The Guiding Principle Of The Left

     A guiding principle of the Left and the Democrat party over the last 60 years has been the concept of replacing individual responsibility with collective guilt. This is the basis for practically all of their initiatives, policies and campaigns. And it is a deliberate attempt to control the populace and augment their own power. For when individuals are no longer responsible for their own behavior, and the collective society is, the ruling class becomes much more relevant and powerful in their ability to make laws that limit freedom and individual liberty.
     Holding the whole society responsible for an individuals behavior began in the 1960s with the creation of the welfare state and its subsequent expansion. It has continued through the succeeding decades and it is what informs the Lefts current position on gun-control. The idea is that since there are individuals in society that can not adhere to the common rules of civilization and decency, the entire culture must be punished. It is the same idea behind Hillary Clinton's book of a few years ago entitled, "It Takes A Village." The concept that the children in a culture are the responsibility of the entire society to feed, cloth, educate and protect, is anathema to the traditional concept of family and parenting. But the Left has succeeded in convincing many people that the role of parenting is too hard for individuals and that government should be an equal partner in the raising of their children.
     The guiding principle of the Left, i.e. replacing individual responsibility with collective guilt, has culminated in laws like the one that requires that children under a certain size be secured in a proper car seat. On the surface this seems like a good idea, its goal is to protect children. But every law has costs like the unintended consequences of restricting the liberty of responsible citizens. Besides, isn't the safety of my child my responsibility? The nanny state telling free people how to raise their children has recently had a new advocate in the form of our First Lady. Michelle Obama's food police have confiscated children's bagged lunches because they didn't meet her government's standards. Again, what I feed my child is no business of a busy-body Leftist like Mrs. Obama. But her goal, like that of all Leftists, is not the well being of those they purport to help, but the continued growth of a central authority that they control.
     The founders of this great nation created a government that would not get in the way of individual liberty. This means that people are free to succeed or fail, to gorge or starve, to over-protect or under-protect their children and to suffer the consequences of their own irresponsible behavior or reap the rewards of living responsibly. The Lefts guiding principle of making the entire culture pay the penalty or reap the rewards of each members' actions is an affront not only to the Founding Fathers and their principled government, but to the natural laws created by God.