Understanding the Left

I do not understand "The Left". Now I'm not talking about leftist politicians, I understand them. They are simply pandering to their base, and while their hypocrisy knows no bounds, they are simply interested in power and control. I'm talking about actual smart, educated folks on the left. People smart enough to have read history and know the horrors that happen when the Government is the only one with arms. People smart enough to understand math and statistics to see the plain facts that more guns = less crime. These are people who claim to support the weak and downtrodden, while actively working for a society where the weak are at the mercy of the strong. For the most part, these are not stupid people. So what is it that makes them so blind to actual reality? You could describe it as fetishistic atavism, which might be true, but is just a label to describe the same thing. Or is it simply that they think that emotions and feelings are more important that facts and reality? These are the same folks after all who think that "gay bashing" is a crime. [the rest of us call that assault] They think that "hate crimes" are real and somehow different than regular crimes. As if anyone actually cared about the motivations of violent criminals. Someone explain it to me, why is The Left simply so broken in the head?