Ask Lord Spatula, Part the Second:  The Answer

Okay, so the question's been asked by Bob Blount:  Why do I think that, while conservatives can have rational debate with one another - and in some cases, "agree to disagree" (or, as David Gold would say, "disagree without being disagreeable") - the same cannot happen between liberals and conservatives?

As you can see below, I threw the question open to the Denizens - and, thanks to Misha, got some LCs into the act.  Even had at least one other IB (Imperial Blogger) get in on the fun.  Misha himself had an excellent  take on it, which you can find right here.

All for which, I happen to be extremely grateful.  Besides, I can always use the traffic - right? (grin)

However, I have not yet fulfilled my promise to Herr Blount, that being to answer the question.  With that in mind...

Let me, for a moment, direct your attention back to the comments.  Ironbear and Tweell came very close to the point I want to make about all this - that it's some sort of religion with the liberals.

In fact, I think that this phenomenon is indeed spiritual in nature.  And that belief is rooted in the opinion that classic '80s-style conservatism - that which we might call Reaganism - has its basis in what we've come to know as fundamentalist Christianity.

Now, I'm not saying that all Christians are conservatives, nor am I saying the reverse.  But it is telling that in survey after survey - and I wish I had some in front of me to cite, but I don't, sorry - an overwhelming number of Christians identify themselves with the conservative movement of the '80s.  And it is more than a coincidence that one of the main boogiemen of the Left is the so-called "Religious Right".

It is no small matter that, even when President Bush brought up the concept of "faith-based initiatives", a massive hue & cry arose from the Left over the so-called "separation of church and state" - a phrase which to this day still  has never been found in the United States Constitution.  (Those Christians and conservatives who objected largely did so because they didn't want government interfering in the way churches did things.)  And it seems to me that every time a conservative candidate goes out of his way to point out that he's a Christian, somebody's  gotta bring up the old saw about the candidate wanting to "impose his morals on us" - as if that were really some bad thing.

All this is significant for a reason.  In John 15:18-19, we read that Jesus told his disciples, "If the world hates you, just remember that it has hated me first.  If you belonged to the world, then the world would love you as its own.  But I chose you from this world, and you do not belong to it; that is why the world hates you."  In other words, Jesus accurately predicted, 2000 years ago, that we were gonna have stuff like what we're having today.

For millennia, there has been a great spiritual war being fought, first in the heavens (Satan's five "I will"s, which are summarized here; you'll need Acrobat Reader to view the page), then here on earth (the ongoing battle for the soul of man).

Thus:  Satan hates God - Satan hates God's Son, Jesus Christ - Satan hates the followers of Christ.

"Okay, Lord Spatuladude", you're saying, "but what's that have to do with conservatives v. liberals?"

Well, Satan's not going to materialize out of thin air and bitch-slap a Christian around, right?  So, since he hates Christians and wants to see them destroyed, he has to find some other way to do that.  And not only to them, but to non-Christian conservatives who either sympathize, or are at least respectful to Christians and Christianity.  (Remember where I said from whence conservatism got its roots.  And don't get me wrong - Satan wants to destroy all  humanity, to be sure - but he's really  got it in for the Christians, for obvious reasons.)

Enter the Left.  More to the point...enter the Secular  Left.  And by that, I mean the secular humanists, the atheists, the Gaia, Cthulu, Maitreya, crystals-and-chakras-worshiping crowd, the Wiccans...all those people who refuse to recognize Christ as Savior and Lord - not to mention some on the Left (Teddy Kennedy, call your office) who claim  to call on the name of Christ, while at the same time championing the butchery of 4,000+ unborn per day.

Satan has been called many things over the course of time:  Father of Lies, Lord of Flies, the Ruler of this world, the Prince and Power of the Air, etc.

What he really is, though - besides a master of deception - is the ultimate hatemonger.  Satan hates God, and all of his creations as well, and wants to see them all destroyed.  And he is an expert at using his powers of influence to get the unwary to do just that - destroy God's creations...all people in general, and the Christians he despises in particular.  And liberals who simply don't know any better are easily swayed to hatred by this old serpent, not really having any moral foundation against which to steel themselves. Even Christians who call themselves liberals are not immune to Satan's persuasion - witness the current Southern Baptist convention fight between "moderates" (liberals) and "fundamentalists" (conservatives).  A lot of the fighting going on there right now is political in nature, and it's just as nasty there (minus the language, in most cases) as it is out here.

Thus (and here's where I come back around to the main point), when liberals look at Christians (and conservatives who generally line up with them), they see what Satan sees when he looks at Christ - the enemy.  An enemy to be hated, despised, screamed at, spit on, bitch-slapped...you name it.  Anything Satan can do to destroy Christians and the things in which they believe (as well as the other, non-Christian conservatives who generally agree with them), he'll do.  That's  why most of the time, libs and conservatives can't get along.

Anyway, I'll issue the standard disclaimers here - your mileage may vary, and so forth.  That's just the way I see it.