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Nov. 11, 2004 At the risk of giving the Democrats a clue, what follows can be viewed as an open letter to the Democrat leadership and their liberal constituents: Dear Liberal Democrats- For a bit over a week now, you've been lamenting your, to you, "stunning" losses in the recent election. I'm sure that there's much soul- searching going on in liberal circles about just where you went wrong, what you DID wrong and what can you do to win in the future. Far be it for me to do anything to "help" you folks, but here are a few observations that you might consider. Americans are in favor of a strong national defense. They really don't take too well to those who ridicule our military services and they CERTAINLY don't take too well to those who betray them and give aid and comfort to our enemies. We are willing to finance whatever it takes to protect our shores and national interests--so long as it's spent wisely on people, their training and the arms and equipment it takes to minimize, to the maximum extent possible, their casualties and those of non-combatant civilians. Taking to the streets to "protest" every conflict is NOT "legitimate protest" when we are fully engaged IN a war. Such activities merely convince our enemies that we're so divided in our resolve to win that all they have to do is wait us out, inflict as many casualties on us as possible, and we'll turn tail and run from the fight. Such activities actually PROLONG such conflicts. They DO NOT shorten them and even the most cretinous of the "peace at any cost" crowd should be able to understand that. Americans are in favor of lower taxes. It doesn't matter to most of us that those who pay the bulk of income taxes receive the bulk of the tax cuts. Those of us who make $30K and get a $1000 tax cut DO NOT begrudge a $100K cut going to the guy who makes $3 million a year. We understand the concept of "paying one's 'fair share'" even bettet than YOU do, apparently. We don't believe that it's "fair" for example for the top 10% of wage-earners to pay 60% of all the income taxes paid. Please explain what's "fair" about that if you want Americans' support in the future--and you'd better come up with something besides what you think someone "needs" as your answer. You are NOT the arbiters of how much is "enough" or how much is "too much" when it comes to a person's income. We live in a free society where everyone is free to prosper as much as he or she is capable of, and we DON'T need liberals to tell us how much that is. For that matter, we don't need liberals to tell us what constitutes "poverty." There are thousands of families that the left classifies as "poor" which are perfectly happy, stable families, content with their lot in life. Telling them (and us) that they are "miserable" doesn't make it so. Everyone would like to make more money, from the richest of us to the poorest. Wanting to be wealthier doesn't make anyone "greedy." Our economy is NOT a zero-sum game. For me to prosper, it's NOT necessary for someone else to be miserable. Stop trying to convince us that it is. Americans want smaller, less intrusive government. If you want our support in the future, you're going to have to disabuse yourselves of the idea that "the government" is the source of fairness, equity and the font of all financial resources and the owner of all the money in the country--some of which they allow us to keep for ourselves--if the mood strikes them. In general, when I speak of "the government," I'm talking about elected officials at all levels and those who are part of the federal, state and local bureaucracies. I understand the concept of "government of, by and for the people." That's not what I'm talking about here. No government can possibly guarantee perfect security for ANYONE, it's futile for it to try and most of its efforts to do so result in the slow (or not so slow) erosion of personal liberties. Neither is the government the source to which each of us must go in order to right wrongs. If a company is crooked and bilks its customers, two things are certain to happen. First, it will be sued in equity for that wrong and likely pay big fines. Secondly, it'll go completely out of business, for no business can prosper and continue that's inherently dishonest. We don't NEED the government to promulgate reams and reams of "rules and regulations" to govern business conduct other than the normal laws prohibiting dishonesty or negligence and providing for the equitable settlement of any disputes. It shouldn't be necessary for some bureaucrat deep in the bowels of OSHA to keep coming up with rules to "protect" workers from every conceivable hazard just in order to keep his job "necessary." It's NOT in the interest of business to have its employees in danger of death or dismemberment and they are perfectly capable of coming up with reasonable protective methods without the intervention of government. "Polluting" ground water by increasing it's chloride content by 3 parts per million via an accidental spill of brine is NOT a