“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, Deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form…”
In this election, Coloradans are faced with very clear choices in the candidates on the ballot and the initiatives to be voted upon. In a way, Colorado is a microcosm of the nation as a whole and is reflective of the divides we face as a nation.
The fundamental root of this divide has to do with the proper role of government and the relationship that we citizens have with our government.
On the Left, you have tireless advocates for bigger, more powerful government. Government that takes ever increasing resources from individuals (and businesses too, but because businesses merely increase prices to cover taxes, all taxes are ultimately paid by individuals) and uses those resource to pay for always expanding, always growing government programs.
Name a problem, and the Left wants to create a government program to fix it. It’s tough taking maternity leave after a new baby? No problem! We’ll tax every worker in the state 1% of the money they EARN to fund a family and medical leave “insurance” program. College is expensive? No problem! We’ll create government guaranteed student loans, which will increase the demand for college, which constrains the supply, which makes college more expensive. All too often, government programs make the problem they were supposed to fix even worse.
To the Left, government is mommy and daddy, God, big brother and the Universe all rolled up into a big benevolent teddy bear. Government is your friend and your confessor. Government is what you think of when presented with any of life’s challenges. And because this is a childish worldview, the Left tends to think that their fellow citizens are children too, who need to be managed and controlled by the big government teddy bear. When we resist, they throw temper tantrums and insist that we comply. And the best part of all? Because they think (despite zero evidence) that they know what’s best for you, they think THEY should be in charge of government.
Here’s a thought exercise: Name one government program that stayed within its originally anticipated budget for any length of time. Name one government program that achieves 100% of its stated goals. Name one government program that doesn’t take money from one group of people to give to another group of people. You can’t? This is the nature of government. As author Laura Carno points out in her book “Government Ruins Nearly Everything: Reclaiming Social Issues from Uncivil Servants”, government does most things very poorly.
Which brings us to the view of the role of government on the Center/Right: Government exists to protect individual rights. Period. Those rights, as enumerated in the Declaration of Independence, are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. And, I might add, the protection of property. Property is something we have by virtue of being human.
Government does not exist to pick winners and losers in free markets. Government does not exist to provide subsidies, mandates, regulations, incentives, or punishments for violation of social norms. Government exists to protect individual rights, not to give special rights to socially favored groups. Government is a blunt weapon, not a surgical tool. Government, in the end, is the legalized monopoly on the use of force. Government is dangerous.
As an illustration of how dangerous government can be, one need only look to the bloody history of the twentieth century, wherein literally hundreds of millions of people were slaughtered by governments in accordance with their own sovereign laws.
Left unchecked, governments (and the men and women who control them) always tend towards tyranny. “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Lord Acton’s words are validated every day in the halls of the federal government and in state houses across the land. Republicans crow when a Democrat is caught in malfeasance, and Democrats do the same. It’s going to happen, because people are people and government has grown way too big and too powerful. The Swamp is real.
I’ll be the first to admit that Republicans are not perfect. They have an unfortunate tendency to want to grow government for THEIR pet programs and agenda. Sometimes, in a strange desire to be “bipartisan” they team up with progressives to sponsor some truly terrible legislation. (See “red flag” bill) And, they seem to want to legislate morality and get involved in peoples’ decisions regarding reproduction, marriage, and which bathrooms to use. None of these is a legitimate function of government. However, I believe that most Republicans are in favor of limited government and free markets and just have to be nudged in the “right” direction from time to time.
The modern Democratic Party has gone off the rails and no longer remotely resembles the party of Truman and JFK, both of whom would be laughed out of today’s Democratic party. Today’s Democrats are the party of:
- Identity politics. To them, your value as a human depends on which intersectional boxes you can check. Are you a transgender woman of color? Congratulations! You are more valuable to society than a cisgender heterosexual white man. While accusing everyone else of racism, they themselves are the ACTUAL racists, because so much of their rhetoric and policy prescriptions are based on and about race.
