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 During these conditions, the American people seem to polarize
themselves in such a way that leads to taking stands in opposition
to each other. Groups in opposition begin to form and arguments
ensue that sometimes birth a movement that reaches out to people to
join their respective cause. The most recent movement was the tea party
movement that seemingly was the antithesis of the liberalism
that resided in the Democrat Party. Of course, the tea party was
most closely aligned with the Libertarian group that was the most
conservative in the Republican Party, so there has been some
friction between the tea party believers and the moderate members of
the Republicans.
The country seemed to formulate a stand against the trend toward the
growth of the federal government under the Democrat Party's
leadership in the White House and the Congress. Liberalism undergirded positions that led to creating the largest debt in the
history of the United States. That was seen by the following actions
from the Democrat government control:
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Taking over
private industries from the private sector under the notion they
"were too big to fail" and needed the support.
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Raising taxes to
pay for social programs that depended on the federal government
taking money from the so-called rich people to give it to those
who were not rich.
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Further establishing so-called bailout
programs to give to banks to ensure that they did not fail.
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Growing the federal government to the extent that government job
growth exceeded private sector job growth when unemployment hovered
around 10 percent nationally.
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Establishing a
nationalized health-care process that many believed mimicked
European socialized medicine.
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The Democrat administration and Congress allowing an earlier
established federal tax reduction under the former administration to
expire at the end of 2010, thereby returning to a substantially
higher tax rate for all Americans.
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Finally, raising taxes beginning in 2014 to pay for the Affordable Care Act
with another effort to "redistribute" wealth from the so-called
rich and the middle class families, as well as the young adults in
America.
Part of the motivation for the movement that created the tea party
was nonpartisan behavior exhibited by the Democrats in passing
legislation formed in closed-door fashion without the active
involvement of Republican House and Senate members and without a
single Senate Republican vote. The citizens outside the political
fray began to feel isolated and unrepresented by their leaders.
Consequently both presidential and congressional confidence from "we
the people" plummeted.
Another contributing factor to the movement was created by the
liberal media and political forces' negative reactions to the
conservative voices of the "talk radio" group like Rush Limbaugh,
Glen Beck and Sean Hannity; likewise to the conservative television
Fox Network that was charged with bias against progressive ideas and
the Democrats' leadership.
In a reaction mode, the conservative voices began to blend in unison
to counteract the liberal voices that continued to call for more
spending, more takeover of private industry, more federal control of
people's lives, higher taxes and more distribution of wealth from
the so-called rich to the poor. From that set of voices across
the land, the tea party movement was born.
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A time for listening
Perhaps now is a time for dialogue with listening. The midterm
elections are now beginning to gear up for another election cycle,
and there has been a slight shift in the balance of power in
Washington, D.C. In 2010 the Democrats lost their total control when
the Republicans achieved the majority in the U.S. House of
Representatives. In the years since then, the American
people have continued to be polled by the pollsters, revealing their
sentiments remain strong for a turn toward conservatism.
From an American citizen's perspective, I would like for the loud
voices trying to speak over everyone else just to sit down and
listen to sound rationale and logic as it is spoken from both sides.
Rush, Glen and Sean speak rationally and cogently from the
conservative side. We now need someone from the liberal or
progressive side to enter the airwaves and speak rationally and
cogently from the liberal side.
The American people would like to hear someone bring logic and
reason to the table and state the advantages to our national
interests from both philosophical positions.
From the liberal side of the issue, the Democrats, or progressive
persuasion of that party, should raise up a spokesman to
articulately state in understandable terms the advantages of the
liberal implementation of various policies. For example:
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Explain in a logical fashion the advantage to the American
national interest, why it is a good thing to have the federal
government assume control over private industry and fire the chief
executive officer of that company. It needs to be explained why
America's capitalism with its free-market economy will survive if
the federal government chooses what to nationalize, when to
nationalize and the reasons for assuming control.
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It needs to be explained from the liberal perspective the
advantages to our national interest, why there has to be a buildup
of more massive governmental bureaucratic social systems to increase
debt, redistribute wealth and grow government.
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It needs to be explained from the liberal perspective the
advantages to our national interest, what a massive federal debt that
goes beyond generations of resources will provide for us to make us
more prosperous. In our individual families we have discovered that
high debt tends to lead us to a point of losing everything through
bankruptcy but never brings prosperity. How does a collection of
individuals use that economic method and remain solvent over the
long term?
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Lastly, it needs to be explained from the liberal perspective the
advantages to our national interest, how individualized medical care
will be enhanced by the federal government taking individual choice
away and replacing it with a decision-making board to decide all
aspects in individualized health care.
I believe it would be beneficial if there could be a group of
liberal, progressive spokesmen who would launch their own
free-market, advertisement-based talk radio shows to articulately
explain the practice of liberalism and how it would be an advantage
to the national interest of America and her individual citizens.
Likewise it would be beneficial if the major networks would counter
Fox News by raising up liberal voices to quietly, articulately,
logically and thoughtfully espouse the liberal perspective to each
of the conservative positions they believe come from Fox News.
[By JIM KILLEBREW]
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