Liberals take great pride in their supposed open-mindedness. Yet when it comes to hot-button issues like radical Islam, global warming, and abortion, “open-minded” liberals go to great lengths to discredit and suppress the ideas of their opponents. Breitbart senior editor Joel Pollak exposes the nineteen key ideas that today’s liberals are desperate to suppress, revealing the blatant hypocrisy of left-wing leaders and pundits who preach tolerance but practice intolerance.
An excellent primer on reason and logic in public policy. On why facts & truth matter. On why barracking for your “team” and being led by emotion instead of aspiring got clarity and commitment sense are bad ideas when it comes to public policy & politics. A better book than many might assume.
Yes, this is an older book. But it is remarkable just how relevant this 6-year-old political commentary remains. Pollak discusses 19 ideas that American Leftists not only disagree with, but actively try to sabotage. The Left accomplishes this destruction of conservative thought using 3 tactics: 1) they suppress dissent, 2) they forbid debate, and 3) they deny facts and actually lie about the truth. Pollack devotes a chapter to each of the “ 19 Hard Truths The Left Can’t Handle” and methodically provides proof on which tactics these chronic America-haters use to wipe out views contrary to their destructive ideology. Written during Obama’s last year of his official presidential term, this book is well worth the read (or re-read). It is striking to look back and gaze in shock on just how much juicy flesh Obama and his corrupt administration hungrily gnawed off the bones of our Bill of Rights and Constitution by using lawless Executive Branch overreach to cripple two centuries of careful checks and balances provided by Separation of Powers. It is both devastating and cautionary to see how much “progress” in the past 6 years the Left has made in dismantling America’s God-given rights and freedoms. Pollak would do a great service writing a sequel to “See No Evil”, particularly now that current Biden Administration policies provide a continuation and acceleration of the Leftist power grab so skillfully set in motion by Joe’s mentor and puppet master Barack Hussein Obama.
If you are well versed in the Republican/Democrat fight on capitol hill, nothing in this book will come as a surprise. The book claims Obama, immigration, absent Christian values and black culture are responsible for our country's decline. Nothing new was brought to the table.
Somewhat indistinguishable from most other books attacking Leftist ideology and policy (primarily President Obama) - imo sometimes rightly so but sometimes via strawman. The book starts off strong by arguing that today’s Left has abandoned classical liberal ideals such as individual liberty, speech, and limited government. Perhaps somewhat ironically, it is the Right who now professes to be the bastions of said ideals (i.e., today’s ‘conservatism’ is the preservation of America’s creed of liberal democracy). In the book’s better chapters Mr. Pollak attempts to steelman some of the Left’s positions before seeking to dismantle them. An ongoing theme throughout is that Leftist agendas myopically view most things as oppressor vs. oppressed, and policies are thus rooted in good intentions that are blind to trade-offs and unintended consequences. Many chapters, however, belabor banal and predictable talking points which likely does little more than serve as an articulate form of outrage porn.
While the title implies a right of center thinking by the author, I found this book to be equally critical of the right when it strayed from common sense. It asks some tough questions that need to be addressed with truth regardless of which side of the isle you stand on.
This book is filled with truths that most people want to hide from. Take a little time and read this book, find out what uncomfortable truths you need to know.
My favourite sections were those on Islam and Entitlements. I admit to skimming the section on the Constitution just because as a Canadian it was the least relatable. I liked that he mentioned his background as a person from the left and his history as well as his wife history from South Africa.
Although his assertations are correct. They're all the same repeated set of bullet points that I've heard repeated over and over time and time again. I was bored reading it cause I've heard it all so many times before. I had bought this book expecting something new and totally different but instead it turned out to be just like the thousands several others out there that are just like it.