The Problem With Compromise

Watching "The Five" on Fox News I have become convinced that it is pointless to argue with liberals. The reason for that conclusion finally penetrated my brain as I watched Juan Williams comment on the role of government. From his perspective the primary task of government is to "take care of people".  My view of government's task is that its duty is to  preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of The United States and thereby maintain the delicate balance between civil order, international relationships, and maximal individual rights, freedom, and liberty.

These two positions have come to be mutually exclusive.  When every action of government must be evaluated by how it "helps" people then discussions of liberty are automatically ruled out. All recipients of government help automatically give up some of their liberty to receive that "help".  The "helping" mission is obvious in our tax code. Taxes should be funding the government operations of defense, border control, common infrastructure, and safety. Our tax code is no longer about funding these government operations as much as it is about some kind of social engineering. Taxes are used to eliminate poverty, eliminate all forms of discrimination, create jobs, heal the sick, shelter the homeless, save the planet, and provide for retirement.  In fact, the actual primary activities of government are sacrificed to support the social agendas.

The Constitutional perspective operates on the fact that life is filled with risks. Taking and managing those risks as individuals is what freedom is all about. When a person with little financial resources says that "I can have a better life if I open a new business and make a profit". That person is saying that he will risk having no insurance, eating poorly, and living in poverty while he build his future. Such people have made the  USA what it is today. This was the country where you were free to bet on yourself. You might fail but you were free to try and to try again. If things did not work out then the risk takers used their own survival skills or if necessary turned to friends, family, and community for help to survive the period between a failed risk and the start of a new endeavor. That new endeavor might be a new job in a new community or  starting another business. Whatever the direction taken, the choice of direction was the individual's choice to make.

Liberals do not believe that anyone should take those risks. In their view it is not individual effort and responsibility that meets people's needs, it is the government. The collective wealth of the country meets the needs of all the citizens. With this as their basic premise liberals cannot even think about individual risk taking inherent in a free society. Allowing people to risk not having health insurance is cruel, stingy, and not compassionate according to reasoning based on the liberal premise of government's job to care for all.

The Constitutional versus liberal ideals of government have become mutually exclusive. There can be no compromise when neither side accepts responsibility for the concepts that define their world view. Compromise is trade-off.  My opinion, based solely on my interaction with thousands of people over my lifetime, is that liberals do not understand their own basic premise and therefore cannot even imagine an alternative perspective. Conservatives are often described as religious fanatics when in fact the strictest fundamentalist religion is Liberalism. Challenges to liberal ideas are not just other ideas, they are heresy. Once defined as heresy no argument is possible.

When liberals acknowledge that theirs is not the "only true way to heaven on Earth" it will be possible to find solutions that require some sacrifice of liberty to provide necessary help for the less successful in our society. But the compromise can only occur when both sides recognize and fairly and openly debate the trade-offs between utopia and freedom.

The 218

To the Republican Men and Women in the 111th Congress;

The story of "The 300" was about the Spartans that stood at Thermopylae against overwhelming odds and fought to save their country while knowing that they themselves would lose this battle. Their willingness to join the battle against all odds saved Greece.

There are 218 Republicans in both houses of Congress and they face a similar choice today. All are not trained to be warriors as the 300 Spartans were but they nevertheless need to stand together to save their country.

So far the Democrats (or Persians ) have

• taken over the banking system
• taken over the automobile industry
• begun to demonize and disenfranchise any who disagree or oppose the government
• weakened our defenses
• emboldened our enemies
• threatened to take control of the energy industry
• taken over the housing industry
• committed to spending more money than any government in our history, indeed more than most of those governments combined
• they tell companies who than can hire and who they should fire
• they tell companies how much they can pay
• they have inserted a 5th column into the electoral process to undermine its fairness and the people's trust in it
• created dissension among people by deliberately not taxing vast numbers of people while demonizing and over-taxing those that are even slightly affluent
• they seek to take over education by paying the college tuition for every student.
• they seek to discredit and punish previous governments by prosecuting people for legally and faithfully doing their jobs
• they seek to remove democratic principles from the workplace
  

Each day the assault on the America we know is under new attacks. If we don't soon stand up and fight back there will be no chance of winning back and the liberty and freedom we have come to take for granted will be gone!

The 218 need to put on their armor and sharpen their spears and then stand shoulder-to-shoulder to fight Universal Health Care. That is our Thermopylae. We don't have enough votes to win but we need to take a stand. We need to oppose it in every way possible! Speeches on the floor of the House and Senate Chambers )not cya articles read into the Congressional Record)! Meetings in their home districts and states. Letters to the editors of major newspapers and blogs. Work with all types of electronic media to get the word out. Vote no to every presentation and piece of any Universal Health Care bill.

This does not mean offering an alternative. THERE IS NO ALTERNATIVE FOR THIS KIND OF PLAN IN A DEMOCRATIC FREE MARKET REPUBLIC! The basic assumption is wrong and must be opposed, not compromised. Filibuster, offer killer amendments, use procedural rules to slow the process. DO EVERYTHING POSSIBLE!

Will we win? Probably not, we a re outnumbered. But the battle can delay the march of tyranny until more people can understand the threat. The battle can inspire the next wave of fighters for liberty. A heroic stand has made the difference many times throughout history. Clear battle lines and heroic warriors become the models and beacons for those who follow.

Be a hero! Stand at the Gates of Fire and make us, your constituents, proud!