COMMENTARY | People are averse to feeling pain, being cold, or having to struggle to survive as our forefathers did. This is why politicians sell us the line that the government can take care of us, and that everything they do is in our best interest, in order to provide us comfort. Our hostility to being uncomfortable is why we believe them.
Our elected officials rationalize the slow degrading of our individual liberties, so none will suffer, so government can provide rights, make all men equal and keep us safe. Never mind that our founding fathers believed God created all men equal and he alone endowed them with unalienable rights. To quote Benjamin Franklin: “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
The politicians tell us they must make laws and regulations to end bigotry without the understanding that bigotry begins and ends with the individual. They repudiate that only with frank discussion and open debate, free of political correctness and racial politics, can the individual realize the perils of bigotry and the inaccuracy of bigoted stereotypes.
Politicians tell us that ideals matter and that they subscribe to the ideals of honor, integrity and discipline. Their behavior however, demonstrates to us that their true principles are ignobility, corruption and self-indulgence. In the last 20 years we have seen our elected officials circumvent the Constitution, engage in backroom cronyism, have oral sex with an intern and give a family values speech days after asking their wife for an open relationship.
Considering the state of our nation, our choices in the upcoming presidential election are fairly uninspiring. We have to choose among a moderate Republican, a big government Republican, a staunch Libertarian (who is dubious when it comes to foreign policy), a hypocrite whose reliability is suspect and the current president. It is like having to choose among Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, or the Zodiac Killer to baby-sit your kids.
So how did we get where we are today? Contemplate the last 20 years of political history and the only conclusion to the question is that it is our fault. We the people elected a group of deceitful, amoral people to represent us in government. We gave them the power to erode our rights and liberties. We gave them the right to engage in activities that those they represent would go to prison for. We gave them license to act in ways that any decent person would abhor. Sadly we keep electing them to office.
In South Carolina 40 percent of the people sent the message that it is OK if you’re a serial adulterer and a big-government progressive we’ll still vote for you. In November, when the choices are the devil you know and the devil you know, just remember they are the people you gave the authority to act in your name.