On Bosses and Daddies

So, you may recall a few weeks back that Chris Rock said that President Obama was like the country's boss and daddy.  Setting aside the colossal irony (think about who said it) and stupidity of such a statement, his word choice actually deserves a bit more analysis than its shallowness suggests.

That statement reveals one of the big differences between how conservatives and progressives think.

Julius Caesar.

Something everyone should understand is that throughout most of history, governments have owned their people.  Not in the strictest sense, as a master would a slave, but close to it.  Governments had expectations and required duties of their people without any reciprocal expectations from those people.  Kings could tax their populations into poverty and levy them for war without the people's consent recourse.  More recently, the regimes of facists and communists curbed freedoms, demanded work and often pointless fighting for the state.  This has held true throughout history and continues in most nations today.

This is a major reason why America has been different from nearly every nation that has existed on the Earth.  For in America, we are not lorded over by nobles, senators, councilmen, kings or ayatollahs.  We are in charge of them.  We are responsible for electing them and keeping them in check (whether or not this is true in practice is another matter).  Our government is there, with our consent, to keep an orderly, lawful society, for no one denies that laws, diplomats and militaries must exist.

However, no one rules over us nor do we need anyone to do so.  We accept that we are free peoples who can make decisions for ourselves, for good or for ill.

Napoleon Bonaparte.

For the progressive, it is the exact opposite.  They think collectively, as most people around the world have and continue to do.  They see people (besides themselves, naturally) as requiring, if not demanding, someone to rule over them.  They see the country and its people as needing a boss to control it and direct it.  They believe that without the guidance of some "benevolent" ruler, society would collapse, a victim to its own "excesses."

Though Chris Rock never said those words, he and millions of other leftists imply this belief with the value and importance they place on government.  They (unwittingly) become proponents of subservience to men.

This way of thinking is dangerous.  When we see men in positions of power as our "bosses" and our "daddies," as opposed to mere men, we raise them to a position in our hearts where they do not belong.  This eventually translates to elevating them to those same places in reality.  We end up conceding that we are incapable of governing ourselves without the help of some external force.

Unfortunately, the progressive looks to men to give them direction and make them better people.

Men who are flawed and prone to error.

Adolf Hitler. 

Men whose egos lead them to overestimate their value and abilities.  Many, if not most, leaders of history form cults of personality around themselves, leading up to and including actual worship.  Many become so enamored with themselves and what they believe they represent, they place themselves on pedestals over God Himself (or any god, for that matter).  In their own minds and in the minds of those who follow them closest, they become infallible and gods unto themselves.

Progressivism's fundamental weakness is its dependence on men to lead and solve problems, rather than each individual.  Their ethos leaves no room for God or individual choices.  By accepting other men as their "bosses," they leave themselves vulnerable to being controlled and destroyed by the men they look up to.



Quick footnote: My point (especially with the pictures), if you have not picked up on it, is that this mentality creates tyrants.  It creates men who control the people, people who, because they think this way, allow these things to happen.  This has nothing to do with Barack Obama, either.  This applies to any man or woman, historical or in the future, who is treated as a boss or father figure when they are merely the leader of an organization or country, no less mortal or flawed.

The Fight Conservatism Faces, Part II

Last week, I wrote about the internal battle the conservative movement faces.  Suffice to say, I do not believe the coming year will be pleasant.  If we are to convince people that were are a worthy and effective ideological force, we cannot do so while fighting amongst ourselves.

This week, I want to write about why the coming year will not be pleasant due to much bigger threats beyond the movement.  Namely, President Obama and the progressives.  The reelection of the president bodes ill for the nation.

November's debacle made two things clear: It maintained the status quo with regards to our elected officials and ensured that the progressive left will try harder than ever to push their ideology in the coming years.  Despite the slim popular vote margin by which Barack Obama won, many on the left seem to believe his re-election is a mandate for him to push farther to the left and force through even more unpopular, destructive legislation. 

"You know, I really admire Vladimir's political skill..."

As you may recall, President Obama once told former Russian president Medvedev that November would be his "last election" and he would be "more flexible" after.  That unguarded moment says much about his plans for this term.  Since it was his last election, it means that he will not have future elections to hold him accountable for his actions.  For someone like the president, who wishes to "fundamentally transform" the country, not having to worry about popularity is a boon.  It frees him to be the radical his writings and history tells us he is.

