Where Did Common Sense Go??
Large portions of our country, including many of our representatives in Congress, have lost sight of conclusions so obvious that fifty years ago, Americans of both political parties would have agreed upon them almost unanimously.
To name a few examples:
- When you borrow money, it does eventually have to be paid back.
- You shouldn't buy a house you can't afford.
- Nobody owes you a living.
- It's not justice when the rulings of judges depend on ideology and personal preferences, instead of the Constitution.
- If we set up a tax system that puts all the taxes on the people at the top, they'll eventually, one way or the other, find a way to stop paying the check -- whether it be through loopholes, deliberately earning less money, or just leaving the country.
- People come before animals.
- You reap what you sow.
- It's good for America to have a patriotic populace.
- Many other countries aren't "nice" and don't "wish us well."
- People who do a bad job shouldn't be rewarded for it.
- When you deliberately lie, your credibility should suffer for it.
- You don't have a "right" to other people's property.
- You are the person primarily responsible for taking care of yourself.
Truisms of this sort shouldn't have much to do with politics--they're that basic, that simple. Yet, you can point to people at every level of American society, including most significantly, large portions of Congress, that act as if these rules don't apply.
- We run a large deficit every year.
- Congress has knowingly pushed banks to give loans for homes to people who couldn't afford them.
- We have large numbers of people who expect the government to take care of them if they choose not to work.
- Liberals openly say they believe in a "living constitution," which is little better than believing in no Constitution at all.
- Large portions of the American public pay no income tax while politicians claim the people who are paying 86% of the income tax we collect aren't "paying their fair share."
- The interests of animals, from caribou to endangered species, are often given preference over those of human beings.
- People who make terrible decisions, like buying houses they can't afford, coming to this country illegally, or running banks into the ground, have countless defenders in government who don't believe they should suffer for their mistakes.
- The Democratic candidate for President made a big deal publicly of not wearing a flag pin anymore and only relented when there were unpleasant public complaints.
- There's a foolish belief many people have that any problem we have with another nation can be fixed simply by discussing it with them.
- Men like Ted Kennedy, William Jefferson and others have been reelected by their constituents despite committing offenses so egregious and widely known that I don't even have to mention them.
- Politicians, including both of our presidential candidates regularly lie to the public.
- We have politicians and activists speaking of things like "housing" and "medical care" as rights, despite the fact that other people have to pay for those "rights."
- We regularly hear people bemoaning the fact that the government doesn't care about them, blaming other people, blaming society, and blaming everyone but themselves for the state of their lives.
- Ignoring the basic rules we know to be true and living off the wealth from the blood and sweat of others is absolutely unsustainable economically, culturally, and socially over the long-haul.
The question is, whether and when will the sharp correction come?
I doubt it will be under either of the two left wing candidates currently seeking the presidency.
