Posted on 02/23/2005 10:52:47 AM PST by The_Jay-Rod
There was a time when Democrats and Republicans sounded very similar. There was once a time when we were united in the cause of spreading freedom and liberty to the oppressed. That day, it now seems, is no longer here.
When Kennedy spoke of the American duty to defend and spread freedom around the world in his 1961 inaugural address, he spoke those words to both friend and foe. He presented the American vision of a world free from tyranny with strong determination and with unwaivering conviction. Today, as we listen to the cries of some to submit our intentions to the veto of a corrupt and ineffective world-body, we are far from that day where we once stood united.
For some time now, the left of American politics has drifted far from the harbor of American values and virtue. So far out to sea are they, that the landmarks of good and evil are now clouded in the fog of moral and cultural relativism. The lighthouse of liberty, freedom, and the American Dream- the beacon established by our Forefathers, no longer guides their way. Some are so lost as to believe that our great intentions are thinly veiled excursions into imperialism. That our desire to bring liberty to the oppressed is merely a façade, meant to hide a perverted desire to dominate.
Steaming headlong into the mist as well, are some of our once great allies. Fueled by Oil for Food vouchers, and captained by decades of weak and corrupt leaders, many European nations believe these same tall-tales about America. As if the history of the American people and our use of strength as a force of good in the world has been rewritten into fiction. Only in a country with a weak sense of values and a lack of moral courage could an election be swayed by a cowardly act of terrorist violence. Only in a country with a bankrupt moral philosophy would UN representatives accept bribes from a murderous tyrant. Only a corrupt world body would be so slow and deliberate about looking into the criminal allegations of its own members.
Recently, it seems that even separating friend from foe has become a challenge. The most recent purported tape from Abu Musab all-Zarqawi speaks of his call to fight the “evil principles” of democracy and capitalism because they allow people freedom, which is against God’s plan. Colorado University Ward Churchill is under fire for writing that the victims of 9/11 deserved their fate because they were participants in the capitalist system. When the rhetoric of infamous terrorists and left-wing professors becomes indistinguishable, it’s clear that the “progressive” agenda has navigated into dangerous waters.
To understand how the left has allowed themselves to become so far from the values that once united us all, one only has to look at the voting trends of their constituency. An overwhelming majority of Americans who recognize themselves as religious also identify with the right-wing of politics. The clear reason is that the Republican party has always been rooted in traditional American values, and a moral following of Judeo-Christian philosophy. With clear sense of moral fundamentals no longer guiding the left, it is no wonder they have let themselves stray so far from the virtues that define mainstream America.
To their credit, as of late they have begun to recognize that “the values thing” is important to Americans. Democratic Representative Charles Rangel said recently to New Yorkers , “…you’re going to hear a lot more about moral values”. While Democrats may have recognized the need to sail back into moral waters, they are tacking towards them without a clear understanding of why or how. As evident by this year’s election, merely talking about values is not enough. Values are something you live every day- they shine through in your actions, not your words. Values are who you are, not what you say.
Sadly, without a map or a captain to guide them back into the harbor of American morals and virtue, the left will continue to wander aimlessly in uncertain waters, far from the days of Kennedy who uttered the immortal words, "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” Words of greatness that no longer represent today’s Democratic party.
Over the past 3 or 4 decades, the Democrats lost the ability to talk a good game. Kennedy could handle the talk. But it's been 60 years since the Democrats could walk the walk.
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