Conservatives and regressives believe that white men should rule the world and would stomp anyone into the ground who gets in their way. They believe that winners are people with the most money, the biggest guns and the most muscles, and that nature has dictated that they be in charge.

I thought since Barry Gabrielson of Newbury Park gets to tell me, as a liberal and progressive, what I believe, I get to tell him what he believes (July 1 letters, “Liberals try to destroy capitalism.”)

I don’t believe all conservatives think this way, but Mr. Gabrielson seems to.

In his obnoxious letter he obviously believes that judgment of others is perfectly acceptable, so here’s my judgment of him: Mr. Gabrielson, other than being obnoxious, you’re not nearly as intelligent as you think you are; you mistake bullying with assertiveness, and you should stick to telling people what you believe, not what you mistakenly think others believe.

But I forgot, as a conservative regressive, you’re not capable of that, are you?

Just because social justice and socialism share some of the same beliefs doesn’t mean they’re the same.

Social justice means caring about other people who share this planet.

Social justice means not being a selfish slug that tries to grab everything in sight for fear of missing out on something.

Social justice means having a heart. Since Mr. Gabrielson doesn’t have a clue about any of these things and isn’t very intelligent, I suppose he couldn’t be expected to know this.

Not all liberals and progressives think alike, but here is what one of us believes: Intelligent people use their intelligence to better society. As a Christian, I believe any talent or intelligence a person is born with comes from God; therefore, to use those gifts from God to benefit yourself alone is sinful.

I have atheist friends who argue differently.

They think to be this selfish is just stupid and counterproductive to a sustainable society.

Liberal and progressive people of faith and atheists alike for the most part agree that conservative, regressive thinking is immoral, destructive, dangerous and lacks wisdom.
Sherry Jensen
Thousand Oaks