Posted by
Dan Poelstra on Thursday, August 13, 2009 3:06:23 AM
Dear Left Wing Liberal,
Let me introduce myself. I am a mainstream Christian conservative, trying to understand the thought process of liberals. I am assuming that you are most likely trying to understand our (conservatives) thought processes as well. I am hoping that I can help us each understand each other, even if we do not agree.
First of all, I am not a racist or a sexist. I did not vote President Obama, but I this is because he represents a ideology and a view point that I do not agree with, and not because he is an African American. I hate it when racism is experienced by minorities, and racism actually disgusts me. My wife is of Mexican decent, which makes my children half Mexican. I have seen people treat my wife in demeaning ways, and I have seen how hurtful and evil racism is. At the same time, I hate being accused of being a racist simply because I am a conservative. The left, at least the Democrat Party accuses anyone who is in disagreement with the President of being a racist, and it must be simply because he is black, and not because we believe he is wrong.
Secondly, as a conservative, I am very willing to criticize those in the Republican party who do not hold true to conservative values and governing practices. President Bush and the Republican controlled congress let us true conservatives down with the out of control spending.
Third, there is a fairly simple division between the left and right in America. Here is my view on this in a nutshell:
Conservatives believe that smaller government allows the people of the United States to work hard and make something of themselves. We believe that if you work hard and do the right things, good things will eventually happen. Hard times are part of the American experience, and they are to be persevered through, and not avoided. We also believe that life is not always fair, and it never will be. We can either spend all our time complaining about it, or we can work through the unfairness in life and make something of ourselves anyway. This is why we believe in less taxes, and fewer entitlements. Welfare should be for those who actually need a helping hand, and not simply for those who choose not to work hard and do the right things. I only expect the government to protect the people, provide basic services such as police, fire, defense, and laws to keep peace and order in society, and not to "level the playing field".
In our view, liberals believe that most people are not smart enough to run their own lives, so the government must step in before they do something stupid. Liberals also believe that financial success is somehow something to be reviled and then taxed, even though the average Democratic members of congress are more wealthy that the average Republican. If life is not fair, the government must make it fair.
Liberals believe that there is no objective right and wrong, there are just different points of view . If terrorists blows up a building full of people, we should try to understand why they hate us rather than accept that there is true evil in the world, and that we are the good guys.
To you, your ideas are so superior to anything a conservative can come up with, you will lie, cheat and steal to get their agenda implemented, since the ends justifies the means. I personally believe that most liberals actually mean well.
My message to liberals: Just because you think it is right, does not make it so. You need to ask "What if I am wrong" once in a while.
Just because we disagree does not make us evil or crazy or racist. There are different view points that you may find value in. Name calling as we see in the current healthcare debate, does not intimidate us, it simply energizes the base. Once the base is energized, we will take back both houses of congress, and the Whitehouse. Be secure enough in your own ideology to criticize when you are wrong, or being hypocritical. Republicans NEVER called anyone unpatriotic or un-American like we were accused of, but the Democratic leaders are openly calling us those very things.
Remember, the Boston Tea party was an organized protest. Organized protests against government actions that did not have the support of the people are a part of American history. Now you call organized protesters "mob" and "Klan-like".
Remember that 51% of you can push stuff down 49% of our throats just because you can. But you will have to live with a very angry 49%.
Is it worth it?