SE Cupp: Texas Lt Gov is confused about the meaning of “liberty”

CNN's SE Cupp examines the hypocrisy of conservatives banning books from public universities when they deem them an outrage while supporting an idea to create a "Liberty Institute" at the University of Texas. The proposed project being pushed by Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is said to be “dedicated to the study and teaching of individual liberty.” #CNN #News

82 comments

    1. @John Trent any evidence of the most ludicrous statement I’ve read on the internet today? Of course not just stupidity in that comment LOL

    2. @Craig Colson ‘Just a saying…’ Absolutely not; you people are whiners, crybabies, you’re lazy, full of jealousy and you think rich people owe YOU people something. And what does President Trump have to do with the garbage that YOU chose to spew out of your mouth?

  1. *THE RULE I GREW UP ON:* _Whenever a Republican starts to complain about corruption, they are doing it themselves now._
    *_”The Don, my dear friends is not about the truth…, he’s about the reason there is no truth.”_*

    1. When the pandemic first started and many people were out sick and others had lost there jobs,this is the same who said to “never put the people before the economy.” well there is news for him in that if everyone is out sick,then who will keep up the economy?I could never vote for such a lack of empathy of a man.

  2. Let’s be clear a country that needs to keep discussing Liberty and Democracy is a country that either lost it or is in danger to losing it

    1. @Felwinter Of course not. They talk about themselves so much it leaves them incapable of doing their job; you know, working out Legislative Bills for you and yours and your secured future?!

  3. I don’t know what this Critical Race Theory is all about. I do know that History can be Taught from Different Perspectives. How about Teaching Slavery through the Perspective of the Slave (African American), or how the West was Won through the Native American Perspective???

    1. @Emil Ogborn ” And they’re telling the white kids that they should be ashamed to be white”
      So they are literally pointing at the white kids and saying “FEEL GUILTY!! FEEL GUILTY!”
      btw I mean “literally” as it actually means. I point that out because that’s a *conclusion* rather than a description of what is being taught.
      CRT is not “renamed to keep it hidden” – that’s low-level Q conspiracy bullshit.
      And YES, kids should learn about transgenders and homosexuals. Why? Because they are part of our society. Do they learn about married people? Mothers and fathers? What about the kid with two mothers? Nope!! Don’t teach them about that! That might confuse them (meaning they might learn it’s ok :/).
      I taught my kids about racism and privilege when they were like 7. They don’t feel guilty about it. They are against racism, like they should be.

    2. @Emil Ogborn so you personally know for a fact that this is being done to first and second grade students?? You have physically witnessed them separating the children by skin color and telling the “whites” to feel guilty and ashamed because of there whiteness?? Or are you simply taking Tucker Carlson’s word for it??

    3. @Emil Ogborn Who is this “they” of whom you speak? Names, please, not some vague nonsense like, “you know, Liberals”. Because I don’t know the names of these teachers and would like the list of teachers who are brainwashing white children in elementary school. I would also like the list of teachers brainwashing kids in elementary school into believing it’s good to become rich, or why it’s brave to serve in the military, or why police are good people or bad people, or why Thomas Jefferson was a good president, so that by the time they are out of high school, those kids take those ideas as gospel and never question them as adults. You want to talk about police? Then teach about the function of a police force in society and let the kids discuss their interactions with police. The teacher’s job is to react to “I love police because they are good people,” or “I hate police because they’re bad people,” and force the children to present support for their opinions, not just accept them as true because they feel they are true.

    4. ​@Emil Ogborn My goodness! You can dream this up faster than the rest of us can respond. You last sentence is nonsense. You want our schools to teach what YOU want. Why is what YOU want better curriculum than what teachers want to teach based on the research done by other teachers in the past, which they learned about during their studies? Hint: It’s not better because you think it’s better.

  4. “Confused”? No, he’s not confused. He’s just more interested in taking liberties for himself than preserving them for others.

