© 2016 Jim Spence - The would-be killer of House Whip Steve Scalise was a Bernie
Sanders volunteer. He wanted to make sure he was shooting at Republicans when
he approached the baseball field where the GOP team was practicing for a
charity event earlier this week. And despite some incredibly inflammatory reactions
by various Democrats, like the Nebraska black caucus leader, who said, the
whole shooting was “funny,” many op-ed pieces have wondered instead why we
Americans are so divided.
Explaining why we are so divided is pretty easy. It plays
out at the family level all over America…….including our family. Yes, we have
Democrats in our family and we also have Republicans. More than anything else
my spouse and I prefer libertarian ideals which are long lost in the entitlement era.
It has been an interesting process to witness the morphing
of the political discussions at our family gatherings since we were young adults. In the 1970’s and early
1980’s the elders in both my family and my wife's family tended to dominate the political discussions. Mostly
we just listened. Their biases were towards the Democratic Party and against
Republicans. These elders tried, eventually in vain, to convince us that the “greater
good” required European-style socialism. Who else but an immoral person could
be against the greater good, was their argument.
The problem with their greater good argument was that as we
matured, we realized that the facts simply did not support their claims. As the
1970’s ended and the 1980’s began, Marxist China had to embrace a healthy dose of free market
capitalism to end the mass starvation brought on by decades of big government socialism. The Soviet Union
did the same to avert financial extinction a decade later. History is littered
with failed socialist regimes. The statement by Ronald Reagan that “government
was not the solution but the problem,” was proven to be true over and over
again. To us facts mattered. By the 1984 election we knew despite what our Democrat parents told us that
what they had been peddling was total baloney. We stopped voting for Democrats and
we said so.
By the mid 1980’s we were saving and investing a very
significant portion of our modest income. We did without many things and “cool stuff”
while most others in our peer group spent their money on all the latest discretionary items. With
reserves building, we ran across opportunities and our income gradually increased.
Most notably, along the way to success, the family political discussions became
edgy. People like us, who voted for candidates who seemed to be for more limited government, were told repeatedly
that the main reason why we did so, was because we were unconcerned about
others, just ourselves. At virtually every family gathering it was inferred that we
were selfish, greedy, and lacking in compassion for others. Even as we began to
make more and more charitable contributions from our increasing disposable
income, the morally inferior inferences continued non-stop from the Democrats
in the family. It didn’t take long before it was made abundantly clear that it
did not matter how much we paid in taxes or gave to charity, we would always be
morally inferior because “we did not pay our fair share.” In some years, we
paid more in state and federal income taxes than our harsh judges earned
before taxes. We never knew what class warfare really meant until this corrosive
process was well underway.
Eventually, and many years ago now, we made the
decision to resist all temptation to discuss politics at family gatherings.
While we remained quiet, and or changed the subject, the sniping and morally
inferior inferences tossed in our direction continued. If only people like you would pay your fair
share, we heard on so many occasions.
Virtually every holiday season became an endurance contest.
How many times could we tolerate the jabs and needles that suggested because we
reject the false premises of socialism, we were selfish and greedy. These
slights often took place while we were cooking and cleaning up after our guests
who scarcely lifted a finger.
Are we surprised that a gunman and Bernie Sanders supporter from
Illinois, who has been photographed holding a poster with the same sort of class
war phrases directed towards us, would open fire on a group of GOP Congressmen
and women while they were preparing to raise funds for charity? Why would we be
surprised? Our business is barred from providing services for public pensions in the state of Illinois because we are white and male. This unconstitutional Illinois law is
the handiwork of a state that has been dominated by the Democratic Party for
decades…..the same sort of Democrats who infer at every turn that anyone who is
not a Democrat is morally inferior. Steve Scalise's would-be assassin was simply trying to rid the country of derelicts because he had internalized the moral superiority delusion of his party and resorted to
violence.
Now into my early 60’s I avoid most family gatherings if I even suspect the Democrats are going to be present. Why hang out with people who think I am morally inferior and have told me so many times? Would they shoot at me? Only metaphorically.
Posts
