One of the differences between liberals and conservatives is that liberals are guided by feeling and fantasy while conservatives are guided by fact and experience.  Liberals would like the words of John Lennon’s anthem, “Imagine” to be true and attainable.  Conservatives believe in a higher power and in the fact that good only comes when we fight for it.  Liberals believe that if we are just nice to each other, everyone will get along.  Conservatives realize the truth that some people will not try to get along, song people are evil, and sometimes to do right we have to be tough and make others angry.  We realize that when we stand tough, the good will move toward us and the evil will either continue to fight or, if we are successful, they will be killed.

Most of the media, most of the entertainment world,  and most of those teaching our children in elementary, secondary and higher education are liberal and are teaching the masses that we should all just be nice and the bad guys will become good guys.  Conservatives know that this is a fallacy, and worse, the path toward the destruction of America.  Conservatives also understand that the far left understands this and promotes this false belief system since they truly do want the destruction of America as we know it.

Currently, the two leftist candidates for the Democrat nomination for President are clear in their view that if we are just nice to everyone around the world, we will be popular and if we are popular we will gain influence.  The “messiah”, Barack Obama, and the Stepford Wife, Hillary Clinton, believe that we if we can suck up enough to Old Europe, the Middle East, and most of the rest of the world, we will all be safe and happy.  They may or may not understand the scam being promulgated by the far left, but either way, they are spearheading its cause. 

One media writer, Michael Gerson (Washington Post, 3/8/08), seems to understand the real world.  He wrote the following:

“The one goal that unites and explains the Democratic approach to foreign policy is this: America must try -- urgently and desperately -- to be more popular in the world.

‘The world was with us after 9/11,’ explains Hillary Clinton. ‘We have so squandered that good will and we've got to rebuild it.’ Barack Obama has said that the ‘single most important issue’ of the current election is picking a leader who can ‘repair all the damage that's been done to America's reputation overseas.’

“This argument depends on three premises -- all of which are questionable. First, listening to the Democrats, one would assume that America in the Bush era is universally despised. The reality is more complicated.  According to the Pew Global Attitudes Project, the United States is very popular in sub-Saharan Africa…. India and Japan are strongly pro-American. America remains popular in parts of ‘new Europe,’ as well as in Mexico, Peru and even Venezuela…

“The second premise of this Democratic argument is that American popularity in these regions could be increased, easily and permanently, by overturning Bush policies.

It is worth noting that American relations with European governments have rebounded strongly in the last few years with the elections of Angela Merkel in Germany and Nicolas Sarkozy in France. And the next president, Republican or Democrat, is likely to close Guantanamo and sign legislation to restrict American carbon emissions, mollifying two justified European criticisms. Yet the tensions between American and European worldviews ultimately have little to do with specific policies. Europe is an increasingly pacifist continent -- which is an improvement upon its bloody history, but a source of inevitable tension with a superpower that must occasionally enforce world order…And the broader Middle East is an even more difficult case. A close look at the Pew poll shows that appeasing public opinion in this region would require not merely leaving Iraq but also leaving Afghanistan, abandoning the war on terror and ending our support for Israel.

“The third premise of the Democratic argument is that global popularity translates directly into global influence. Here the historical evidence is thin.  Few American presidents have enjoyed a warmer embrace than John Kennedy visiting France in June 1961…But President Charles de Gaulle remained more interested in the cultivation of French self-esteem than in trans-Atlantic unity. Having withdrawn the French Mediterranean fleet from NATO in 1959, he later ordered the removal of NATO troops from French soil. President Lyndon Johnson (in one of his finest hours) instructed his secretary of state to ask de Gaulle: ‘Does your order include the bodies of American soldiers in France's cemeteries?’

“Few American presidents have been more reviled in Europe than Ronald Reagan, who responded to the Soviet deployment of SS-20 nuclear missiles by deploying Pershing II nuclear missiles. In West Germany, millions of people marched in protest. American soldiers were surrounded by hostile demonstrators…But Reagan's unpopular ‘cowboy’ determination helped end the Cold War and lift the nuclear threat from Europe.

“And we have seen a good example in our time. The January 2007 decision to surge American troops in Iraq was clearly at odds with world opinion. But retreating from Iraq in failure would have earned global contempt for American weakness instead of global popularity. And the turnaround in Iraq has restored at least some of our standing and leverage in the Middle East.

“The real lesson in the years since 9/11 is different from what the Democratic candidates imagine: It is easy to be loved when you are a victim. It is harder to be popular when you act decisively to protect yourself and others.

“A successful president should strive for America to be liked -- and expect, on occasion, for America to be resented in a good cause.”

The truth is, no one gains influence among oblivions and evil people by being nice.  We gain influence by standing tough.  Just as with our children, to be a good parent we have to do the hard things…we have to say the truth, we have to stand strong, even when others think we are being mean.  If we want our children to learn right from wrong and to take the right steps in life…steps that will help them gain success…we have to be harsh, touch, and strong.  All too often, parents no longer are willing to take the hard stand, and our children are showing the results. 

It is no different for a nation.  If we stand strong, we will win for what is right.  If we try to be nice, we will fail…our children will be controlled by evil nations, and our nation will collapse.  It really IS that simple.