And the winner for actually being special snowflakes goes to….

By Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0,
https://bit.ly/2newqK8

Psychological projection is a psychological theory where people defend against their own impulses or qualities by denying that they have them while saying – usually quite loudly – that other people have those impulses or qualities. 

For decades now, the political right has tried to sell us the idea that being polite (you know, “political correctness”) is the same as intolerance. They’ve tried to peddle the craptastic idea that you have to agree with someone in order to be respectful to them. They’ve claimed that if you don’t spout the SJW line, you’ll be pilloried.  (Though that didn’t happen to me…)

And now we’ve had some pretty clear evidence that those claims are little more than psychological projection and what the far-right wing has wanted to do all along.

Take Tomi Lahren.  If you’re not a right-wing watcher, you might still remember her from being on the Daily Show back in November

She’s back in the news.  Tomi Lahren, when on the View, said:

I’m someone that is for limited government, so I
can’t sit here and be a hypocrite and say I’m for limited government,
but I think that the government should decide what women do with their
bodies.  Stay out of my guns, and you can stay out of my body as well.

This is important, because Ms. Lahren’s point is completely internally consistent.  She’s a small-government conservative (and one I disagree with on a lot of issues), who is following her libertarian ideals.  You’d think this would play well with the “small government” crowd that runs the Blaze network and currently holds political power.

But that’s not the case.  Because consistently saying that government shouldn’t interfere in aspects of a citizen’s life means that other people might choose an abortion. And therefore, even though she didn’t actually say “I think abortions are swell”, she’s being treated as though she has.

Look, the lack of consistency is disappointing, though predictable. I could have told her that “small government” didn’t mean “reproductive freedom”, just like “small government” has never meant “small military” or “small police” or “small anything that the GOP wants”. 

The myth of “small government” is a lie the far right wing has been selling.

More important, though, is the message here for other conservatives and libertarians.  Not just from Beck (so much for finding commonalities, huh?), but from other “conservative” powerhouses.

Because for the longest time, we’ve been told that the GOP and the right-wing
is a “big tent” and welcomes those who want liberty (and specifically,
libertarians).  The right has tried to tell you that everyone else can’t handle freedom and differences in views and opinions.

But their actions tell us a new message.

The message is this:

There is no more big tent.  There is no more commonality.  The only – only – thing that is acceptable any more is toeing the party line.  On every single point.  Parrot the party line or be silenced.

You tell me – does that sound like America?