    1. GOP wants a Gilead – where white “christian” men exert their power and condemnation on women, children, and minorities. Keep all the riches for themselves. Under the idea/cloak of moral righteousness and to “benefit” society.

  5. Thank you for this. Your insight is one that I, a proud liberal agrees with . I hate Fascism and authoritarianism just like you do. It would be wonderful to hear more conservative voices against non-conservative movements in the Conservative political realm but it would also be great to hear more conservatives tell their listeners that Liberals are also patriotic Americans who love our country just as much and answer the call to serve the country in numbers just as great as conservatives. We just have differing ideas about how to do it but we do love our country. I would never try to take a hunting rifle or a handgun used to protect ones home. I do have a problem with assault rifles but we can always discuss them. I would fight any government that just took guns away from people without hearings, public and governmental. The government is here for conservatives and liberal people that make up our country. Racism has no part in either movement. Authoritarianism doesn’t either, it’s just a fast way to get what people think they want, the surprise we have a Kim, a Mussolini, an Idi Amin, a Pol Pot or, yes, I’ll say it, a Hitler. Then it’s the conservatives that yell when they are used to kill everyone who doesn’t espouse the ideas of the dear leader. Be careful folks or you might get what you think you want. I am thinking of that little lady who said she was against dictators but if we are going to have one, she wants Trump to be that dictator. I don’t want any dictator, no matter what his/her name may be. That is why Fox news is so dangerous.

    1. @Dean Todd it’s not just “the media”. have you read some of the crap that people like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Madison Cawthorne have written on their social media accounts? you *can’t* embrace people who call for ‘2nd Amendment solutions’ to election losses and be considered worthy of inclusion in a sane society, and yet most of the GOP stand idly by and says nothing to them and all the other lunatics in the party. all the media is doing is reporting what these morons write/say, and that’s their job.

    2. Hi Steve… this is the real problem. We’ve allowed talking heads powered by oligarchs and bankers to poison the minds of millions of Americans, to a point that they’ve lost touch with physical reality and have an existential fear that Satan is at the door to take their nation and then their souls.

      There are millions of intelligent conservatives who have gone independent, because they can’t condone the insanity (and might I add non-conservative insanity) that has taken hold of their party. Giving trillions to billionaires is not a conservative idea, gutting the rule of law is certainly not a conservative idea, stuffing the Supreme Court with anti-Constitutional thugs and corporate hitmen isn’t a conservative idea, and most certainly promoting a violent insurrection or destroying voter rights is in no way a conservative idea. These are ideas of totalitarian oligarchs. This is fascism at work.

      That’s why we have the Lincoln Project, in fact Conservative who can’t stomach what’s happening are now speaking in mass; https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/12/us/politics/never-trump-republicans.html

    3. @Andrew Reynolds

      My point is that hyperpartisan media have created lunatics like Marjorie Taylor Greene. She would not exist if not for talk radio and Fox News pulling the Republican Party so far to the right that Ronald Reagan would be considered a RINO today. Or at the very least, even if she was still just as loopy herself without the toxic influence of talk radio and Fox News, at least she wouldn’t be a viable candidate for a national office.

      It’s the Balkanization of modern American politics.

      We once had three national networks that felt pressure to just report the facts, and not opine too far to the left or the right lest they alienate a significant chunk of their audience.

      But now cable news channels have the option of tailoring their output to select demographics – one commentator coined the term “narrowcasting” in contrast to broadcasting. So we have channels pulling ever farther in either direction and pulling their audiences with them. Fox News is a prime example of this on the right. Although they seem almost like a legitimate news organization compared to some of the lunatic fringe choices out there.

      About the only respectable conservative leaning outlet left is the National Review magazine. And even they employ some Trumpanzees.

  6. The same folks supporting the FREEDOM convoy simultaneously banning books?! Makes sense Great job y’all. 🙄🥴👍🏻

  7. College students are adults. They are fully capable of hearing a variety of theories and viewpoints and evaluating them on their own.

