Viktor Frankl once said he liked the idea of the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast, but that it should be counterbalanced by a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast. The point he eloquently made was that, with liberty comes responsibility. This week, I’ll assume a modicum of responsibility for holding Crumine the editor to a high journalistic standard and disallow him from turning our beloved Crier into just another leftist rag, with article after article supporting an idealistic philosophy that is systematically dismantling the founding principles that made this country the greatest on the planet.
I find it refreshing that folks from the left, like our local O’Farrell followers, are pursuing an educational endeavor, however, like-minded individuals, discussing like-minded topics, watching films made by like-minded filmmakers with the same liberal anti-capitalist agenda is far from educational. A safe atmosphere that lacks criticism or contention is not suitable for sufficient learning.
If they are truly seeking to understand Jeffersonian democracy, history, or what the heck went wrong with their party, they might want to start with some scholarly literature, maybe Bastiat or de Tocqueville, even Jefferson himself.
One important thing I learned, from a liberal history professor while attending undergraduate school, was that if you are attempting to understand history, do not view it through 21st-century lenses. My suspicion is that O’Farrell and friends are not trying to learn history, but desperately trying to protect their philosophy, with group-think accompaniment.
Tyrants are currently running our government (all of the establishment politicians). The Obama regime is wasting money, while asking for more! On one hand, he blames Tea Party Republicans for all of America’s problems and why he cannot get anything accomplished in Washington, while on the other hand, Democrats call the Tea Party pathetic and irrelevant. The fact is they do not, nor will they ever, understand the Tea Party or the movement’s agenda. They will simply remain jealous and envious that they don’t have a Tea Party of their own. The progressives will most certainly be looking around the wheelhouse for their absent president as the ship goes down because it’s overloaded with their ideals. “Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God,” said Thomas Jefferson.
People in America have just as much freedom to fail as to succeed. It is not the role of government to care for its people by manipulating their outcome; it’s the role of government to ensure all people have an equal opportunity to achieve their own success and create their own outcome. It is not the role of government to punish achievement and success while rewarding failure; it’s the role of government to protect and defend everyone’s God-given rights.
“The policy of the American government is to leave their citizens free, neither restraining nor aiding in their pursuits,” said Thomas Jefferson.
A meaningful endeavor, something that would actually make an impact and effect change, would be to research the potential candidates for office — read their books, get to know and understand them. Be on the lookout for a person to rise above the rest, one that will be able to preside over and serve us all. Not one that is willing to pit American against American with class warfare, like our current president. Learning about what the candidates stand for and how they will enact policy will be a valuable use of time. Because voting into office a new president will be the most effective change any one person can make. Voting for the current president, or not voting at all, is simply remaining a part of the problem.
Oyen Hoffman
Idyllwild