Already, the left is hard at work attempting to curb the 2nd Ammendment.  Shamelessly using the Newtown, Connecticut mass murder, they are attempting to curb our rights.  Support of gun ownership is likely too high for them to succeed, however, their anti-gun crusade is evidence of how they will approach debates in the coming years.  They assuming that winning immunizes them from being opposed.

They assume that winning allows them to ignore the Constitution.

I believe we can expect two major trends in the coming years.  The first is that, assuming the Republicans in congress actually grow a spine and begin to block major legislation from the the president without capitulating, there will be a dramatic increase in executive orders.  As the gun control debate has shown us, many of the president's supporters have no qualms with the use of executive orders to circumvent congress.  They effectively have no problem with the president behaving like a dictator or a king to ensure that the progressive agenda is implemented.  It is truly frightening how their desire for power and their agenda overides any sense of the rule of law and leaves them with no care to follow it.

We should also be prepared for even fiercer attempts to marginalize conservatives and libertarians in the coming years.  Remember, many on the left views those of us on the right side of the ideological spectrum as not just wrong, but evil.  We are not worth listening to and indeed, do not deserve a place in the discussion to begin with.  We can expect every effort taken to make us seem small and insignificant before 2014's midterm elections.

It will be a tough road ahead.  We must be prepared to weather it.

Preparing for Hatred

So, I've been spending the past couple of hours (I wrote this Thursday night, obviously) perusing my Twitter timeline and watching people batter Michelle Malkin repeatedly with misogynistic and racist slurs.  That woman is a true warrior.  She has learned not to care about the hate or the rape threats or the death threats.  At least, she does not let it show.  If only all conservatives could be like that.

But we can't.  Not all of us are in the trenches day in and day out, being told repeatedly that we are horrible fascists who want children to die and should go die ourselves.  Steven Crowder (remember, the guy who assaulted a man's fist with his face?) tweeted this out not long ago.

If most of us receive threats like this, we would be afraid.  We would not know how to react.  We would never have seen it or experienced it before.  We should not have to at all.  However, it happens and with increasing frequency.

You see, there is a bitter truth I think far too many people are afraid to admit to, whether it is for fear of offending people or being attacked: liberals are hateful.  No, I do not care that I am making a blanket statement and no, I will never care again.  It is irrelevant in the face of overwhelming evidence.  Time and again I have seen liberals spew vitriol at the smallest and biggest things.  Conservative women are whores who are going to be raped.  Black conservatives are Uncle Toms and niggers.  Supporters of Israel are Jew sluts.  We all deserve to die horrible deaths or should commit suicide.  Words like this, toothless though they likely are, can come from nowhere but a heart filled vitriol and bile.

Now, there are liberals out there who are not like this.  I follow a few on Twitter and know a few personally (I just had a pleasant conversation with one), but they are the exception, not the rule.  The hatred overwhelms those of good character and conscience who would never utter those slurs.

In the past year and after the election, in particular, we have seen a dramatic rise in hatred coming from the left.  It seemed that weekly some prominent conservative was libeled and viciously attacked for stating his or her opinion.  It has happened again tonight and will continue to happen as well.  In their arrogance, liberals assume their victories and "moral uprightness" means they will no longer be called out and challenged on their despicable views and behavior.  They take the filters off and what is truly in their hearts comes out.

Those filters coming off should tell conservatives everywhere that the game has changed.  These are no longer random events.  This kind of behavior is now the status quo.

We must be prepared.

We conservatives must be ready, willing and able to combat the hatred.  We must be warriors for our cause and be vigilant at the walls. We already recognize this combat will not be fun, but we must also recognize that it will come upon us eventually.  It most obviously affects those with a public spotlight already, such as the Malkins and the Crowders.

However, if we wish to defend our beliefs (and each other), then we must likewise be prepared to defend ourselves against these attacks.  It doesn't matter if you are a blogger, a student, a parent, a supervisor, a cashier; we must all be prepared for the anger and the vile behavior...and worse.  We will be tested and we cannot assume just because we do not garner much attention that it will not reach our doorstep one day.

The war of ideas will wear on us all.  We must be prepared to weather whatever is thrown our way.