Creating Right Wing Cranks From Leftists Normalizing Deviancy

I have been blogging for thirteen years more or less now.  During that time, I have reported or commented on everything from God and faith, politics, current events, history, comedy, travel, and people that have been important parts of my life.  I have made what I consider to be good friends on the interwebs along the way.  Some of these people (gasp!) were even left-leaning in their politics or held views on God that were radically different than my own.  Indeed, some of the most rewarding and informative discussions I have had have been with precisely such friends of differing opinions.  Unfortunately, some of the most unpleasant encounters I have had have also been with a few leftists whose seemingly only agenda was to burn the place down, just like the liberal cities after a mostly peaceful BLM riot.

As an example of atheist liberals with whom I formed friendships, I look with great fondness to the past repartee between John Myste and myself.  John had a wickedly sharp wit and a great sense of humor in trying to make his often erroneous points.  I miss his contributions as he has disappeared from the internet, it seems.  Another example is my leftist but God-fearing friend, Burr Deming.  Burr is an amazing writer and story-teller whom I consider to be a good man and a real friend.  That said, I have noticed a distinct shift with him and nearly all left-of-center bloggers as the Overton window has lurched leftward dramatically in the last few years of what is now acceptable as policy. 

When the “norm” is now even more left-leaning as a starting point in conversation, it only serves to make someone on the right who has held consistent in nearly all of their views over the last 13 years to appear as a “conservative crank”.  Evidently it doesn’t occur to the self-proclaimed party of science that it is their views that have become wildly outside of the norm and are actually what the average American now considers to be left-wing extremism.  (Or their adherents to be the “leftist cranks”)

I recall a time not too long ago when gay couples insisted that they only wanted the right to marry the person they loved and that would be the end of it.  Today, the LGBTQ lobby insists on sexualizing kids with age inappropriate drag queen story hours and shows.  They indoctrinate our youth to tell them that their gender is fluid and that there is nothing wrong with mutilating one’s body to conform with the gender that they identify with at a given moment.  This is nothing short of evil.

Liberals have decried racism and inappropriate actions of some law enforcement personnel.  All good people on the right concur with this.  Indeed, I don’t know of a single person on the right that condones the actions of the police against George Floyd and others who were murdered by law enforcement actions.  And yet, the left, instead of working with the right to root out the bad cops and punish those that deserve it would rather destroy our cities and defund the police in order to embolden criminals that have even less to fear now.

Let’s look at abortion next.  The left used to say that they wanted to keep abortion legal and rare.  Nowadays that has shifted to a position of abortion on demand and without apology.  Indeed, the Democrats in the house, nearly to a person, voted yet again the other day against a bill requiring medical attention to be given to the surviving baby of an attempted botched abortion.  In other words, these ghouls voted for infanticide.  Pro-life pregnancy centers and churches sustained 52 attacks in 46 days after the Supreme Court’s leaked Dobbs decision on May 2, while the FBI did nothing.  This is the extremism that is now present on the left. 

The left tells us that men can get pregnant, gas stoves are bad for people and the environment, spending trillions of dollars for special interest groups has nothing to do with inflation, outrageous energy prices that disproportionately affect the poor have nothing to do with Biden’s anti-fossil fuel policies, and men identifying as women should be allowed to compete in women’s swimming, track and other sports.  And these wildly radical ideas are merely the tip of the leftist iceberg.

Yes, when the left has shifted so far to the extreme end of the leftist spectrum as their norm, no wonder why those of us on the right must appear as conservative cranks to these misguided people.  It is an epithet I will embrace and proudly wear.

Barry Goldwater at the GOP convention in July of 1964 uttered perhaps his most famous quote, “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.”  One cannot help but wonder what the leftist equivalent to that would be today?  Extremism in the furtherance of leftist utopianism is a “moral” imperative?  I guess it would depend on what the left’s definition of “moral” is.  I guarantee it won’t be the same definition that our parents and grandparents understood it to be.  But what do I know?  I’m just cranking along here on the right.  

The Need for Mutual Respect in the Debate of Gay Rights vs. Religious Rights

There seems to be a lot of overblown and heated rhetoric in the news recently pitting gay rights against religious rights, thanks to an irresponsible media whipping up stories where none really existed. Let’s look at two theoretical scenarios of just how such issues could play out.


Scenario 1
Gay man: Hi, I would like to order a wedding cake for me and my husband-to-be’s wedding.

Bakery owner:  I don’t think so.  I don’t serve homosexuals for any event, especially weddings.  In fact, you need to leave my store right now!

Gay man:  Whatever.  I am going to make damn sure your business is boycotted and ruined, you hateful bigot.


Scenario 2
Gay man: Hi, I would like to order a wedding cake for me and my husband-to-be’s wedding.

Bakery owner:  Well, I really am very sorry.  My religious beliefs dictate that I cannot help you out with your wedding though.  I certainly don’t have any animus against you and will be happy to serve you with whatever other needs you might have such as pastries, birthday cakes, and so on.  I do hope that I don’t lose your future business because of this.  I also hope you understand and can respect my position and the fact that I must follow the dictates of my conscience and faith.