    1. Really doesn’t seem that way. In Austin they built special crosswalks for those adults as they didn’t have the common sense to cross the street safely.

    2. Also liberals: 25 years and older are the major listeners of Joe Rogan we need to silence Rogan so that he doesn’t brainwash them.

    3. @Arceus Thomas What are you talking about? Anyone introducing a law to silence Joe Rogan? That’s the difference. Republicans love big government when it serves their political purposes. They hate it when it serves everyone and not them exclusively. That is not conservatism. That is selfishness. It is also very much like communism, as it has been practiced, not a “dictatorship” of the people, but simply replacing rule by one elite, based on the accumulation of money, with another, based on ideological purity. “We don’t have to convince the populace we’re right. By definition, we know the truth; we define what’s right. Therefore, we must be in control.” Either way, it’s authoritarianism. And no wonder: Republicans, led by Donald Trump, who admitted that if everyone voted, if there were true representative democracy, Republicans (based on the policies they implement) would never win another election [presidential, I assume, as that is all Trump cares about], know they can’t win nationally if they don’t take this authoritarian approach and also skew the election laws in their favor. Losing the popular vote in seven of the last eight presidential elections is quite convincing evidence to them. The reason is quite clear: their policies do not represent the wishes of, nor serve a majority of American people. They know that, and are either too lazy to develop alternative policies to those of Democrats or understand that, given the current situation, Democrats have the best policies a political party can come up with at the moment for a nation as big and diverse as ours. If you disagree, please show how Republican policies do serve the majority of American people; don’t just assert that they do.

    4. @Clark Blount This example is not even comparing apples and oranges. It’s comparing apples and floor wax or apples and kangaroos. There is no reason to mention the two things together. You are not an adult because you have common sense or are cautious. Eight-year olds are perfectly capable of such thinking. “Mom just filled the cookie jar. If you take one, she’ll notice it’s not full any more, and you’ll get in trouble.” That’s common sense. That doesn’t prove you’re an adult thinker because it’s not an adult topic to think about. Given your point, you would also have to argue that the double white line down the middle of the road and median strips on highways exist because virtually no one who drives is an adult. Wouldn’t common sense tell drivers that if traffic is coming towards the front of your car or truck, you’re doing something wrong? Why do we need guides on the road, speed bumps, traffic lights, when everyone was taught the rules of the road when they took driving lessons and passed the test? What a waste of taxpayer money to put No Parking signs next to fire hydrants. Anyone with an ounce of common sense knows that if you block a fire hydrant with your car, the fire department is going to find it much harder to use it effectively to put out a fire. You’d agree, right?

    5. @Gnirol Namlerf how exactly is it selfish to ban books that create division in an impressionable aged persons mind? You are being selfish forcing your failed educational policies be enforced nation wide.

  8. If this were truly a case of parents not wanting their children to have access to books they find offensive, there is an easy solution to the problem. These concerned parents could submit a list of books they don’t want their children reading to their child’s school library who can set up a database not allowing those students to check out the books their parents banned for them. Not one of these irate parents is proposing this though. They are demanding the books they fear be removed from the library entirely. This is because its not about their children. They are trying to control what every other parent’s child has access to. It’s about only allowing the media that advances their narrative through to children.

    1. @donald allen they can if they want to be stupid and not follow the data while claiming they fallow the “science”.

    2. @Alejo Hernandez again….you have NOT explained separation of church and state!
      States have ZERO right to indoctrinate their schools with “Christianity”!
      The MAJORITY of Americans are NOT Christians!!!!
      You just want minority SCREAMING voices rule!

    3. Just like Hitler, Putin, etc.
      control is the issue. Those of us who want to learn about our world, past and present, want to make a better future
      FOR EVERYONE.

