One of the most enduring images from the GOP convention in
Tampa was when Paul Ryan said: “College graduates
should not have to live out their 20s in their childhood bedrooms, staring up
at fading Obama posters and wondering when they can move out and get going with
life.”
Then there was Mitt Romney’s
hidden camera riff about the 47% who will vote for Obama no matter what because
they want everything for free, pay no income tax, and see themselves as
victims.
These two images get to the essence of what really separates
Liberals from Conservatives, not just in the US, but also around the
globe. It also gives me an
opportunity to make a philosophical point, which ought to be a central theme in
conservatism today and ought to be front and center in Mitt Romney’s
campaign: The Federal
Government must never be the safety net!
Liberals and Government:
Liberals view government as their parent. Accordingly, they want a really cool
parent. One that lets them live in
the basement indefinitely, buys and cooks the food, does the laundry, pays the
bills, gives them a free cell phone, and takes care of them when they are
sick. A cool parent asks no
questions and makes no demands.
A cool parent wouldn’t care if you smoked weed in the basement, slept
until noon, played video games all night, had frequent wild parties, and
blasted loud music. Really cool
parents wouldn’t mind your alternative lifestyle because it would just enhance
their own coolness! They might
even remodel the basement for you, put on an addition, and add a private
entrance to make you totally comfortable living there. Really cool parents are awesome,
no? In fact they are so awesome,
why would you ever leave the basement?
And there’s the rub; you wouldn’t. You would happily live the decadent life of a dependent
mooch in your parent’s basement where you would obtain none of the habits or
skills to ever be independent or make a positive contribution to society. Then one day your parents or the money
would disappear, and you would be one angry helpless slacker living in a dark
basement that the bank wants to repossess.
This is why socialism eventually fails wherever and whenever
it is tried. Sure, it might take a
few generations to breed all the success traits out of the population, but eventually
that will happen and the society will crumble.
Conservatives and Government:
Conservatives don’t view government as their parents, don’t
want to be dependents living in anyone’s basement, don’t care if their
government is cool, and are not afraid of being independent. That does not mean
Conservatives reject all government.
On the contrary, Conservatives understand that for them to be free they
need strong federal and state governments. But conservatives want a federal government that only does
the things no other entity can, like defense, lawmaking, judiciary, money,
foreign relations, and taxing. All
the other things, like taking care of dependents, healthcare, education,
retirement, and free cell phones, should be done by the states, individuals,
families, non-government organizations, religious groups, and private
companies. These are the
fibers which weave together to form a resilient society. The States and the society must provide the
safety net, not the federal government, and for good reason.
The federal government is unique in that it alone can print
money! This sets up a classic
conflict of interest. This is why
the federal government must never be the safety net. Keeping these entitlements and safety net items out of the
federal sphere is the only way to insure that the voters don’t ever have the
power to vote themselves free money and “rights” which belong to other
generations. Thus, the states and
non-government society are in a better position to honestly provide a sustainable
safety net. I wish this philosophy
was front and center in Mitt Romney’s campaign.
Incidentally, this is the way the country was laid out in
The Constitution. Those founding
parents may not have been “cool” but they sure were smart.
Here’s what it looks like when the process is complete:
The 2012 race in a nutshell:
