Open Forum: ‘We all care’

I have many liberal friends. Every single one of them is compassionate, charitable, sincere, and concerned about the role of government. What they don’t seem to realize is that conservatives feel the same way.

Conservatives have the same goals: end poverty, achieve peace, protect the environment, have quality health care for all at the lowest possible cost, provide the best education to our children, foster economic prosperity, protect and preserve freedom and fairness, justice, and so on. We all care. We differ on how to achieve these goals.

Other than protection of its citizens, I believe the highest priority of government is to create the economic environment that promotes the opportunity for wealth creation. It’s called The American Dream. It’s a fundamental right of all citizens, and it is the bedrock of the Declaration of Independence. It is the free-enterprise system.

This environment stimulates the creative energy and intellect of millions of people. This domestic priority is key to development of a strong foreign policy. Government cannot achieve what millions of Americans pursuing their dreams can. The economic environment of wealth creation and opportunity for all should not be restricted by government; it should be encouraged by government.

After all, government is a partner in every business, taxing its profits and taxing its employees. The free enterprise system has proven to be the greatest producer of funding for social needs.

Government cannot achieve anything without the wealth created by private enterprise. It takes 10 to 20 private jobs to pay for one government job.

Economic prosperity cannot be achieved without freedom — government protection of freedom from external and internal threats. The external threats, like terrorism, are more easily seen, although some people naively think appeasement will contain the threat. The internal threat is socialism. Government redistribution of wealth is the bedrock of socialism. Socialism is the promise that politicians use to buy votes. When people think they’re getting something for nothing, they’ll vote for it.

But socialism cannot tax enough to fund its promises. Socialism is doomed to failure, but as it fails, it destroys freedom. It destroys prosperity. It destroys individual initiative. Socialism does achieve one thing — income equality. Everyone becomes poor — except for the politicians in power.

My liberal friends don’t see the threat of socialism and its impact on freedom. They overlook this fact: Socialist strategy depends on dividing the country through fear, envy, deceit, and false promises.

Today, our federal government is borrowing 40 cents of every dollar it spends. This problem will get worse if it isn’t addressed now. President Obama has no plan to cut spending, except pretending that taxing the rich and ending the war in Afghanistan will solve the problem. He has no plan to get people back to work in well-paying, free-enterprise jobs, and no plan to save Social Security and Medicare from certain bankruptcy.

Obama is emasculating our military power at a time when the radical Islamic threat is increasing. Obama has promised women free contraception, students free loans, and illegal aliens amnesty — all with the expectation that he can buy their votes.

Obama is proposing punitive tax increases, and mindless regulation on investors and businesses that will surely cause another recession. Obama’s EPA has recklessly driven up gas prices, heating and air conditioning costs, and food costs by limiting supplies of oil, natural gas, and coal.

ObamaCare has already dramatically increased the cost of health care, yet its true costs won't be known until after the presidential election.

The president is covering up multiple scandals: What really happened in Libya, and why the deception? What is he hiding about the Justice Department’s gun-running program in Mexico? What did Obama promise Russia that he couldn’t reveal until after the election?

All I ask of my friends is this: think. Think about the collective impact of all these issues, and their impact on our way of life. This isn’t the Democratic Party; this is something else.

James T. Holland is a resident of Frederick County.