By David Bozeman
Liberals have changed the subject yet again. Instead of calming the fears of millions of Americans over health-care reform, instead of explaining the practicalities (such as how do we heal the sick by empowering IRS agents in lieu of recruiting and training more doctors), liberals, via the mainstream media, would rather wag their fingers and lecture us on civility.
Conservatives must now distance themselves from the man charged with threatening House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. TV news shows routinely profile militia groups and separatists, and Bill O’Reilly, who is supposed to be “looking out for the folks,” recently devoted three segments of the Factor to predicting the political fallout of the flimsy accusation that a protestor against Obama-care shouted the n-word to an African American Congressman on the Capitol steps (funny, there’s none of this brow-furrowing concern over radical Islam, which liberals can’t even bear to mention by name).
Predictably, they charge that the fire on the right is fueled by ignorance. A guest editorial in the Fayetteville (North Carolina) Observer cites the “startling” growth of patriot groups as tracked by the Southern Poverty Law Center and a 400% increase in death threats for President Obama over President Bush, both apparently fueled by the ravings of Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck and Michele Bachmann. A Lou Harris poll is mentioned that claims 57% of Republicans believe Obama is a Muslim and 24% consider him the anti-Christ.
Conservatives take the bait because it’s hard NOT to counter such rot. The obvious responses beg to be shouted out: what about the 9/11 ‘truthers’ and the left’s propensity for violence that necessitates conservative speakers arriving on college campuses with bodyguards — when they’re allowed to speak at all? How many Americans wrongly believe that Sarah Palin, as mayor of Wasilla, AK, tried to ban books? How many believe the media-created myth that Attorney General John Ashcroft, apparently because he is a Christian and a prude, used taxpayer money to cover nude statues at the Department of Justice? Who routinely and viciously attacks such wide swaths of America as the Boy Scouts, SUV owners and citizens who dare to earn more than $250,000 a year?
Again, they have set the agenda for public debate, resulting in a national tit-for-tat rehash of mostly imaginary political wounds. While some shows (including The O’Reilly Factor) have tackled the specifics of Obama-care and other policies, national discourse consists mostly of liberals — who control the three branches of government, the media and who just enacted their most cherished legislation — posing as victims. They trade little in facts and policies, instead vilifying whole groups of Americans, pitting citizen against citizen.
Liberals fancy themselves the idealistic little guys, as modern-day George Baileys defying the evil Mr. Potter, the ruthless banker who tried to arrest Jimmy Stewart’s character – on Christmas Eve, no less — in It’s a Wonderful Life.
But whatever liberals are or whatever their intentions may be misses the larger point: the federal government has effectively assumed control of health care in America. What does it mean and how do we reverse it?
Countering the faux outrages of poor, put-upon liberals defers the concerns of a majority of Americans concerned with Obama-care and who already instinctively know that liberals, far from being the aggrieved, principled outsiders, are the ultimate paper-pushing drones of a swollen, powerful bureaucracy.
David Bozeman, former Libertarian Party Chairman, is a Liberty Features Syndicated writer for Americans for Limited Government.