  9. Thank you. I am a progressive and at 72 have enjoyed many evenings in discussions with true conservatives. I can’t find a true conservative anymore. I believe real discussion of issues sharpens our thinking and leads to better policy. I hope we can return to that, may you help lead the way. Bob

    1. The irony is that liberals say the same about conservatives. It seems as though the fringe on both sides are getting way too much airway. And we cant deny that society in general has become left leaning.

    2. @sandy pro You can’t prove that society has become left leaning. I’m not going to let you get away with “we can’t deny” without proving it, and defining what you mean by “left”.

  10. I’m confused. If they are trying to ban books they may make kids feel uncomfortable then they might have to add a whole lot more when black students start… I mean, already have been for centuries… feeling uncomfortable about books of our Presidents that owned people like property. Ancestors to them only few generations back. Or the actual schools that wouldn’t even allow their grandparents to drink the same water or even attend the same public school that everyone’s tax dollars paid for. I could go on and on but do you see my point? They really wouldn’t have any books to read or schools and libraries to read them in? Every race, religion and gender could feel really uncomfortable about lessons and people of the past from the books we keep using. We are creating a major literacy gap for future generations.

    Oh! I see! This is being done for white kids bye old white men to keep their racist base voting for them so they can stay rich.

    Has anyone asked them, If we don’t completely understand where we came from, how the hell will we know where we’re going?

    1. Jetpack: Because we’re talking about laws in the USA, not The Gambia. That’s why. Did you not realize that Lt. Gov. Patrick is an official of Texas and Texas is part of the USA, not The Gambia? Well, now you know.

    2. @JETPAC MOZi It said I was half-correct, and then you postured as if you were disagreeing with the idea that slavery in the US was based entirely on skin color. Maybe you mean well and you’re just making a common mistake, but just so you know, all the talking points you deployed are favored by neonazis and white supremacists to deflect the evils of slavery. They’re usually the type I find myself arguing with so I’m very accustomed to seeing this. I’d advise that you not do that in the future.

      And yes honestly, history itself is incredibly offensive so there’s no way to teach it accurately and inoffensively. The original commenter started off by being sarcastic to make a point, but the end of it is the crux of the issue. “Oh! I see! This is being done for white kids bye old white men to keep their racist base voting for them so they can stay rich.” The anti-“CRT” push is entirely about that. As is obfuscating the causes and effects of US slavery.

    3. @Sara Mill so did the Bible crowd. Even had rules on how to treat them. Even has rules for slaves.
      You a Bible thumper?
      Ever read it, though?

  11. Remember when conservatives complained about students not wanting to listen to conservative voices at their school because they felt uncomfortable?!

    1. @Richard Horn wow, *that’s* the best you can do? you’d have to improve a few orders of magnitude before you deserved to be called pathetic.

    2. conservative *only* care about *their* freedom to say what they want. as far as they’re concerned, everyone else should just stfu.

    3. Remember when leftists want women’s rights but can’t even define what a woman is because biology isn’t real?

      Stop being an arrogant tribal caveman.

  12. Soon, you’re going to see Texans “goose stepping down the strasse” with their right arms stuck out.😔👎

    1. like hell you will, plenty of us democrats here that are getting all riled up. Only thing we can say ref republicans is “That dog don’t hunt”

  13. “Just what we need, a good old fashion book burning.” Certainly no one knows how to download the books.

    1. The Internet simultaneously enhances our freedom while suppressing it. Although it vastly expands the network of people with whom we can communicate and provides access to a wealth of information at our fingertips, the Internet also subjects us to malicious surveillance and intrusion that makes it virtually impossible for our actions to go undetected, thus restricting freedom.

    2. Long long ago, China’s first emperor. Burn Confusious books, etc to manipulate thinking to one particular direction. Sounds so familiar 🤣🤣

  14. See that’s why I miss with you even though you’re conservative I like how you give it straight forward. You absolutely right you do not learn about critical race theory until you get to college.

  15. I’m going to show this common sense post to all my friends and family that drank the kool aid!! Thanks again for always being honest.

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