- The Left regularly engages in behaviors including corruption, sexual harassment and crimes, dirty politics, and others that they condemn in their opponents and use to attack Republicans (and fellow Democrats when it’s politically expedient). Examples abound, but nowhere is this clearer than in the area of sexual harassment claims, wherein they try to destroy Republicans and disfavored Democrats (see Lebsock, Steve) to gain political power or try to prevent conservatives from taking power (see Kavanaugh, Brett).
- Before the bloody reality of socialism became evident, it was very openly trendy in intellectual circles among the Left. The American Left were admirers of Mussolini and Hitler before World War Two, and have always had a soft spot for Soviet Union-style communism. Now, they try to make socialism more palatable by calling it “democratic socialism” and pointing to the Nordic countries as examples of successful socialist economies (they aren’t). They hold out the promise of “free stuff”, not knowing or caring that nothing is “free”, and that their programs, if realized, would bankrupt the country in less than a generation. They think that if “a majority” wants something like socialism that it should get it, not knowing or caring that a democratic majority is as much of a tyranny as a dictator-led regime. The Founders did not create a democracy in America. They created a Constitutional Republic. There’s a difference.
- Tearing down Western Civilization. There’s so much to unpack here. By attacking or co-opting mainstream religions, the Left seeks to undermine morality and the rule of law. By attacking and pushing limits, they seek to devolve the culture to one of rampant promiscuity among people of gender-fluid identity in a world without consequences where anything goes. Except sexual harassment. See Hypocrisy, above.
- Climate Religion. The cult of climate change is a real force in modern politics and business, and it is as dangerous to human flourishing as real climate change would be. Setting aside the arguments over the reality, magnitude and nature of climate change (is it caused by human activity?), the Left seeks to use climate change to do away with what makes modern civilization possible: fossil fuels. Our modern civilization is built on the cheap, reliable energy provided by fossil fuels. Now Colorado Leftists are trying to do away with an entire industry and the billions of dollars of economic growth it generates, along with hundreds of thousands of jobs. There’s already not enough money in the government treasury (according to them) to fund all their desired government programs. Just wait until the taxes directly or indirectly generated by the fossil fuels industry in Colorado goes away. It won’t be pretty.
- Civilian Disarmament. The Second Amendment exists for a reason: to enshrine (not grant) the right of self-defense to a free people. And let’s be honest. The Second Amendment has already been dangerously gutted. Civilians are already at a disadvantage when it comes to relative force (i.e. police agencies and the military have access to fully automatic weapons, civilians mostly do not). The Left is incrementally chipping away at the right to keep and bear arms, never wavering from their ultimate goal: civilian disarmament and a society where only police and military have guns. Except they don’t trust the police and military. Which brings us to…
- Intellectual dishonesty and ignorance. Examples abound of the disconnect between Leftist thought and reality, and their positions are rife with contradictions, ignorance, and logical inconsistencies. This one is surprising, because many Leftists are successful, intelligent people.
I could go on, but to do so would require much more than one blog post. Instead, over a coming series of blog posts I will be reviewing elements of the 2018 Colorado Democrats’ party platform, giving readers the straight scoop on what’s at stake in the 2018 midterm election. I will also be reviewing some of the ballot initiatives that are in play. Passage of these initiatives in addition to giving Democrats one party tyranny would be disastrous for our state and our Colorado Way of Life.
In the meantime, Freedom isn’t Free. It has a cost. As of today, Democratic candidates in Colorado have outraised Republicans by 5:1.
Democratic candidates, their union supporters and paid progressive activists are out walking, knocking on doors – talking to voters – every day. They take pictures and videos and post them in #copolitics on Twitter and all over Facebook. The media, of course, supports them with slanted stories attacking or ignoring Republicans while praising and profiling Democratic candidates. I know for a fact that Republican candidates are out there too, but they don’t advertise it as much. Don’t be shy! Tell voters you’re out there too!
The stakes this election could not be higher. Walk Away. Don’t Vote Democrat.
By Richard D. Turnquist
September 17, 2018
