Philosophical Leftist Theft

What has the Left stolen from us that has had the greatest impact? Is it the tax money that recently helped to terribly abuse a child? Is it the production that's been lost from leftist regulations from preventing people and businesses from be innovative and creative? Or is it the theft of higher standards of living from the third world by means of enviro-commie-ism and "fair trade" policies?

No, none of those thefts, as heartless as can be, were the biggest theft of the modern left. The biggest theft, in fact, was the theft of words.

Words, especially adjectives, are important because they can stir up a crowd, or silence the majority (think of words like "sustainable", as opposed to what many people now think of AGW). They are the way by which we communicate our thoughts and ideas, and rationalize them. Anyone who's read Orwell's 1984 will know what the true philosophical consequences of words, catch phrases, quotes, etc can have.

Anyway, back onto the point, there are certain lefty words which, properly, don't belong to them and their opinions. Of the words I'll post, all of them have been turned on their heads, and don't anymore mean what they're supposed to.

First Leftist word-theft: Progressive. Put simply, how are many policies that are openly advocated by leftist leaders possibly be coined as progressive? How can policies that at times openly advocate the return of the world to third-world living conditions and forcing people to give up what's properly theirs ever be called progressive? Even some of the more moderate leftist policies are far from "progressive".

Libertarian policies are truly progressive; Libertarians advocate policies which are designed to advance the world when it comes to development and society in general, not, at the least, stall it. (RMA?)

Second Leftist word-theft: Welfare. Consider this: on the constitution, rather than saying "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Welfare", Thomas Jefferson could've written "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Welfare". If we use the term properly (aka, not applying to the Welfare State), it could be said that the West have achieved the best welfare of anywhere in the world.

Nowadays, the term simply applies to the welfare state. Despite the fact that the welfare state has actually proven itself to be much, much different. If used properly, the Capitalist societies of today could be called "the ultimate welfare states!"

Third Leftist word-theft: Fair trade. How is trade "fair" if you put a tariff on what the Third World (!) imports into any country? How is trade "fair" if it is simply punitive government protection of a First-World country's industries, despite the fact that they already have a quality of life incredible to people in the Third World? How is trade "fair" is it delays a country's development one decade?

"Fair trade" policies were implemented to protect third-world workers and suppposedly guarantee them a reasonable standard of living. Instead, what it's doing is in fact restricting the flow of capital into the third world country. This means that production can't be as efficient as under a proper free market, and infrastructure can't develop-at least for a long time-as well. Because "fair trade" policies restrict what can be sold, they also restrict production, and a Third World country's chance to have a decent standard of living.

'Nuff said there.

Fourth (and arguably most important) Leftist word-theft: Liberal. Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Locke, Voltaire, Adam Smith, James Madison, Abraham Lincoln, all (many extreme) liberals. Why should we compare these great people to a random hippie drunkard on the street under the term "liberal"?

"Liberal" was once a truly grand word. Although in Europe its meaning has stayed intact, thanks primarily to Socialist Swine FDR (and it should be noted that Europe got out of the Great Depression much earlier than America!) using the term for his own self-promotion it has well and truly far from its real meaning in America. "Liberal" was a term to describe the great ideas of the great thinkers of the enlightenment. Not the Socialist ideals portrayed by FDR. It's only one of the many reasons I hate FDR. He pulled off the greatest word theft of all time.

Expect more word-thefts as Political Corrections continues us on the path to oblivion.