Secularism.

President Clinton himself admitted to his wife’s odd Eleanor Roosevelt conversations in 2012 during a speech:

A special thanks to the members of the Roosevelt family who are here. And the one who is not, Eleanor, who made sure that the four freedoms were included in the preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. I know that because, as all of you famously learned when I served as president, my wife, now the secretary of state, was known to commune with Eleanor on a regular basis. And so she called me last night on her way home from Peru to remind me to say that. That Eleanor had talked to her and reminded her that I should say that.^[1]

Condescending secularists sniff about the irrationality of the religious. No "talking snakes" for them. Or attacks on people who don’t believe what they believe, that Christian trademark. Nothing like that. No. They are secular -- and leftist for the most part -- and rationality is what they live by.

Some pretty odd things are believed by people of faith, it’s true, but I wonder what Bill Maher has to say about Ms. Clinton’s "communing" with two dead people (Eleanor and Mahatma). Or about the socialist cornucopia that leftists always expect to find behind just one more statute, rule, Executive Order, or policy tweak. Or "welfare" spending that does everything but advance the welfare of the recipient and her community.

Or raising the minimum wage. Some people who have actually studied this issue know that if you raise the price of an input, people (e.g., employers) buy less of it. But this is not an item in the catechism of the secularists, whom we know are rational to the last rank. In what passes for rationality in Left World, when you raise the price of steak or insurance, people will continue to buy the same amount of steak or insurance as ever before. And not seek a cheaper alternative.

Or the idea that 500 Somalis moving into your neighborhood represents an improvement in your life.^[2]

Lord knows what makes leftism such a potent force in modern life. The lies that are spoken to support it and extend it have reached a crescendo in our times and might as well be taken as a catechism for a pseudo religion.

"In the beginning was The Far Right."

Why else defend lies with such energy? The hard core left is now running Sweden and is not shy about association with thugs. It punishes any deviation from bedrock immigration and multicultural theology, lacking only, for now, the power of arrest. But it's only just slightly out in front of the rest of Europe and the U.S.

A focus on free speech would help us navigate through our factional shoals. The West used to value unfettered speech and inquiry but the investment the left has in lies is too great, so honest, vigorous debate is probably out of the question. So, it's not about the truth but about a street fight.

Hillary was right. There is only the fight.^[3]

Notes
^[1]  "10 Weird Things You Didn't Know About Hillary." By Ben Shapiro, Breitbart, 9/22/14
^[2]  The emphasis being on "your" in this sentence.
^[3]  H/t: Underdogman.