Clearing Underbrush

As the nation's presidential campaigns grind forward, much is said about the candidates' economic prescriptions for this country. Whoever is elected this November, and whichever political party controls Congress, the new President's policies will affect our lives in direct and noticeable ways. Can we agree that the fundamental duty of our elected representatives is to protect our lives and property, and to preserve our freedom with equal justice under law? Surely it is obvious that the fellow citizens who we send to Washington and temporarily entrust with ultimate power are stewards, not nannies. They have no business imposing "experiments" attempting to force us into some arbitrary "social engineering" template.

Who has, earns, or inherits more or less money is not the government's business. Rich and poor must receive equal respect, for to legislate otherwise is to create privileged classes contrary to our founding principles, special interests each scrambling for power to oppress the other. Justice and wisdom demand treating all conditions fairly, the rich because they are the engine of culture and prosperity and the poor because we value human life and recognize its infinite potential.

The fundamental problem with democracy, recognized since ancient Greece, is the "tyranny of the majority." Greedy, lawless mobs will always band together to vote themselves benefits at their neighbors' expense, and ruthless, equally lawless aristocracies arise precisely to prevent it. America's founding fathers were acutely aware of this fatal flaw and designed the U.S. Constitution to minimize the danger.

Clinton and Obama, the two Democrat candidates, both advocate rapacious economic policies that defy this reality of human nature and ignore the gigantic, miserable failure of every socialist regime ever imposed. Surely we need not bring up the ghastly results of the Soviet Union; China; Cuba; North Korea. Clinton and Obama graduated from the elite Yale and Harvard Law Schools, respectively. But the goal of higher education goes beyond academic knowledge. Study and reflection are supposed to induce wisdom and integrity: the ability to recognize the difference between right and wrong and make principled choices between them. These two flunk. Either they don't know that socialism is Frederick Hayek's Road to Serfdom - or they don't care. They should be running for dog catcher.

John McCain, the so-called Republican who won his party's nomination with Democrat cross-over votes, inspires a bit more confidence, but not much. We're tired of hearing him demagogue about "tax cuts for the rich" when 1% of earners pay 39% of income taxes collected, and wonder what he thinks he's going to Washington to do. Memo to Big John: the President's job is to serve all the people in the broad, long term national interest. You're not elected to subject us to the European Union; to oppress us with junk science like Al Gore's global warming bunk; to throw our borders open to all comers; or to subvert the Constitution by ignoring the Bill of Rights. This guy graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy ranked 594th in his Class of 598! He's not very smart, just smarter than his opponents. Where is the vision? Where is the inspiration? All we see is arrogant, short sighted attitudinizing.

This election is the nadir of high principle. We only hope that when the wheel turns, as it will, the hero who rides to the rescue of the Republic is George Washington, and not Adolf Hitler.