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A Little Bit of Sole: Holy Relics of the Left’s Civil Religion

Writing not to espouse the Enlightenment but to attack it, French philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau became the poisonous font of the intellectual cesspool that is modern “progressivism.” That Rousseau’s belief humanity must regress to its supposed uncorrupted “state of nature” forms the basis of “progressivism” is an irony lost upon the Left, largely because they have little time to plumb the depths of their ideological roots while they’re busy saving the planet from climate change or destroying democracy to save it from Donald Trump.

If the Left did have time, though, it would see how well they have been unwittingly implementing Rousseau’s prescriptions for losing civilization’s chains and reverting us into “noble savages.”

After all, what is “political correctness” but Rousseau’s “civil religion”? The civil religion is what an individual must believe over and above any other beliefs; and, of course, no other beliefs may expect to be tolerated if they contradict said civil religion. If one is found to hold such contrary beliefs, society’s ruling elite will “correct” the offender; and, if political reeducation fails, the individual will be “forced to be free”—i.e., imprisoned and/or killed.

On a host of progressive tenets, the virulence with which the Left attacks anyone who disagrees with them mirrors how Inquisitors treated alleged heretics: after being tortured, the victim can “confess” and painfully “atone” (sometimes including death); or deny the charge and certainly be further tortured then burned at the stake.

Excepting Antifa, today the Left does not employ such corporeal punishments for “thought crimes”; now one mercifully can be subjected to traditional and social media and human resources department calumnies and have one’s career and life ruined, if not exactly ended—yet.

So, too, does the Left’s politically correct civil religion have its own sacred relics. For example: the Cornell Costume and Textile Collection exhibition, “Women Empowered: Fashions from the Frontline,” soon will display to the faithful a pair of threadbare shoes Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wore out as she went door-to-door during her successful campaign.

Per a CNN report: “Here’s my 1st pair of campaign shoes,” [Representative-elect Ocasio-Cortez] wrote. “I knocked doors until rainwater came through my soles. Respect the hustle. We won (because) we out-worked the competition. Period.”* Give the woman credit: she has sole.

And her shoes aren’t the only liberally beatified objects about to go on display. Again, per CNN: “The exhibition, which will debut on Dec. 6, calls on women to submit items of clothing that have empowered them in the past. Other items include collars from Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a gown from suffrage activist Olivia ‘Livy’ Langdon, a skirt owned by Janet Reno and the inaugural suit of Texas governor Ann Richards, among others.”

Respect the hustle, indeed.

Or be compelled by your leftist inquisitors to be reeducated by reading “The Soft Power Impact of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Decorative Collars,” by the end of which you’ll be begging to be forced to be free.

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Photo Credit: AP

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About Thaddeus G. McCotter

An American Greatness contributor, the Hon. Thaddeus G. McCotter (M.C., Ret.) represented Michigan’s 11th Congressional district from 2003 to 2012 and served as Chair of the Republican House Policy Committee. Not a lobbyist, he is a frequent public speaker and moderator for public policy seminars, and a Monday co-host of the "John Batchelor Show" among sundry media appearances.