Comrades PeoplesComrade and R.O.C.K., the concept of "intelligence" sometimes apparently found in statists was elegantly captured, though used to describe our modern culture in general, by Michael Crichton when he coined the term "thintelligence". That is, very narrow, shallow expertise in a particular field or discipline, such as professor of economics or climate scientist, with no corresponding understanding of the broader issues of life, such as the intertwining relationships of actual human interactions in commerce brought about by our wetwired methods of conducting our lives and working together (their models are based on ants, not humans), or the way nature points to creation and not chaos, etc.
And they have been conditioned like Pavlov's dog to follow a certain stimulus with a certain response - in their case, associating "Progressivism" with "cool", "hip", "gangsta", or whatever the word du jour happens to be. It makes them feel good about their depravity and larcenous hearts and vile desires. After all, if everybody does it, it can't be wrong. If it feels good, do it! And statists - control freaks in general - are all about feeling, not about helping, or doing, or caring - which involves doing. Those three are just words to them that they've learned to use to trick the unsuspecting or dull into thinking they are on some high moral plane. They believe speaking the words is the same as performing the actions that the words imply. But James points out their folly: "You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works." They daren't go there, lest their works be shown for what they are. They employ a form of magical, delusional believing; they think they do good works by the words they speak.
In fact, they have no interest in morality as it applies to making people's lives better. Just the opposite is what they achieve, though they may not admit it even to themselves. It's so blissful being blind to one's depravity and greed! At least, they won't admit to themselves consciously what effect their tinkering and meddling have. Perhaps because they need to believe someone other than themselves is responsible for the bad consequences of their actions, they accuse others of what they themselves are guilty of. Transference is so common in the statist as to be almost defining.
After all, they can't, by definition because of their beliefs, be the agents or causes of misery, or poverty, or slavery. So shift the blame! “It's not us,” they cry, “it's the fault of those who don't believe as we believe.” Yet, when it is pointed out to them that the results of their beliefs are proven by history to cause human regression and degradation, they will not believe it. At best they will say, “Oh, they weren't as smart as we are. They didn't throw as much money at my pet issues. How dare you question my motives or my methods! I'm helping humanity! I'm part of the solution!” They are so blinded by the myth that mankind is always progressing, and that they are pushing mankind along on the path to “progress”, that they fail to see regression when it kicks them in their collective ass.
Self-delusion is impossible to penetrate by other mere mortals. And that is why they must be their own gods. Because if they recognize they are accountable to One Who made them, their worlds will be undone. It is more comfortable to them to be miserable in their fantasies and illogic and ignorance than to seek a Truth beyond themselves. Which is essentially why they are relativists.
But, if you would be so kind as to indulge me, this subject of intelligence is one I wish to pursue for a moment, since so many statists consider themselves so far above those backwards conservatives. (Is it any wonder the communist slogan is "FORWARD!"? Statists, whenever possible, speak the reverse of the truth.) Forgive me for invoking my handle's namesake and referring to an earlier posting I made on our beloved Cube, but C. S. Lewis spun this same concept in a delightful yarn called "Perelandra". In that story, the antagonist, Weston, was possessed by a devil, and could talk eloquently for hours on the most erudite subjects - and his, or his demon's, purpose was to spin a bit of truth and a lot of blathering into webs of lies. But that was only a veneer; the demon-possessed Weston was even more compelled to do disgusting things with his body, or torture and kill small animals, or just sit for long periods and bark obscenities on occasion, if there was no need to invoke his cloak of "intelligence" to deceive people.
Comrade R.O.C.K., you are correct in your reflection that "...liberals in general are people who, for one reason or another, never finished maturing emotionally and mentally." It is because of this, and pride, that they are unable to admit they are capable of human error, overcome their statist delusions, and apply their God-given intelligence to begin to explore Truth.
All this "thinking"! What time is the train and to what station do I report?