tragedy worthy of millions of dollars of "preventive measures." The release of Freon (c) into the atmosphere will NOT kill or harm a single human soul. It does NOT need to be treated as though it were sarin nerve gas in its handling and neither does crude oil. Finally, government MUST start looking with a large dose of skepticism at every pronouncement from the so- called 'environmental movement." The Tennico Dam farce to "save" the "endangered" snail darter SHOULD have proven that, but apparently had little or no effect on government policies-- certainly not within the EPA at any rate. It was NOT simple coincidence that AFTER the project was scuttled it was found that the snail darter was abundent in hundreds of unaffected waterways. The same can be said for the DDT scam which killed not a single eagle or falcon but the banning of which has caused untold tens of thousands of PEOPLE to die. Americans demand that their most cherished beliefs and moral positions be given at least the same respect given to "protecting the Wilson's Ambersnail" from "extinction." We don't find it necessary for the government to PROMOTE religion or religious beliefs, and we've never even requested that it do so. All we ask is that people of religious conviction not be excluded from public discourse and that the government (through its public schools) not UNDERMINE the religious principles under which we've chosen to raise our children. If we wanted the schools to teach our kids how to have sex, we'd request that they do so. If we thought that homosexuality is a "natural" state and wish our kids to look upon it as such, we'd tell them so ourselves. We don't want the schools passing out literature or teaching classes designed to PROMOTE the idea that homosexual behavior (or ANY sexual behavior, for that matter) is "fun" and without consequence, and we most assuredly don't want some school counselor, teacher or administrator taking our daughters off to Planned Parenthood for an abortion (which is, after all, an invasive surgical procedure) without either our knowledge OR consent. If a school can be sued for giving out medications without parental permission, it should also be possible to sue their pants off for helping our daughters obtain an abortion without our prior knowledge or permission. Also, you must understand that the 1st Amendment grants freedom of religion and prohibits the State from establishing a State religion. It is NOT "promoting" one religion over another to permit the display of a creche at Christmas on public property or allowing our kids to sing Christmas carols at school during the holiday season. Your kids are not Christian? Then tell them simply not to participate if you or they'd be offended. By the way, you do NOT have an inherent right NOT to be offended. Plus, being offended works both ways. Your secularism on proud display is more of an offense to our sensibilities than our religious expression could ever be to yours. The display of Christian symbols on public property is NOT a case of the government "promoting" one religion at another's expense. It's simply permitting Christians to display their religious symbols where lots of people can see 'em....period. Finally, you've simply GOT to accept the fact that conservatives seldom are bigoted idiots any more than all liberals are atheistic dolts. There are bigots and fools on BOTH sides of the political "aisle," and you won't win any conservatives or moderates over to your side by showing nothing but contempt for those of us who disagree with your agenda. That the Hollywood and East Coast elites sneeringly refer to most of the rest of the country as "flyover country" is indicative of the contempt most of them hold for the people who REALLY make America work. New York City MAY be considered a "fashion hub" or even the nation's financial center, and you might think that San Francisco is the very soul of "enlightenment" or Hollywood is the source of all artistic intellectualism, but the part of the country that makes us the great nation that we are is all that territory in between those communities, from where virtually all of the best people and best ideas originally come. If liberals (and, in particular, Democrats) ever want to be a relevant part of our political society in any really meaningful way, you're going to have to accept the fact that ridiculing us and demeaning us and making fun of us will NOT do it for you. You're going to have to change the way you think about the issues of the day-- not, as in Kerry's case, simply change your rhetoric so you think it'll "resonate" better in the heartland. One other thing we as Americans dislike almost as much as we dislike being condescended to is being lied to just to gain our favor. ------------ About the author: David A. Jared is a news junkie, semi-retired and an avid golfer who's been writing his first book, "4000 years of chopsticks" for the last 20 years. Email: Pappadave@sbcglobal.net ------------- All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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