What are we to make of the seemingly incessant left-wing chorus and their proclamations about how issues are being addressed by Sweden, or France, or some other country that they believe possess an enlightenment that is light-years beyond our own? If the subject is healthcare, then the Left will proclaim that there are surveys showing that 37 other countries provide better health care to their citizens than does the United States. If the issue is religion, there will be countless refrains about the benefits of secularism on display in Europe. When the subject of education is brought up, there are multitudes of tsk-tskers at the ready to tell anyone who will listen how great the educational system is in England, in Asia, or in Norway.
It doesn’t matter what the subject matter is, the stentorian Left are always there to dismiss American accomplishments, American leadership, and above all, American exceptionalism. And why not? Hasn’t it always been thus? Haven’t the weak always resented the strong? Aren’t the anti-American Americans really just parroting the sentiments of certain factions who have consistently found themselves in second place (or third place, or last place) when measured against American accomplishment? Ever since Farmer Cain slew Abel, the Hunter, there has existed a resentment, fomented by envy, among those who are weak against those who are strong. It exists today in many forms, in many quarters, just as it did one hundred years ago.
In 1910, at the Sorbonne, in Paris, Teddy Roosevelt gave a speech which has come to be known as “Citizenship in a Republic.” It is also known as “The Critic,” and I submit that this speech thoroughly highlights the difference between Left and Right:
“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”
While America may not be ranked at the very top of the survey in infant mortality, or have the absolute highest life expectancy, or the lowest crime rate, if you were to categorize every single, measurable factor, including freedom, liberty, opportunity, charity, and general goodwill toward her neighbors, it is abundantly clear that she deserves the title of Greatest Nation on Earth. It is indisputable. Ask the millions and millions who have immigrated to America, and consider the scores who have died trying. Who continue to die trying.
Better still, perhaps, would be to ask those on the Left -- those who are extraordinarily lucky enough to call themselves Americans -- why they persist in actively working to transform America into something that resembles a socialist nation. Perhaps they can explain why they want the preeminent global superpower to stand down, to ignore her glorious past and dismiss her awe-inspiring potential in order to focus on...being more Euro-centric and embracing an ideology of abject failure.
Although she has occasionally stumbled along the way, overall there is no nation on earth that can lay claim to the depth and breadth of greatness that is America. In fact, no nation has yet existed which surpasses America insofar as the freedoms of her people and her contributions to mankind, as a whole. This is no sycophantic boast, no mere wish borne of blind allegiance; this is a studied, reasoned and objective statement of fact. It is, therefore, extraordinarily fascinating -- continually, perpetually, absolutely, really and truly fascinating -- how so many people can continue to believe that Socialism is the answer to any problem. I mean, how much evidence is needed that Socialism is, at best, immoral, and at worst, evil? Even the Soviets and the East Germans wised up, eventually. China -- CHINA!! -- is today dabbling in free-market capitalism. This from a nation that has long labored under Socialism’s “big brother,” Communism. They have lived under Socialism taken to its logical conclusion and found it wanting!
So, what is it that compels certain Americans in general, and most Liberals in particular, to have this deep, emotional attachment to Socialism? What are the common denominators? Have they been denied an education? Raised in a cave? Suffered a severe head injury? What is it, exactly, that makes a person continue to believe that Socialism is a good thing when overwhelming evidence exists to contradict that belief?
I do not know. I really have no idea. Maybe they just like to criticize.
Some say Liberalism is a disease, the real liberal would let any one do anything, anything goes. I like to call them progressives, they want a Socialist, Marxist system where they control every aspect of our lives. But the word Liberal is more PC than calling them what they really are.
ReplyDeleteIt's a matter of a spoiled brat wanting/getting their way. These Progressives talk of equality, but want to enslave you. They want to engage in slavery that would make racial slavery pale in comparison. America doesn't have a disease, we have cancer. It will take drastic action to bring us back to health. The time to remain silent has passed, speak boldly, question with out fear. Be an American!