Yesterday, I spent considerable energy arguing with a bunch of liberal morons over at RWN. John correctly brought to the fore the ideology of Norman Thomas, an American socialist from the 1920’s, who basically said that Americans would never accept socialism unless its name was changed – to liberalism. Once this happened, just about any socialist concept could be applied, even here.
Thomas, who ran for President six different times, understood the power of incrementalism. He knew that a socialist agenda in America could only be pursued with the use of deception and half measures, until one day Americans would wake up in a socialized state.
Well, wasn’t that the truth?
American liberals have fallen for Thomas’s passion hook, line, and sinker. Since the post was drawn up in the face of a debate on Hitlerycare, liberal commentors jumped at the chance to defend it. Conservatives fell for their game, unfortuantely, trying to defend the country against this foolishness by arguing on the libs’ terms – in other words, trying to demonstrate why Nationalized Socialized healthcare is such a bad idea compared to why the libs thought otherwise. No one brought up its blatant unconstitutionality.
Until I entered the debate.
Go read the thread. It’s quite enlightening. Here’s the link again.
Over the course of the debate, I was able to get the libs on record as either saying or implying:
1. That socialism is allowed in the US under the general welfare clause of Article 1, Section 8,2. That socialist non-solutions are better than real free-market solutions to problems that were largely a result of socialism (e.g. healthcare regulations).
3. That the cost of lawsuits and malpractice insurance doesn’t drive up the cost of healthcare more than the price of medicine.
4. That government regulation is a good thing, especially for the healthcare industry.
5. That people with BDS are right.
6. That James Madison would advocate socialism and/or nationalist socialist healthcare.
7. That James Madison and the Founding Fathers are irrelevant.
8. That George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and others would have a problem with acknowledging James Madison’s contributions to the US Constitution.
11. That adhering to a “rock solid” Constitution is akin to totalitariansim.
I left out 9 and 10. Seems a lib or two had a problem knowing the difference between the 9th and 10th Amendments. I just don’t want to confuse people – ya know??
The conservatives largely left me to work my magic and came to defend the Constitution after I left the thread.
This is the most important thing we conservatives can do to defend our great nation against the liberals who seek to dismantle everything that has made her great. Far too often we argue on their terms. Why? Their terms are FLAWED. Their terms are BULLSHIT. Their terms are IRRELEVANT.
As long as the Constitution is the law of the land, it must be defended against all enemies. Many of these enemies are holding public office today. These people must be defeated, regardless of their branch of government. The Founders’ vision, as enshrined in the Constitution, MUST prevail.
In order to defeat the socialist liberal onslaught that threatens our country, we must be sure to argue on Constitutional grounds. We must be prepared to use the Constitution in her defense. We must be prepared to call socialism what it is: SOCIALISM. We must be prepared to defend ourselves against these accusations of advocating totalitarianism with facts about real totalitarians and what they advocated.
This is an EASY argument. It takes little or no effort. If you want to defend the Constitution, just know it. Read it. Read the Federalist Papers – AND the Anti-Federalist Papers. Know what the Founders said in its defense. Know why the liberals are full of it and show them. If you like, give them plenty of rope and let them hang themselves as I did yesterday.
This is, I believe, the biggest problem with the way conservatives confront liberals today. There seems to be some need to debate the liberals on the facts of the argument e.g. how much nationalized socialized medicine will cost or how it will affect the choices available as opposed to whether the federal government really has any such authority to begin with. The people of the USA need to be re-educated about the Constitution and what it says, and you know damned right well the schools aren’t going to do anything about it.
If we don’t bring the Constitution back to the front lines of the fight, we are going to have serious problems winning it. If we do, we will win every time. Powerful thing, that US Constitution. Powerful thing. The perfect tribute to the minds that created it.
RWR
RightWingRocker 