David McElroy

Identity politics is the cancer behind Elizabeth Warren’s lie about ancestry

By David McElroy · October 17, 2018

Why did Elizabeth Warren lie about being Cherokee? Why did she classify herself as “Native American” as a member of the Harvard Law School faculty? There’s a lot of discussion this week about her ethnicity, but few people are asking the obvious question.

Why would she lie about something so ridiculous?

Warren lied — and continues to lie — because she is held captive by an evil idea. It’s an evil idea which is at the root of progressive left politics today. It’s called “identity politics.” It’s the idea that your group identity gives you worth and identifies your values. It’s a core value of the collectivist — and it stands in stark contrast to the notion that every individual has value of his own, regardless of his ethnicity or origin or skin color or any other group identity.

Identity politics is the enemy of individual liberty. It always will be. But let’s start with the facts of Warren’s case.

I couldn’t care less whether Elizabeth Warren has a Native American ancestor or not. It’s an idiotic controversy and it always has been. But if you’ll take the time to understand the reasons for her lie, you will understand a foundational error in progressive left thinking.

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Love’s closest counterfeit sounds like love but acts like selfish need

By David McElroy · October 15, 2018

Counterfeit love feels just like the real thing — at first.

As you start getting close to someone, you suddenly feel your heart swell in size. Your thoughts center on him or her. Everything the person does or says seems just right for you. You feel irrational exuberance and the feeling that you’ve finally found the love you’ve been waiting for.

Most of all, though, you bask in the golden glow of feeling that this wonderful person adores you.

And then something happens. His or her mask slips. You see things you hadn’t seen at first. The person’s words of love and devotion start to change. And the words you needed so much — ”Never forget that I want you!” — start to disappear. And then the memory of those promises feels hollow.

Maybe he didn’t really love you. Maybe she didn’t adore you and want a life with you. Maybe it was just counterfeit love — a selfish thing which crumbles into dust when it faces the light of reality.

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It’s best to focus on future, ’cause dead past is a ‘bridge to nowhere’

By David McElroy · October 10, 2018

I got an email a couple of months ago from someone I hadn’t heard from since high school. He and I were never close, but we knew one another from taking all the upper-level math and science classes together. He had been to a class reunion the night before and looked me up online to tell me about people asking about me — and even thinking he might be me.

I’ve never been to a reunion of any kind. Over the years, I’ve been tracked down by reunion committees who seem to assume that everybody is eager to know when a class is getting together, but I’ve never been tempted to go to a reunion. Not for high school. Not for college. Not for any workplace.

I’m not mad at anybody from the past. I simply don’t care. All of those people are strangers to me now. For years, I’ve puzzled over why I seem to feel so differently than most other people do about such things and I think I’ve finally figured it out. Most people seem to believe their best times were in the past — and they’re eager to relive some of that past — but I’m convinced my best and most interesting days lie ahead.

Unless someone from my past is going to be part of my future, that person has no place in my life, because the past is dead and buried.

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