They Only Want What's Best For Us, Right?

by: david bozeman | published: 05 19, 2010

Civics 101 has always taught that both sides of the aisle want what's best for America, the only disagreement lies in how to achieve it. Surely JFK's overall vision did not differ that radically from Richard Nixon's, and even Bill Clinton would not have risked political bleeding to enact an overtly radical agenda. In 2010, by contrast, one need only consider Obama-care, 'partial' federal ownership of American industry and, now, Joe Lieberman and John Kerry's Cap & Trade legislation to see that our differences concern not merely means to shared ends or even the nature of society. The compelling difference between left and right, and, to a lesser extent, between Democrat and Republican, is a fundamental view of humankind and our place in the hierarchy of existence.

We on the right believe that humankind is noble and was entrusted by God with dominion over the earth. We celebrate our unlimited potential manifested in technology and achievement. Liberals, on the other hand, celebrate Earth Day, complaining that humans, particularly Americans, consume too much. They claim to support alternative energy sources, until windmills block the serene vista on the haughty Martha's Vineyard. Their energy plan is rather like increasing the food supply by eating less. American consumers, in fact, are a blight on the planet, our excesses threatening our very existence and our survival assured only by surrender to the dictates of collectivists, naysayers and those who believe, as articulated by President Obama, that, "We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times. . . and then just expect that other countries are going to say it's ok."

Other countries? Say it's ok? What has happened to American sovereignty in the 21st Century? I bet he thinks that at a certain point one has made enough money, too. Are we individuals here or mere interchangeable units in an Obama-brigade to remake America?

It is this mindset driving Cap & Trade, yet another wrench jamming the wheels of human progress. This legislation, meant to punish big polluters, will harm small businesses and consumers as much, if not more. Joe Klein was grousing in Time about the political fallout of raising taxes: "The T-word is red meat for demagogues, especially in an election year." In 2008, Barack Obama promised, under his Cap & Trade plan, higher taxes for coal producers for all the greenhouse gases being emitted. Higher taxes paid for by whom?

Even assuming the veracity of climate-change (formerly 'global warming') alarmists, every major human endeavor poses risks and negative consequences, but smog and occasional oil spills notwithstanding, we are better off WITH factories and automobiles than without. It is the vision and discipline of the human mind, via technology and engineering, that invented the wheel, the automobile and the airplane and that will provide humankind with clean, renewable energy -- and not by entrusting safety to golf-cart sized hybrids, either.

Our founders held serious reservations about relying on the whims and elitism of career politicians. We became the envy of the world by fostering relatively free minds and markets. While a wide area remains for disagreement over climate change, the contrast is becoming crystal clear between a spacious world of SUVs, air conditioners and weekend jet vacations and that of guilt, rationing and alignment with socialist European nations that loathe American excess. Do they only want what's best for America, too?

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