Taking a run at Bill Maher. Yes, now.

It's been a long time since I've bothered to comment on Bill Maher.  Recently he came to the conclusion that a Civil War II is not far off if people continue to hate each other and it would be a good idea to tone things down.  What better time than now to criticize for me to him?

For context, here's his recent soliloquy on the topic of getting along, fraught with problems as it is:

It's insulting, it's demeaning all the while it's trying to recommend that we all just get along. What he means by it, when he says "Let it go." is that liberals are going to have to learn to let go of their attempted owning of conservatives. Alright, his audience is mostly rabidly liberal, so I guess I get the slant. But what he says still raises two issues. (1) Why now? (2) He's still not practicing what he preaches.

Why now? I think that's obvious. While Bush 43 was president, while McCain and Romney and even further back Bob Dole and even Bush Sr. were running for president or were president, there was no push back on the vile vitriol from the left directed towards conservatives. Conservatives have been the whipping boy of the left for decades. We've longed for Ronald Reagan 2.0 since he left office because he was almost magical in his ability to rise above the attacks, and at the same time be eloquent and presidential. But even he was attacked as a dumb guy by the left. So that void of push back finally got filled. We wanted Reagan 2.0 but we got president Trump.

And you know what, most of us on the right are pretty happy with how it's turned out. No he doesn't exude the presidential aura of Reagan. He doesn't possess the same eloquence or the same likability. But he does possess other qualities. He exudes confidence. He's a fighter. He does not back down. He believes in America. He pushes back. And he's unapologetic.  We'll forgive him his coarseness and bull in a China shop approach to draining the swamp.  Hell, we even want the latter because it's about the only way it's going to get done.

In addition to all of that , his backbone has slowly begun to infuse conservatives of all stripes to push back too. Outside of a few notable exceptions like Rush Limbaugh, push back is something abused conservatives have not done loudly or strongly enough, if at all, for decades. The silent majority has been so silent, we are barely a majority now. So now that we are fighting back, just like a bully, suddenly Bill Maher is saying, to paraphrase, 'hey let's all tone it down here'. 

No. You've owned the bully pulpit for so long, we are not about to step back from speaking our minds now that we are not afraid to do so. Remember this is the same Bill Maher who is saying George Bush wasn't so bad, but also said back in 2006 was saying Bush should be impeached.

Guess what Bill, we are not afraid of you any more.  

And when you continue to dump all over half the country WHILE you are telling liberals to tone it down to avoid a civil war, you are being a hypocrite Bill Maher, a hypocrite with a capital F. Why should we back down when you continue to berate us?  And why would liberals tone it down at your behest just because you say so, and call us scum at the same time?  You are motivating them to continue too.  We don't buy it Bill.

Bill Maher tells his audience that the intractable stubbornness of conservatives is not because they are ignorant but that it comes from hate.  Hold a mirror up to your side Bill - everyone from ANTIFA to yourself are consumed by hate.  And it's a hate of people.  What conservatives are filled with is a desire for a more free society, a more Constitutional Union, economic prosperity.  

And all of that comes from an intellectual understanding of history, economics and law (among other things).  It does not come from our feelings.  Let me also add science to that mix.  Anti-intellectualism on the left on climate science is rife with "the science is settle", "the debate is over".  No. it's really not.  If that's your argument and it's not backed by factual evidence, which conservatives can produce, then it's become a religion based on faith and nothing more.  Scientific debate is healthy.  Stop demonizing us for stupidity when we have come prepared to debate you, minus the slander and feelings-based arguments.  Maybe it's just another part of the reason you are afraid of a civil war.  It's convenient for you to ignore the intellectual right, just as it is to ignore the thuggish "knuckle-dragging" parts of the left.

And stop being disingenuous  by saying that you were never afraid of Bush locking up reporters, implying that president Trump will.  That's beyond stupid.  It has not happened for 3 years despite the fact that liberals have wanted president Trump impeached, jailed or even executed.  That's hypocrisy.

Stop imbuing Bush with nobility for wishing that Obama succeeded when liberals have wanted Trump out since the day he was elected and have been working on it since election night.  That too is hypocrisy.

America needs a civil war - of ideas.  It's been a war that only your side has been fighting and we've had enough.  If you want to back down now, fine, roll back all of your past mistakes, otherwise accept that we are not done pushing back.  We are however done with your derision, your lecturing, your more-virtuous-than-thou signalling to fellow liberals and conservatives alike.  You were right about one thing - we are not going away.  We are pushing back because we have been abused by liberals for too long to keep quite about and our beliefs now. We welcome you to debate us; a democracy thrives on debate and ideas.