes to public policy, but those crazy knuckle-dragging right-wingers constantly want to talk about gays and abortion and other hot-button issues.
It’s all a farce. Liberals are the aggressors in the culture war (and not always for the worse, as the civil-rights movement demonstrates). What they object to isn’t so much the government imposing its values on people — heck, they love that. They see nothing wrong with imposing their views about diet, exercise, sex, race, and the environment on Americans. What outrages them is resistance or even non-compliance with their agenda. “Why are you making such a scene?” progressives complain. “Just do what we want, and there will be no fuss.”
Consider President Obama’s decision to require most religious institutions — including Catholic hospitals, schools, etc. — to pay for contraception, sterilizations, and the “morning after” pill. When “Obamacare” was still being debated, the White House had all but promised Catholic leaders that it would find a compromise to spare the Church from the untenable position of paying for services that directly violate their faith. Now that Obamacare is the law, the administration says the Church, like everyone else, must fall in line.
