Before I enter into my next rant, let me thank you all for your patronage. As of this month, we have had over16,000 hits on this site. Not much compared to some, but a lot compared to those who do not advertise and whose base has developed by word of mouth. Thank you all! Now on to the rant.
Once in a while we see an editorial, essay, or letter to the editor asking what, at first glance, seems to be a reasonable question: "Why can’t the left and right learn to talk together, compromise, and just get along?". In fact, an acquaintance of mine just asked this question again in a letter that he wrote to the editor of the Minneapolis StarTribune (Glenn Hirsch, June 26, 2005).
So what is the answer? Why can’t we all just get along? Most of us aspire to get through the day, “play well with others”, and get the job done. Yet, there are times that we cannot succeed at this aspiration. There may be many reasons. Here is one.
Those who wonder why we all can’t get along seem to assume that we all, as human beings, share similar goals for ourselves and for our nation. Unfortunately, this is not the case. By way of example, look at the decision by the Supreme Court handed down on June 23. Five liberal justices purposefully misinterpreted the Taking Clause of Amendment V of the U.S. Constitution to allow governments to take away the personal property of individuals solely on the basis of economic benefit to that government. While in the past this clause was interpreted as allowing governments to take property for purposes of national security (as in the building of the interstate highway system), this recent decision allows city governments to take property if such seizure by eminent domain will simply increase the city’s tax base. This is a remarkable expansion of government power. And no one seems to be noticing.
It is my belief that no one notices this government takeover because liberals have taken away our individual rights slowly, one by one. The right not to wear a helmet, the right to smoke, the right not to wear a seatbelts, and the right to bear arms are some examples. The right to eat what we want (suits against fast food restaurants) and to live where we want (tax pressures on “urban sprawl) are not far behind. As a people, we have accepted these thefts of individual rights in the name of progressiveness.
As we all know, progressives,( i.e., liberals) assert repeatedly that they are out to defend the “little guy”. How can anyone argue with that? We can’t…unless we wake up. Using that mantra, liberals are doing all that they can to take away individual rights in favor of big government. Conservatives, on the other hand, are attempting to preserve individual rights.
So the answer to the question of why we can’t all get along is that we do not all share a common goal for ourselves and our nation. The left promotes the value of the collective (big government) over the value of the individual. The right promotes the value of the individual.
There is no middle ground between the left and the right and therefore we cannot all get along. As long as the left wants to promote the collective above the individual, there can be no compromise.
It is time for Americans to wake up. We have to push for enactment of legislation and Constitutional amendments that will prevent activist leftist judges from legislating socialism in
