The neo-liberal mind

Lorne Gunter examines, again, the futility of banning guns. In doing so he reiterates some basic insights into the neo-liberal mindset:

So why do liberal-left politicians expend so much energy trying to restrict gun ownership or even ban guns outright?

The principal reason, of course, is that modern liberalism is the victory of symbolism over substance. A public policy or law is seldom designed mostly to solve an identified problem. Its primary purpose is to reflect well on the good intentions of the person or group proposing it.

So what if laws and social programs produce no tangible benefits? They remain on the statute books and retain full funding -- complete with massive bureaucracies -- because they enable liberals to convince themselves something is being done. Activity is confused with achievement.

The right values action based on principle and practical results. The left values action based on emotion and narcissistic feel-goodism.