Liberal minority seeks tyranny
Liberal minority seeks tyranny
EDITOR:
When does tolerance become tyranny? When do the demands of the minority enslave the majority? America is about to answer those questions.
Democracies can harbor intolerant even oppressive majorities, but it is the minority that institutes tyranny. Our Founding Fathers understood this, which is why they created a constitutional democracy. The U.S. Constitution limits the ability of the majority to oppress a minority, but it also limits the power of the minority to terrorize the majority. Combined with individualism, the Constitution is a formidable protector of our liberties.
Individualism is the key to freedom. In a country of individuals, there are no permanent minorities or majority. There are only personal interests, beliefs and behaviors. When those interests coalesce into a voting block, the Constitution limits that block’s ability to impose its will upon the nation. Yet, if the coalition is far-reaching, the country can be moved to adopt its ideas by amending the Constitution. Thus, by amendment, the character of the nation is changed at the behest of an overwhelming (not a simple, fluid or fleeting) majority. There is no wiser government system on the face of the earth, but it is not invincible.
How does one destroy such wisdom and replace it with tyranny? First, diminish the individual and elevate the group. People love their groups and will blindly support them. The individual will first view these groups with curiosity then tolerance then empathy and finally with guilt-laden or fearful acquiescence. This creates a form of tribalism, as lines are drawn, loyalties cemented and demands made.
Next, replace blind justice with empathy. Abandon the rule of law and the amendment process and replace it with a “living” Constitution. This will destroy the constancy of the Constitution and replace it with the politics of the day, which whipsaws the character of the nation with each election.
This is where liberalism has taken us. Liberals have transformed America into a nation of tribes governed by a “living” Constitution. It is a prescription for disaster. Those of you who can’t, or refuse, to see it, look to Bosnia, the Middle East and Africa and gaze upon your future. If that is your “hope,” then Obama and the liberals will deliver the “change.” For the rest of us, it is time to stop tolerating liberalism and embrace liberty and justice before we have neither.
THOMAS MASKELL
Poland