Gay man:  Well that is disappointing to hear because you do have wonderful cakes.  I can appreciate that you are trying to live life according to your conscience though. Can you recommend another bakery that might be able to help me?

Bakery owner:  I don’t know for sure.  There is that bakery on Main Street that you might try though. Their cakes are nearly as good as mine.  (laughs)

Gay man:  Okay.  Thanks.  I’ll try over there instead.


For some reason, it seems that collectively we as a human race are losing all common sense and decency when it comes to how we treat and respect each other. These scenario’s present just two options of how the same situation could be handled. Although this begs the question, shouldn’t respect for each other be something that ALL people practice?

Indiana and Arkansas have now passed state versions of a law mirroring the bi-partisan federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) of 1993, which was introduced by former Democrat Congressman, now Senator, Chuck Schumer, which passed the House unanimously then the Senate to win by a 97 - 3 vote, and was then signed into law by President Bill Clinton.  The difference is that the new Indiana law, which is essentially the same as the federal one, has caused nothing but hate and discontent.

Gay rights advocates assume this Indiana law will protect wide-spread discrimination against them. They fear that the new norm under this law that twenty states now have on the books will allow something similar to scenario 1 above to become commonplace.

I am certain there are people in America that would act just like that and there are people of differing faiths with just such a mindset.  However, there are even more people, including Christians, that would not respond in such a way.  I would hope that most people would be sufficiently polite and respectful of each other, even if they have disagreements, to act more like the second scenario. Indeed, in our nation of diverse views and beliefs, wouldn’t it be far better if we could show respect towards one another, even when we disagree?  Wouldn’t it be nice if we all could behave like the two gentlemen in the latter, rather than the former scenario?

Now if a gay person were indeed to be denied service by a business merely because of the fact that he or she was gay, then a legitimate case of discrimination could be made.   But if a gay person is insisting on service that goes against the conscience of the business provider, then isn’t that a violation of the business owner’s ability to exercise their first amendment right to freedom of religion?   Respect for each other’s rights MUST be a two way street.  Unfortunately, this is not what seems to be happening lately.

Recently in Walkerton, Indiana, a local business named Memories Pizza experienced the wrath of those that were against the business owners abiding by their consciences and faith.  A local ABC news affiliate was trying to create a story by canvassing local businesses after the passage of the state’s religious freedom restoration act. They happened to strike pay-dirt when they asked the co-owner of this family-owned pizza parlor if they would hypothetically cater a gay wedding.  The owner said that her religious beliefs would not allow her to do that.  Even though the business happily serves gay people on a regular basis, the uproar caused by this small business owner simply stating her beliefs, has brought forth chaos, death threats, and even a local high school coach advocating others to march with him to burn the business down.  Needless to say, the family had to close their business and go into hiding for a week until the initial outrage passed.

Douglas Laycock, a constitutional scholar at the University of Virginia Law School who helped win passage of the 1993 federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, said no one has ever successfully used such laws to override nondiscrimination statutes. He expressed frustration that gay rights advocates seem to be ignoring this in their attack on the Indiana law.  “I don’t know if they don’t know that, or whether they’re pandering to their base,” Laycock said.

States began passing their own Religious Freedom Restoration Acts after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1997 that the federal law didn’t apply to states; consequently, twenty states now have their own Religious Freedom Restoration Acts.

The Indiana law, the federal law and those of the other 19 states with similar laws do not even mention the words “gay”, “marriage”, or “homosexual” anywhere within them.  It wasn’t drafted to be an “anti-gay” bill, but rather to allow a defense in court for businesses had  they felt  they were being forced to participate in actions that went against their consciences or religious convictions.

Former Senator Santorum summarized the debate quite aptly on Face the Nation two weeks ago.
“No business should discriminate … because of who you are,” Santorum said. “But it should have the ability to say, ‘We’re not going to participate in certain activities that we disagree with on a religious point of view.’” …”If you’re a print shop and you are a gay man, should you be forced to print ‘God Hates Fags’ for the Westboro Baptist Church because they hold those signs up?” he asked. “Should the government force you to do that? And that’s what these cases are all about. This is about the government coming in and saying, ‘No, we’re going to make you do this.’ And his is where I think we just need some space to say, ‘Let’s have some tolerance (and) be a two-way street.”

Indeed!  Simply because many Americans have a religious belief that God created us male and female, and that marriage is a sacrament that unites these two basic expressions of humanity in a unique covenant, really does not amount to a form of bigotry.  We, as Americans, need to respect each other, even when we disagree with each other.  Hatefulness on either side of this debate only serves to exacerbate an already out-of-control matter.  The ultimate victim if we persist with such a lack of tolerance and respect for each other will be our God given and constitutionally protected right to live our lives according to the dictates of our conscience and faith.  That is an America I do not want to live in!