Watching the death of freedom is heartbreaking. This magnificent construct called the United States of America was built by a collection of talent the likes of which world has rarely seen. For a crowded moment in time, in a small strip of sea-side colonies, some of the greatest minds ever assembled put aside their sundry differences and collaborated to produce an experiment in government that literally changed the world. Whether or not you are an American citizen reading this, it is unarguable that you have been affected by what those men did two and a half centuries ago.
What the United States founding fathers accomplished was something that had never been done before, and although often copied, has never been duplicated. Their Constitution, and the Bill of Rights upon which the ratification of the Constitution hinged, are literally works of art. They satisfy every concept of the term: 1) solving a complex problem 2) doing so elegantly 3) and moving the audience while in the process.
This work of art was chiseled out of the Judeo-Christian world-view, founded upon a strong distrust of government power, polished with the principles of justice for all, and finished with the sanctity of the individual and his or her right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This masterpiece was then bestowed upon the people as a guardian of their freedoms against governmental tyranny.
Today, however, the administration in Washington and its Congress are defacing this work of art as though it were just another dusty heirloom. I heard one analogy that it's as if the teenagers have taken over the principle's office; weilding the power without any understanding of how it got there or what it is for. For some reason, in a cruder illustration, my mind goes back to the old Kevin Costner movie Dances with Wolves, in which a disenfranchised Civil War veteran finds himself in love with an Indian woman. Throughout the middle of the movie Costner's character writes a beautiful and moving diary of his feelings and experiences but loses it as he is re-captured by his countrymen. In a display of arrogance and insolence, one of the soldiers, unable to read, used the diary as tiolet paper.
Every time I think of that analogy it strikes me as somewhat offensive, and perhaps it is a bit too strong for use here. But I use it to demonstrate a simple truth: ignorance destroys beauty. What is happening in Washington right now can only be described as ignorance. If it is not ignorance, then it must be something much worse, for who would knowingly and in full understanding trample something so beautiful?
There are many fronts on which we could discuss the new and proposed policies coming out of Washington:
1. Moral grounds (as in, It's not Right!)
2. Grounds of Fairness (as in, it's not Fair!)
3. Constitutional Grounds (as in, it's not Authorized!)
These would all warrant complete articles of their own. These three, however, are easily opposed by people with strange world-views. Without a Judeo-Christian ethos, moral grounds become relative, and without absolutes, who's to say what's moral? For someone playing the victim card, the second one disappears as such a person only wants justice for them and not justice for all. For power-lovers the Constitution can easily be trampled in the name of expediency. So, arguments for these three reasons often fall upon deaf ears.
The fourth front, however, is unarguable, or should be. It is supported by history, facts, and adequate experimentation around the world. The fourth category is:
4. Pragmatics (as in, it's not workable!)
Even if we leave off speaking about moral absolutes, fairness and justice, and the constructs of law through the Constitution and Bill of Rights, we are still left with the extremely important understanding of what works. And quite simply, the policies being passed into law in Washignton right now do not work. Outrageous government spending (which, by the way, happened to catastrophic levels under George W. Bush's adminstration, as well), does not stimulate the economy, but wrecks it. Abortion does not help a society, it destroys it. Befriending terrorists does not appease them, it emboldens them. Celebrating diversity does not unite, it divides. Nationalizing private industry does not lead to productivty gains, but to the death of competitiveness. Nationalizing health care does not lead to better care for all, but to worse care for most. Eliminating guns does not lead to less gun crime, just less protection against gun crimes.
I could go further, but my point should be clear. These things are not theories left untried, but are a compilation of failed policies from other nations and history that have crashed miserably every time they've been tried! As I have said before in this blog, Why must we repeat bad policy just to make sure it's still bad?
Ignorance, my friends.
Or worse.
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