Interesting

First...I was driving today, and this post has been inspired by a man who called the radio station I was listening too...this caller said (and was affirmed by the host of the show I was listening to) that America needed to realize that the greatest threat to our way of life was not the terrorists but NeoCons. Neo Conservatives. Threating the American way of life. More so then any man who ever flew a plane into any building...more so then any man who beheaded innocent civilians...more so then any tyrant with aspirations of world domination and brutal genocide.

Initially, I could only laugh. Clearly, this pinko-commie was off his rocker. But I had to wonder...how could anyone seriously postulate that the Religious Right of America honestly represented a greater threat to the "American Way" then terrorists? Whether it should have or not...this troubled me. So I thought about it a long time.

And finally I grasped the truth; the stereotypes have truth in them after all. In the past election year, I learned that to be taken seriously on any "meaningful" level, you have to remove yourself from the Fox News, Drudge Report pundits--supposedly if you enjoy cartoons lampooning the left you're just another right wing nut-job whose opinion isn't as valid as, say, the Michael Moore's and Dan Rather's out there. However...I am beginning to doubt the accuracy of this opinion. Whether I read Fox News or not...whether I allow myself to laugh at a cartoon dipicting all Lefties as Pinko-Commies or not...I am regarded as a serious threat to Democracy by men like this caller--and I have to assume he's not alone since the host of the radio show affirmed and encouraged his depiction of the Right. They think its legitimate. Why?

I finally got it. Because, democracy, to the Left, means enforced Equality, without absolute values of any meaningful kind--because that interferes with Equality. To the Left, I, a Right Wing Nut-Job, have much more in common with the terrorists then I do with them. I believe in absolute truths which require a life that changes in the light of truth. To the Left...this is incomprehensible. And, because I am an American, which supposedly means I should support the idea of democracy as one that prizes equality above all else but I don't...I really AM a bigger threat to the Left's interpretation of America's way of life then any terrorists--I'm right here, trying to ensure that Deomcracy is defined not by Equality, but Liberty.

Liberty and Equality. Two very different values.

Those that prize Liberty suggest that all men are created with equal rights and gives the freedom to enjoy those rights--with the faith that men given the opportunity to make whatever life they want for themselves WILL find prosperity. They believe in absolutes, because Liberty allows for right and wrong--as right as it is for men to be free, it is wrong for men oppress others--and they value life, authority, etc. Those who value Liberty were men like Churchill. Eisenhower. Reagan. Lincoln. Washington. Heroes.

Those that prize Equality suggest that all men deserve to have exactly the same opportunities--and that when those opportunities don't materialize we should enforce equality; they believe that to have equality, we cannot value anything absolutes because that suggests that those who don't agree wouldn't be on an equal playing field with us--the only absolute is the need for absolute Equality. The best examples of enforced Equality is the French Revolution at the end of the 1700's and the Russian Revolution at the beginning of the 1900's. Both brought death and terror. Equality brings the uprooting and upturning of all that holds society together, and ironically tyrants spring forth everytime in the wake of a revolution of enforced Equality. Napoleon and Stalin didn't rise out of liberty. They came about at the hands of "Citizens" and "Comrades."

Because I prize liberty I am a threat. Of course they'll never say it...that's the truth. I am poor...I don't want a hand-out, nor do I want to penalize the rich for the fact that I am poor. I am therefore a traitor.

I believe in absolutes and consider such truths to have a direct effect on my life--and see black and white, right and wrong. There tends to be little room for undistinguishable Equality in such a world. I am public enemy #1 to the Left...along with everyone else that holds a similar belief.

I don't think all Democrats fall into this category--I have friends that are independents and even Democrats who would think that this idiot was as stupid as I do. But there is a large majority on the Left that would agree with the comment made by this insightful radio caller. And I finally understand exactly why. Interesting.