And the odds of the leftist agenda being further advanced seemed to increase in the wake of both the Newtown tragedy and the Boston Marathon bombing. As leftists immediately politicized both tragedies, they no doubt felt confident they could do what they do best: fit tragedies into a political context favorable to them.
But It has not worked. If, as they say, trouble comes in threes, then Radical Islam, guns and abortion mean trouble for the left.
The left stands terribly disappointed that the bombers were not the domestic right wing nuts they so hoped for, that they could not even get a minimalist gun control bill through the senate they control, and that they have to deal with the horrifying embarrassment related to their most precious issue, abortion on demand, in the trial of the unspeakably evil abortion butcher in Philadelphia. Add it all up, and the left is now back on its heels for the first time in quite a while. And this time it is not about economics. It is about culture.
Now, Far be it from me to disagree with Ben Franklin, a veritable font of wisdom. But it has always been perplexing that one of his most famous sayings has for so long been unquestioningly embraced.
That saying is: Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.
While it is true that the human heart craves liberty, it seems to value security just as much if not more. We want freedom, but also safety. And we have historically acted on the belief we can have both.
Franklin said when the people find they can vote themselves money, that would herald the end of the republic. And the last election would seem to indicate that’s just what’s happening in America.
Given the deplorable track record of leftist governments over the course of history, about the only thing the worldwide leftist movement has going for it is its willingness and ability to whip people into a frenzy with purely emotional arguments designed to divide people - rich from poor, black from white, men from women. And they have achieved or maintained power by penalizing success, rewarding dependency and tearing down those who get in their way.
No potential target of the left is sacred. The Roman Catholic church has just selected the first pope from the new world, a man of humility, dedication and undeniable decency. A man who has humbled himself before the least among us, the poor and the sick, and who has stood unflinchingly for life, courageously opposing the ruling leftists on many issues. A man who should be, and is, a source of pride for South Americans of all stripes......but the far left president of his homeland of Argentina understands the threat this pope represents to the marxist movement that has led to multiple leftist governments in South America that have destroyed economies and produced rampant inflation and crime. So President Cristina Fernandez worked behind the scenes to prevent the selection of this pope from his own country, and since his selection, has seen fit to use a government-backed newspaper to make the absurd implication, with no evidence, that Pope Francis collaborated with a previous regime in that country to kidnap two priests. This is but one of the miriad examples of the scorched earth tactics of the hard left.
But in the wake of bitter defeat in the elections last November that pulled this nation further to the left, Republicans have suffered from ideological confusion.
What to do - embrace some of the tenets of the opposition in an effort to win over more voters, or hold fast to the conservative principles that distinguish their party from the Democrats? Put another way, the question is whether your loyalty is to party, or policy.
High drama surrounding an explosively controversial transportation bill in Virginia recently framed this question almost perfectly.
With an infrastructure that needs repair and expansion, Republican Governor Bob McDonnell broke with conservatives and advocated for a bill that raises several state taxes. More than half of his fellow Republicans in the legislature voted against it, and the Governor was forced to rely on heavy support from Democrats to get the bill passed.
Sure, we’ve had Democratic presidents and congresses since 1964, but never have so many hard-left policies been enacted or seriously considered since the year Lyndon Baines Johnson was elected president.
From when he was elected in 1960, John F. Kennedy defined liberalism with a clarion call to land a man on the moon, export the best of America through the peace corps, reduce astronomical tax rates and engage the world with a foreign policy that viewed communism and the Soviet threat in realistic terms. But that brand of liberalism died, perhaps forever, when JFK was assassinated in Dallas in November of 1963, and was replaced by a statist vision that has stolen the heart of the Democratic party.
LBJ used his considerable political skill and capital to translate JFK’s new frontier into the great society, engineering passage of the Civil Rights Act and other new legislation that would double down on FDR’s new deal with massive new government programs with the expressed purpose of eliminating poverty. Foremost among these was Medicare.
Some slogans work, others don't. Some are memorable, others are not. But nobody has more successfully conveyed truth through slogans than those fighting for the rights of gun owners. All in less than ten words. Consider these oldies but goodies: Guns don't kill people, people kill people. What words could better convey the reality that gun-related crime is caused by the shooter, not the weapon. By hearts, not bullets. Would we feel better if the 27 deaths in Newtown had resulted from a bomb instead of guns, as was the case in Oklahoma City, in a school massacre even greater than Sandy Hook In 1927 and in other mass murders.
If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns. This is at the heart of the gun control issue.
