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Do As I Say (Not As I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy
Peter Schweizer
Schweizer?s conclusion is simple: liberalism in the end forces its adherents to become hypocrites.
Doubleday
October 2005
272 pages
ISBN: 0385513496
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
Members of the liberal/left exude an air of moral
certitude. They pride themselves on being committed and
selfless and seem particularly confident of the purity of
their motives and the evil nature of their opponents. To
correct economic and social injustice, liberals support a
whole litany of policies and principles: progressive taxes,
affirmative action, greater regulation of corporations,
raising the inheritance tax, strict environmental
regulations, children’s rights, consumer rights, and more. But do they actually live by these beliefs? Peter Schweizer
decided to investigate in depth the private lives of
prominent liberals. Politicians like the Clintons, Nancy
Pelosi, the Kennedys, and Ralph Nader; commentators Michael
Moore, Al Franken, Noam Chomsky, and Cornel West;
entertainers or philanthropists Barbra Streisand and George
Soros. Using everything from real estate records, IRS
records, court depositions, and their own statements, he
sought to examine whether they lived by the principles they
so forcefully advocate. What he found was a long list of contradictions. All these
proponents of organized labor had developed various methods
to sidestep paying union wages or avoid employing unions
altogether. They were adept at avoiding taxes; invested
heavily in corporations they had denounced; took advantage
of foreign tax credits to use non-American labor overseas;
espoused environmental causes while opposing those that
might affect their own property rights; hid their
investments in trusts to avoid paying estate tax; denounced
oil companies but quietly owned them. The same applied to
causes like affirmative action, civil liberties for accused
criminals, and expanded rights for minor children. Schweizer’s conclusion is simple: liberalism in the end
forces its adherents to become hypocrites. They adopt one
pose in public, but when it comes to what matters most in
their own lives–their property, their privacy, and their
children--they jettison their liberal principles and adopt
conservative ones. Schweizer’s book thus exposes the
contradiction at the core of liberalism: If these ideas
don’t work for the very individuals who promote them, how
can they work for the country?
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