I am proud to be a conservative

When Barak Obama and his people take over the White House all the “B”, “H” and “O” s will still remain on the key boards; this is both a strength and weakness of conservatives. Unlike the Clinton team, those in the Bush Administration will not trash the White house before leaving nor will they take everything not nailed down.

With few exceptions conservatives are people who play by the rules, respect property and rights of others and do not resort to tricks and fraud to succeed. This is because conservatives believe that their views will prevail if people can be properly informed and because they believe that Americans will do the right thing for the country even if other policies will enable them to unfairly receive more than they deserve.

There is no equivalent of ACORN on the right, nor is there any counterpart of the black caucus, the NAACP, the ACLU, or the multitude of other groups designed to exert inordinate influence on government. Conservatives believe the Constitution means what it says and respect the founders and their incredible achievement in producing a document for the ages; not a “living document” to be changed and rewritten according to the wishes of judges or other branches of government, but one that can and should be the law of the land regardless of the vagaries of public opinion.

For two hundred years the constitution was a bulwark against other philosophies that would destroy our free enterprise capitalist system which encourages individual responsibilities and individual achievement based on one’s willingness to exceed expectations through hard work and personal effort.

It is a fragility of the human condition that many would just assume that those with more should share their success with those unwilling to make the effort to achieve equivalent success on their own. Politics favor those in the latter category because their numbers far exceed the former. In a democratic society where each citizen has the same one vote it is axiomatic that politicians favoring wealth distribution will prevail. For this reason communist and socialist societies come to power when people put self interest ahead of their country. It is also axiomatic that all such systems ultimately fail, something recognized by our county’s founders but ignored by politicians seeking power for power’s sake.

When Pilgrims first arrived on our shores, their leader implemented a communal system whereby all produce was put in a common pot and distributed to each according to their needs. It didn’t take long for them to realize this system did not work because there was no incentive for anyone to work harder than others. The Pilgrim society flourished only when they allowed for free enterprise so that each would prosper according to their own effort.

When Senator Joe Biden was asked if the proposals by Barack Obama were not similar to the Marxist premise of “from each according to their means to each according to their needs.”, Biden scoffed at the question but the reality is that the United States has crept along this path for a long time and is now arriving at the logical conclusion. The fact is that the country’s founders did not even want the government to be able to tax the earnings of individuals; it took a constitutional amendment to reverse this important constitutional prohibition. As is usually the case, once a there is an opening in the dike the wall of resistance weakens and if allowed to expand ultimately leads to its destruction.

The constitutional amendment permitting individual income tax eventually gave way to the concept of “progressive taxation” which allows those with more to be taxed at a higher rate that others with less. This may sound fair to some but is not too dissimilar to the failed program initiated by the Pilgrims on their arrival. Perhaps this can be called “communism light.”

So today we have seen a further weakening of the wall of resistance with election of someone who has made no secret of his desire to “spread the wealth.” Where this will lead is really not a mystery. Take a look at the president elect’s agenda. First all of the executive orders implemented by George Bush will be rescinded and replaced with new policies demanded by Obama’s liberal supporters. Secret ballots for workers will be replace with an arrangement intended to increase union membership and power at the expense of worker freedom and our basic democratic system. Of course, this is just one example of many we will see in the at least the next four years.

We can also expect to see a reduction in personal freedom and choice as our government ignores the plethora of evidence that man does not cause climate change and imposes upon us huge changes on our way of life to conform to the liberal orthodoxy that our successful society must be curtailed to “save the planet.”

It may be that people get the government they want, but unfortunately the mistakes they make affect us all.

On a personal note; those who have been regular readers of this blog have noted that fewer articles have been posted recently. This is because I am going through a bit of a difficult patch right now; hopefully I will be able to resume regular postings sometime but it will not be for a while. I hope you will bear with me and come back from time-to-time.

Vincent