We’re in a strange situation as we approach Independence Day. We’ve had some wins, but the far left is doing its best to push back against the principles that made this country great: individual liberty, property rights, and limited government.
Two issues in particular are important to remember because our constitutional republic is unique in history: These usually last only a few decades, but ours is approaching 250 years. This means there was something more in those founding documents than the flowery words found everywhere else. This means there were certain ideas that have stood the test of time, certain precepts that were set down by the founding fathers that enable our system of government to withstand the shocks and crises that quite often destabilize average nations.
One of these is issues is an ongoing threat from state governments in attempting to clamp down on the commonsense human right of self-defense. The other, a localized crisis, was the primary win of an Islamist-communist running for the mayoralty of New York City.
Given the current political situation, the left side of the spectrum in the States had one of two choices. It could have moderated its stance and tried to work with the pro-freedom side of the spectrum, but instead, it decided to double down on insanity and go even farther off the deep end. Both of these issues are manifestations of this doubling down toward the authoritarian side.
It suggests that the left has a certain mindset against freedom and individual rights. Leftists often assert that rights come from the government, and thus they can be parceled out like candy for good behavior and withdrawn for that which is “incorrect.”
This is the contrast seen between the socialist and free states — the former dominated by the Un-Democratic Party that is doubling down on every kind of restraint, restriction, and confiscation it can think of to strip away commonsense human rights from the innocent. At the same time, leftists turn a blind eye to the violence and predation of criminals.
Consider so-called “assault weapon” bans. Gun violence is at an ebb after the COVID-19 spike, yet these states have never met a gun control law they didn’t like. Even if you aren’t interested in the subject matter, you have to consider that this issue is always the canary in a coal mine of liberty. Destruction of society’s firearm freedoms is always the first step toward tyranny.
Meanwhile, in the free states and on a federal level, these restrictions are being lifted. Thus, we see that some states are going in one direction — toward leftist authoritarianism and control — whereas others are moving toward liberty, and curiously enough, the people are moving in reflection of these trends.
Then we have the other issue, the upset win of an Islamist-communist in running for the mayorship of New York City. Unbelievably, we had people falling for the collectivist song and dance that taking property from some people at gunpoint and handing it out for votes is a workable system. Never mind that it’s been a proven failure in the past four centuries; apparently, they haven’t learned this or somehow think that in the sweeping vista of human history, no one has ever thought of this idea or tested it in the real world, under real conditions.
The leftist lie (please excuse the redundancy) is that no one has ever tried this before. Those who fall for this don’t know how badly it will fail.
At this point, many people feel that if the left wants to reprise Rudyard Kipling’s “Gods of the Copybook Headings” and how “the burnt Fool’s bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire” and go full collectivist, they say let them find out; just don’t let it spread.
This is where the genius of the founding fathers comes into play. All of this destructive insanity of the left has to be contained. Both of these leftist agendas can succeed only if there is no contrast to them.
The destruction of the commonsense human right of self-defense can work only if it happens everywhere at once. If it’s in only a few states, the remainder will be markedly safer, showing that gun control does not work. The same holds of the left’s socialist agenda. Collectivism will fail wherever it’s tried, so the left cannot afford a piecemeal approach.
The problem for the left is that our system isolates insanity to a local level, and we on the pro-freedom side are perfectly willing to let them fiddle around and find out. The nation’s socialist left cannot abide the contrast in having their insanity on full display in only a few isolated places, so when it all fails, the blame is also isolated to the left. This is all thanks to our founding fathers. Now you know why leftists hate their own country so much.
D Parker is an engineer, inventor, wordsmith, and student of history, former director of communications for a civil rights organization, and a longtime contributor to conservative websites. Find him on Substack.
Image via Pxfuel.