Those Huggin' Democrats

     Michael Moore was recently quoted as saying, “Look up the definition of liberal. We hug trees. We hug each other. We hug people of the same sex and want to marry each other. It’s the other side that we need to get to hold their arms out a little bit and coochey-coo.”

     When I first read this quote, and finally managed to recover from my laughing fit, I really started to think about what this means for the Democratic Party today. Is this truly the way that the modern day American left thinks, or is Michael Moore simply a radical hippy fresh out of an all male free-love commune?

     While we in the club of Right and intelligent thinking may disagree with most of what Franklin D. Roosevelt did during his overly long tenure as our Chief Executive, I think many of us can still respect him for truly believing in an ideology, and embracing it as a way to save his country.

     “Roosevelt's administration redefined liberalism for subsequent generations and realigned the Democratic Party based [on] the New Deal coalition [of] labor, ethnic and racial minorities, the South, big city machines, and the poor.” Despite his status as a polarizing figure during the Great Depression, when World War II rolled around, America coalesced behind him and he was able to lead us to great and glorious victory over the evils of Fascism.

     We did not attempt to backstab him, we did not undermine him at every turn and we certainly would never have allowed the New York Times to tell Hitler the where of D-Day.

     I have always thought of the Democratic Party as holding on to the general tenets of FDR’s New Deal. Despite the horrifically misguided semi-socialist economic policies advocated in the New Deal and later, in LBJ’s Great Society, one can respect them as you would respect a worthy opponent.

     Keeping these cornerstones of liberalism in mind, let us now turn to Michael Moore’s claimed definition of a modern liberal. Gone is the determination of helping the poor by giving them jobs (the CCC), or the attempt at bringing economies of scale to farming (the FSA).

     Instead, we find a half-baked political ideology of hugging. Instead of creating a “theme” or a basic tenet of belief that will drive the Party’s stand on nearly every issue, we get prominent members of the Democratic Party making themselves look ridiculous on a daily basis.

     Al Gore seems to love hearing himself talk: "When my sister and I were growing up, there was never any doubt in our minds that men and women were equal, if not more so." Or Hillary Clinton’s concept of the most important news item: "If I want to knock a story off the front page, I just change my hairstyle."

     Democrats today hold the value of a tree, or a convicted murderer to be greater than that of our society’s most innocent member, an unborn child. They condemn terrorism but support The New York Times’ right to divulge confidential war plans to the world. They claim to support our troops, but talk about them behind their backs and allow people to burn what they fight for.

     The conversion from the party of power to the opposition party has not been kind to Democrats. Instead of recognizing a problem and proposing a solution, they rant about nothing, refuse to form a cohesive thought between them, and create many times more problems than solution proposals.

     When it comes to the Democratic Party of today, we Americans should just smile, nod and listen respectfully. In the end however, we can just ignore them for the over-the-hill crazy uncles that they are.

     As for Michael Moore, I may hate the sin but love the sinner; but for the Love of God please don’t make me hug him.

-Raphael Hythloday

Saving The World

     I first heard the story of George Washington’s Revolutionary War crossing of the Delaware River when I was just a child in elementary school. Such a bold tactical move by Washington at a point in the war where morale was at its lowest was atypical of his general strategy of conventional European style warfare. The bravery and heroism involved in the surprise attack struck straight to my young soul. Since then, the imagery created by the story coupled with Emanuel Leutze’s famous painting of the event have stood in my mind as the epitome of what it means to be American.

     Whenever I hear the Star Spangled Banner or see an American Flag, I am reminded of what it means to be an American. I am reminded of the great sacrifices the soldiers in the Revolutionary War made. I am reminded of the brilliance and foresight the Founding Fathers wielded in the drafting of the Constitution. However, I am also reminded that we have an important duty to ensure that future generations will be able to benefit, as we all have, from these great men.

     Our Revolutionary War heroes and Founding Fathers did not simply struggle to establish their freedom from a tyrannical monarchy; they fought to establish an entirely new outlook on rights, responsibilities and the role of government in our lives. They were creating a real-world working model of what the European Enlightenment thinkers had only envisioned. While what they created was not perfect, it was a shining beacon of excellence in a world where other governments were still working to repress, rather than uphold, human virtue.

     The Founding Fathers implemented a structure that would allow future generations to marginally improve the system, giving it flexibility for changing times and allowing it to remain strong as the world around it fell into chaos and anarchy.

     This remains our legacy as Americans, to remain on the vanguard of freedom, encouraging it throughout the world; sustaining and protecting it at home. Our generation needs to take a deep look at what we can do to ensure America’s glory for future generations.

     In this spirit, I propose a five-pronged concrete plan that will be outlined below and detailed in the weeks to come. Here are the main points of “The Plan to Save the World.”

1. The Culture of America
   • Immigration Reform
   • Education Reform (1)
   • Funding for the Sciences
   • Penal Reform
   • Environmental Protectionism
2. America Abroad
   • Foreign Aid
   • Dealing with Rogue States
   • The Potential for a “World State”
     1. Economic Union
     2. Military Union
     3. Political Union
3. The United States Government and Judicial System
   • Congressional Structure
   • Electoral Reform
   • Congressional Process Reform
   • Judicial Reform
   • Special Interest Groups
4. The United States Economy
   • Maintaining American Business Superiority
   • The Federal Reserve
   • Bankruptcy and Debt
   • Unions
5. The American Entitlement State
   • Negative Income Tax
   • Catastrophic Health Insurance
   • Unemployment Reform

     Our grandparents’ generation struggled with the Great Depression and fought off the cloud of fascism; our parents’ generation almost lost the fight with the counter-culture movement but ended up coming out ahead with the defeat of communism; now it is our turn to do good for the American Dream. “The Plan to Save the World,” is my answer to the trepidation many in our generation feel about the future of America. The closer we follow this plan, the brighter the future will be, not only for ourselves, but also for our children, and our children’s children.

-Raphael Hythloday