A Stronger America, A Safer World

[Geee]

Human Events:




There is a tug-of-war going on in America today. Two different sides are pulling on the rope. The side that wins will determine what sort of country our children grow up in, and whether we continue to be the greatest country the world has ever seen.

Tugging on one side are those of us who believe that what made America great is what makes us great today: freedom and all the things that come with it—individualism, self-reliance, limited government, and personal responsibility. These are the sort of values I’m raising my children with. Pulling on the other end are those who see Americans as sheep, lost and helpless souls unable to find their way around our complex world without the enlightened guidance of what David Brooks of the New York Times calls “the educated class.” How can Americans get along without a much wiser elite to guide us? Our future, they say, lies in becoming more like Western Europe, with the government playing a larger role in our lives. We sheep, they tell us, can’t get along without sheepherders.

Now the debate is not exactly presented in that way. President Obama and those on the other side of the discussion don’t call us “sheep” or admit they want to take America the way of Europe. Instead, they beguile us with promises of safety. They promise government-run healthcare, automatic wage increases, environmental regulations, and expanded social welfare programs. They overflow with guilt about our unmet collective responsibilities and economic inequality, and promise to “spread the wealth around.” They cloak their arguments in compassion: If you care about the elderly, poor, disabled, disadvantaged, single moms, unemployed, middle-class, homeless, children, fill-in-the-blank—then you will of course support their agenda.