They Know So Much That Isn't So

     Ronald Reagan once said, "The trouble with our liberal friends isn't that they're wrong, it's that they know so much that isn't so." The Democratic National Convention was a textbook case of this I think. It seems all Democrats, and especially the major ones, all have no idea what the Republican party, conservatism, or the right-wing in general actually stands for.

     Bill Clinton in his speech said that with this election, Americans have a choice: choosing between a "We're in it together" society, which the Democrats support, or a "You're on your own society," which the Republicans supposedly support. The problem with this whole view is that it assumes that government and society, government and community, are one and the same. To them, you are either for big government programs and thus a society where we care about one another, or you are against big government, and thus by default, support a society where it's just a straight "every person for themself" type of system, where no one helps anyone else. It never occurs to these Democrats that one can very much be for a society where people care for one another, care about their community, do charitable work and giving, etc...but believe in limited government (and do all this without big government). It doesn't occur to them that society and government, that society and community, are not the same thing. To them, government is at the center of our national life, a core part of our being citizens.

     But yet, it's what the Democrats believe. Nancy Pelosi said in a speech that Republicans want to take away our clean air and clean water. Barney Frank, Julian Castro, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama (in his "You didn't build that" speech) all have made the case that we as a society have to care about one another and we can't just be a society where everyone is on their own. They literally have no concept of what conservatism, or the right-wing in general, is about. Conservatism is very much about community and helping one's fellow human. As the columnist Charles Krauthammer has pointed out, conservatism is about the family, the community, the church, charity, etc...one doesn't need government for these things.

     It is sad that the Democratic party still has not bothered to learn what the Republican party or conservatism or the right in general believes in. One can very much understand the arguments of the political right, but just say that they disagree with them. Instead though, the Democratic party adheres to what is a giant strawman of a belief about conservatism.

     I am rather surprised that Bill Clinton sank himself to saying that in his DNC speech, as I think he knows better. This is a man who is a Rhodes scholar and who the late, great free-market economist Milton Friedman said was one of the two most brilliant presidents he ever worked with (the other brilliant one being Nixon). So I think Bill Clinton knows what conservatism and the right-wing really are about. My mother (yep!) said she thinks Bill is playing nice for the Democratic party because his daughter, Chelsea, is making her first forays into politics now and in order to get anywhere, she is going to need the Democratic party's help. Also Hillary may be thinking of making a run for the Presidency in 2016, so she'll need the party's help as well.