One of the many things that irritate me about the left is their appropriation of the word "liberal". Liberal used to have a wonderful meaning. They used to be known as people who fought for individual liberty and individual rights. The rhetoric at the time of our struggle for independence was wrought with these ideas. Individual liberty was the raison d'etre for America. Those ideas were liberal in a bygone era. No longer.
What do those known as liberals stand for today? Bigger government, more rules and restrictions on your personal freedom, higher taxes, and the end of federalism. Is that the liberalism espoused by our "Founding Fathers" more than two hundred years ago? Certainly not. They would certainly recognize this line of thinking all right. They would recognize it as all the things they were fighting against in the tyrannical rule of King George the Third. Interesting that on the eve of the 225th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence where we made a true statement of liberal principles, those who call themselves Liberals today want to bring us back to where we were prior to the signing of that historic piece of parchment 225 years ago.
Take for example the rhetoric at a recent conference called "Wake Up Democrats! Take Back the Country" in Los Angeles. The rest of us should regard it as "Wake Up America! Take Back Our Freedom". Dick Gephardt attacked the Bush tax cut was "a horrible mistake for the future of this country." When you get your rebate checks this summer and fall, remember who opposed it. When you notice less money taken out of your paycheck every two weeks, remember who opposed it. Yes, Tricky Dick and the "Liberal Democrats." Gephardt goes on. He thanks his mother for the influence in his life, but then goes on to push for greater government involvement of government in raising children. Isn't that a contradiction? Did his mother raise him to believe that government could do a better job? Was she that bad? He called for a dramatic increase in the involvement of the federal government in education. I suppose Gephardt has never heard of the Constitution, much less read it.
That was only the beginning of this leftist Democrat lovefest. Rob Reiner (a filmmaker whose films I will never again view) also denounced the Bush tax cut. He said that "the money has been taken off the table". They act like it is their money. It is theirs to do what they please with. He further went on to say that it wasn't available for funding new social programs. Y'all see what these leftists want. They want to take the money from those of us who earn it, and give it to lazy do-nothings who sit content taking money from the government who stole it from us.
Rep. Henry Waxman said,"We must guarentee everyone access to health care, universal coverage." Have you ever been in line for a government service? Been to a DMV line in Georgia lately? Welfare lines? VA hospitals? Wait, wait, wait. I call the IRS, wait an hour, and STILL I can't talk to someone. You want this for your health care? Why do Canadians who can afford it come to the United States? Because you have to wait for care in a country where such care is rationed. Want HillaryCare? Under Hillary's plan, private options would be outlawed. Sound like a Soviet system, doesn't it? That is what these people want to force us to live under.
Robert Reich, Labor Secretary under the Clinton Administration, promised that Democrats could regain power by promising health care, child care, education, and "no more tax cuts" for the people who regularly don't make it to the polls. So get this. In order to buy votes, the Democrats will steal from those of us who work by using the power of government, and give it to these nonvoters in the form of services. If that isn't buying votes with our money, I don't know what is.
Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. of Illinois condemned federalism. Federalism is the Constitutional concept that gives the States the right to handle a variety of State issues. Jackson would get rid of federalism, scrap the Constitution, and give all the power to Washington. "The enemy here is the Tenth Amendment, the unenumerated rights". He is attacking a portion of the Bill of Rights as the enemy. They cherish the parts of the Bill of Rights they like, but if they don't like it, it is the target of their destruction. Do you want EVERYTHING controlled from Washington? Sounds like the former Soviet Union where everything was controlled from Moscow. These people want to turn the United States into another Soviet Union. He further proposed Constitutional Amendments guarenteeing the rights of "health care of equally high quality", a "public education of equally high quality", and a "right to fairness". Doesn't this sound like the same Communist jingo that we fought against for decades?
Robert Borosage accused George W. Bush of creating "an alliance of robber barons against the people with his policy of 'tax cuts for the wealthy,''arsenic in the water,' and 'salmonella in the food." How insane. Who are the robber barons? Those who have worked their butts of and succeeded? Are they robber barons? According to the leftists they are. Bush wants to put arsenic in the water? Get real. Salmonella in the food? Yes, I am sure George W. Bush personally puts in as much arsenic in the water and salmonella in our food as he possibly can. Hogwash!
Lila Garrett (Southern California ADA President) touted the movie Reds as "the greatest political film ever made." Reds was a movie glorifying the Reds in the Russian Revolution!
I could go on, and if you want to, check out this article at FrontPageMag.com . Edgar Anderson will give you a lot more where all of this came from. On this eve of the 225th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we are fighting the same forces our Founding Fathers fought. Despotism, confiscatory taxes, and slavery. Our Founding Fathers were known as liberals. However, they would not recognize what that word has come to mean in the twenty-first century. They don't deserve the title of Liberal. Call them what they are, Leftists!