I recently engaged in a rather lengthy exchange with a 19 year old college student about whether or not requiring photo ID to vote is “fair” and whether voter fraud truly exists. It’s been enlightening and caused me to evaluate why I believe the things I do.
I think it's possible that deep down I don't truly believe in one person/one vote. I find the inconsistency of thinking that some people are supposed to pay and do more than others and yet not have extra representation a bit inconsistent.
I think our country is about to hit a critical mass, where people who take from the government coffers drastically outnumber those who put into them. They continue to vote themselves more and more entitlements from funds that don't even exist and the system will have no choice but to fall apart. I foresee a future where you get your paycheck and find that 50, 60, or 70% of your salary has been taken from you and put into the kitty where other people decide how it will be spent.
I am fundamentally opposed to socialism because I strongly believe that when people don't receive the rewards of their labor their motivation to labor disappears. I think it has happened in Europe and it will happen here too. I think that when you earn money by working hard how that money is spent should be determined by you, not by whoever managed to get the most votes by people with their hands out.
I don't just believe this for other people, I believe it for myself too. When people encourage me to enlist in government programs and assistance for Paul my response is that Paul is MY responsibility. He was given to me and Rick by God with the understanding that we are to take care of him, not the government.
If we had a flat tax at 10, 15 or even 20% of our income for EVERYONE then I would be much more supportive of the idea of one person/one vote. But why should someone who turns over 45% of their income to the government have the same vote as someone who pays 0%? And don't be fooled, there are millions of people who pay 0%! I strongly believe that liberal philosophy has perpetuated the attitude of laziness and entitlement. They have in their own way enslaved people who depend on the government by refusing to insist that they depend upon themselves, and they've done it for POWER, the more people dependent on them, the more people who will vote to keep them in office.
In many ways the inconsistency of liberal philosophy is part of why I can't buy into it. How can someone oppose the death penalty with the argument that life is precious and support abortion?
And don't get me wrong, I am well aware that I am not one bit impartial on the abortion issue. I always see it in terms of my son. To me abortion is the sacrifice of one person's life for another person's convenience. When I was pregnant with Paul and we found out he had a heart defect and Down syndrome I was encouraged by more than one person (and some within my own family) to terminate the pregnancy. I found myself thinking about the fact that we are appalled that Adolf Hitler condemned people to death for being mentally retarded but in this country we kill them before they are born for the very same reason!
Don't think that because the Brennan Center for Justice has the word non-partisan in their description that they are truly non-partisan. If you look at their stands on issues, their voting record and who they historically support it is obvious that they are quite partisan. At least they should be honest enough to admit it. I know for a fact that I am quite partisan. About 25 years ago I realized that I can't possibly know everything about every issue and that what I needed to do was see who I agreed with more; who represented my overall viewpoint the best. I have a couple of issues that are make it or break it for me. They are mostly related to moral issues that I believe matter the most to God, like taking care of those who can't take care of themselves. A lot of people think this is where conservatives are deficient but research has shown that conservatives give FAR more of their income to charity than do liberals (Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism by Arthur C. Brooks) and that conservatives support right to life whether of the unborn or the terminally ill. Proverbs says that God hates "hands that shed innocent blood". That is a litmus test for me.
If you've read this long I applaud you, I didn't mean to get on a total soapbox but couldn't seem to help myself. I think ultimately I wanted to say is that one of my best friends is an ardent supporter of President Obama and believes strongly in most of the ideas of liberalism. We learned a long time ago that we are never going to change each others minds but it's nice to know where we are each coming from.
My favorite quote of all time is "I do not agree with a word you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
Sometimes we just have to agree to disagree.
