The Strength of Conservatism

It's not often you see or hear anyone openly praise or advocate socialism, Marxism or communism in America, but I respect those that do.

No, I don't have a crack pipe in my hand, and I haven't been hitting the bong.  The thing is, I respect those who stand up for what they believe in, and who don't try to hide it.  In my opinion, integrity is one of the most honorable traits one can possess.  I may disagree with the idealism, but that's another issue.

Today, I read a couple of stories that got me thinking about fundamental differences between liberals and conservatives, beyond the relatively obvious.  One was about a teachers union member videotaped praising Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels while expressing his desire to see a socialist revolution here in America.  The other was about a New York Times writer that expressed surprise and offense at another newspaper openly promoting conservatism.

Since the founding of America, there have been liberals and there have been conservatives.  The liberals, while suffering from that mental illness known as "liberalism" are, by and large, actually somewhat smart.  They came up with the strategy of infiltrating our schools and the media, two of the most influential institutions in American society.  They mold and shape impressionable young minds at school, and continue that subtle influence through the way they "report" the "news" in the mainstream media.  A shrewd strategy, to be sure.  One that would be nearly insurmountable on paper.

But the liberals, who still believe we are all too dumb to make it through life without their infinite wisdom and firm guidance, didn't count on We the People being intelligent and exercising independent, critical thinking skills.

Despite being subjected to sixteen-plus years of leftist indoctrination during our primary and secondary "education" and constant bombardment of liberal slant in the media, more than half of Americans repudiate liberalism.  And the vast majority want no part of socialism, Marxism, or communism.

There is a reason that you never hear liberals refer to themselves as "liberals" or their ideas as "liberalism".  There is a reason that 70 members of Congress don't openly share that they are members of the Democratic Socialists of America, an organization that subscribes to the same philosophies espoused by the likes of Lenin and Marx.  There's a reason Nancy Pelosi condescendingly stated that "we need to pass the bill so you can see what's in it", when referring to the deeply unpopular Obamacare legislation.  There is a reason that liberals use terms such as "social justice" instead of "government-sponsored discrimination", and "going green" instead of "capitalism sucks balls so we need to micromanage and punish the free market under the guise of imminent planetary doom".

It's the same reason that the Occupy Wall Street morons wear masks and bandannas to cover their faces much like Hezbollah and al Qaeda members do.

They're cowards, and they're wrong. 

Liberals know their idealism runs afoul of the founding principles of the United States of America, so they are too cowardly to openly own it.

It's commonplace for conservatives to use the words "conservative" and "conservatism", and identify themselves as "conservatives".  Those with scruples and integrity don't have to hide their beliefs or their agenda.  They don't have to hide their faces, and they don't need stealthy indoctrination strategies to achieve their goals.  Good people doing the right things never have to hide anything.  They put it all out there and let the people decide, instead of believing that the people are too stupid to make the "right" decisions for themselves.

Terrorists, with their roadside bombs and human shields, are cowards.  Occupiers that push cops off their motorcycles and smash store windows while wearing masks are cowards.  Liberals that don't own up to their idealism and agenda (are you listening, New York Times and NBC?  Are you listening, college professors?) are also cowards.  They hide and deceive and lie because they know they are WRONG.

After all, if the left was right, they wouldn't call it "the left".

We can only hope that Americans will continue to use their independent, critical thinking skills when it comes to the direction of our country.  People need to turn off Dancing with the Stars and turn on to what's going on around them, before it's too late.

Fortunately, conservatism is strong and stands on its own merits.  Its application requires neither stealth nor indoctrination, because it is right.

Just ask our Founding Fathers by way of reading our Constitution.

Income "Inequality": Good or Bad?

The mainstream media have been very busy lately, between churning out as many stories as possible about the accusations of impropriety against Herman Cain, working feverishly to ensure the Occupy protests stay firmly atop the fold, and "reporting" anything and everything they can find critical of the diversity among income levels in America.

The accusations against Cain are pretty typical election season muckraking by the leftist lapdog media, no surprise there.  The effort to keep the Occupy movement in front of everyone's consciousness might help the left, if only those darn protesters weren't raping children, pushing little old ladies down stairs, assaulting police officers, trashing businesses, and other various & sundry acts of "peaceful protest".

But I digress, as the issue that stuck in my craw today is being touted as "income inequality".  Big and prominent on the Yahoo homepage today is a link entitled, "Remake America: Income Inequality".  Yahoo claims this is a "conversation" they want to have about "solutions", after running a short video of people moaning and whining about their low-paying job, having to pay the mortgage for a house they can't afford, the rising cost of groceries and gas, and bleating about how "unfair" it is that the rich are rich and they are not.

Evidently Yahoo thinks the answer is to "remake America", much as Obama wants to "fundamentally transform" her.  Apparently Yahoo hasn't been paying attention to what has been going on in the country; Obama is racking up failures in his bid to transform America almost as fast as the country is racking up debt.  Just another example of how the left utterly refuses to learn from history, and demonstrates its collective insanity by trying the same things over and over again, expecting different results.  I guess it's Yahoo's turn to give insanity a whirl.

Life isn't fair, and there is always going to be "income inequality" in a free country.  That's just how it is, and always will be.  In fact, aside from free will, there is little else that is equal.  Folks say there is equal opportunity for everyone, but let's face it, not everyone has the same opportunities.  This isn't the fault of the country, the system, the left, right, or rich...it begins and ends at home.  Young people define "normal" as what they experience in their lives up until they're an adult.  Kids that grow up in the 'hood without a dad and whose mom is a crack whore on welfare and food stamps see that life as "normal", and after years of listening to mama whine that it's someone else's fault, they believe that it must be true...because they don't know anything else.

As adults, they've got to wise up and break that perpetual cycle.  The only way that a society can have "income equality" would be if some central power were responsible for distributing "income" to the people.  Guess what kind of systems THOSE are, boys & girls?  Socialism, Marxism, & communism.  Totalitarian systems of government that turn the principles of freedom and liberty on their ear.  In these societies, the people are dependent on the all-powerful government for everything, from food, clothing, housing, education, medical care, and transportation.  You own nothing; you are merely a subject with no rights, aside what the government gives you.  You do as your masters tell you, or you are beaten, tortured, and killed.  Forget about free speech.  Protests of any kind...dissent of any kind...is strictly forbidden.

Look at East Germany (oops, it's gone), the Soviet Union (whoops), Vietnam, Cuba, and China for some case studies on income equality.  You'll notice a pattern - government officials and their lackeys have all the wealth, while the vast majority of people in these systems are poor when compared to the vast majority of Americans.  The Vietnamese do not live in opulent luxury; most are happy to have a mud hut to sleep in.  Cuba and China have enacted reforms, but again, the majority are poor.  Before the USSR and East Germany ceased to exist, their people were....poor.

But, by God, they had their equality! 

Here in America, we don't need to be "remade" or "transformed".  We are built upon the bedrock principles of freedom, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  It may not be easy to make your own way here, but the rewards are great.  Regardless of how bad an economy is, a free people always have the opportunity to rise above it and drive on.  Here in America, you reap what you sow.  Work hard and do the right thing, and the possibilities are endless.

All of these people who are villifying our system and wistfully yearning for income equality should go spend a month living in one of those countries mentioned above. They'll come back with a new appreciation for the freedom and opportunity they have in the United States of America. 

The same appreciation the rest of us already have.