I searched this long article for any reasons offered that the Left should listen to the Right, and I only found two: because eventually the Right will become violent if they continue to be shut out; and “Smart Liberals are supposed to process ideas from the other side so they can fight against them.” That’s it. Listen to them so “we” can better defeat their stupid ideas before the cretins become violent. They are, after all, only “your standard unintelligent Red Staters”. The author must have decided that adding racist bigot misogynistic homophobes would be redundant. How generous that he doesn’t consider us Nazis. Most of us, anyway. Judging by the length of his arguments on that score, he seems unsure that he can make a convincing case to his fellow Liberals.

I found no hint that non-Liberals might have some ideas of merit worth listening to. Or heaven forbid that Liberals might hear something that makes more sense than their own dogmas. No trace of concession that there might be some policy or legislative idea that Liberals could agree with, that might produce better consequences if included in law. Or perhaps that they might expose some counter-productive defects in Liberal proposals that should be reformed before they become a counter-productive policy or law. (OK forget that last one. Liberal policies and laws never, ever fall short of what they promise or generate unintended consequences.)