Op-Ed: Say it isn’t so!

These are dark days for a Conservative who loves Liberals. I sympathize with the unquenchable idealism that inspires my Progressive neighbors. I benefit from their unflinching criticisms of my beloved America’s many faults. I know bone-deep that a healthy Republic needs both lovers of tradition like myself and critics who cannot rest unless injustices are at least being faced squarely.

So, it is with genuine sadness that I am compelled to ask, are today’s Liberals and Progressives really trying to destroy people like me and annihilate our shared Western Civilization? Say it isn’t so!

I do not want to believe that those with whom I disagree are unintelligent or are motivated by malice. The first step to becoming a dangerous fanatic is developing a belief that only the stupid or evil could disagree with my ideals.

Capable people of good will naturally draw widely divergent conclusions about how best to grapple with the problems of human existence. There is no “one true path to salvation,” in political deliberation.

Intense zealotry is incompatible with freedom. It ends debate by turning opponents into enemies.

In the presence of perceived “wickedness,” how can good people be expected to win or lose elections graciously? When fighting evil, is it really possible to trust in our Constitutional system by being magnanimous in victory and a loyal opposition in defeat?

I do not want to believe that those who support today’s Democratic Party want to erase all that I hold dear in order to build their material paradise. Assuming their malevolence would be too easy and too self-serving.

In the face of their policies, though, it is becoming harder and harder to maintain my hopeful vision. Perhaps someone on the Left can explain just how the following are not assaults on the bedrock of human civilization, itself.

A refusal to enforce vagrancy laws, encouraging street begging as a valid and protected lifestyle.

A refusal to reopen humanely run Asylums, leaving many who affected by mental illness homeless and unfed; a potential danger to themselves or others and potential targets for predators of many types.

A refusal to enforce property laws, making open theft and trespass effectively legal.

A refusal to prosecute violent crimes, placing civilian life itself at risk.

An insistence on low bail or no bail by judges, which allows offenders to walk free within hours of arrest.

A refusal to enforce immigration law, encouraging millions of illegal aliens to invade the United States, while penalizing those who attempt to enter legally.

An insistence on enabling this invasion by transporting these illegal aliens by jet all over the country in the dead of night.

Shamelessly exploiting every madman’s rampage as a pretext to violate our Constitutional right to keep and bear arms.

A campaign to turn schools into propaganda centers, teaching shame and racism.

The abolition of a commitment to women’s rights in service to a transgender agenda.

A refusal to support voting rights by obstructing every attempt to ensure the reality of one citizen/one vote through real voter identification laws.

A refusal to support law enforcement as they perform their uniquely dangerous and crucial duty to protect the rest of us from criminals.

A refusal to support the concept of a colorblind meritocracy, so eloquently extolled by MLK, in favor of a new racism and a revived segregation.

An insistence that freedom of expression be limited to public utterances that are politically correct, and a new Leftist McCarthyism to punish dissenters.

A monomaniacal fervor about regulating all human activity through an increasingly totalitarian governance as the only way to address man-made climate change.

A refusal to allow Americans full access to their own energy resources, leading to a loss of energy independence and the decline in our standard of living.

A profligate printing of endless new money which could have no result other than a hyperinflation that could impoverish us all.

A constant undermining of Federalism and Constitutional separation of powers by trying to concentrate all power in the Federal Executive Branch.

An assault on checks and balances by repeatedly trying to override the Senatorial Filibuster, the Electoral College, and the Nine Member Supreme Court, as well as attempts to add two new Democrat states.

A refusal to fund our military in a manner sufficient to deter aggression in Asia and Europe, risking the ignition of a new General War.

An elevation of party leaders who have a long record of opposing a vigorous foreign policy aimed at deterring aggression.

Taken together, all of this looks willfully destructive. Please, someone, say it isn’t so!

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In Maine and then Idaho, Ralph K. Ginorio has taught the history of Western Civilization to high school students for nearly a quarter century. He is an “out-of-the-closet” Conservative educator with experience in special education, public schools and charter schools, grades 6-12. He has lived in Coeur d’Alene since 2014. Email: rginorio@cdapress.com