Who's Selfish?

It seems that in the last days before the election, Senator Government (whoops-Obama) is starting to lose his cool openly with us conservatives. By opposing his socialistic concept of "spreading the wealth" we are, according to the anointed one in a speech last week, selfish people. This strikes me as a classic case of projection.

On the selfishness meter of life, I'd have to say that by and large big-spending, socially liberal Democrats rank well ahead of country-club, wealthy Republicans. Why? Well, for one thing, it's pretty selfish for your party to insist that it is uniquely qualified to run our government, and therefore want no part of term limits which might impact your self-centered grip on power. For another, it's an act of selfishness not to mention expediency to support abortion on demand and gay "marriage," both of which are self-centered acts that contribute to fraying the fabric of our society. Further, it's an act of utter selfishness and arrogance to raise taxes claiming as you do that you know better than us commoners how to distribute our hard-earned money.

Before Obama opens his increasingly arrogant mouth again about the "selfishness" of those who don't agree with him, he ought to do a little research, starting right at home with a charitable contributions comparison as a percentage of income between himself and his opponent. He won't like what he sees, just as his comrades Kerry and Gore did not fare well versus George W. Bush in the area of giving. This window into liberal Democrats' personal stinginess is simply a reflection of their philosophy that it's better for the government to give from coercive taxation (other people's money) than it is for a private individual to give from the generosity of his heart.

But the fact is, the selfishness gaffe is only the latest in a series of brazen statements and actions by Obama that give the lie to his claim of being a "unifier" who is above partisanship. This guy has succeeded in making Madame Hillary look tame by comparison, and that's saying a lot. Hillary merely told her rich friends, "We're going to have to take some away from you for the common good." Obama goes farther than that with his smug "spread the wealth" comment to Joe the Plumber, not a rich man by any means, and sending his running mate out to say that Americans who don't support a tax increase are downright "unpatriotic."

In the increasingly topsy-turvy world we live in, it should not surprise us that "moderate" Republicans (in fact, RINOs) like Colin Powell and William Weld have endorsed Obama, warts and all. What should give us pause, though, is the erroneous claim by such men that the Republican Party has "moved too far to the right" for them. What poppycock! The party nominated perhaps the most "centrist" candidate in more than a generation; a man who promised a drive-by interviewer recently that he would nominate Democrats (plural, not just one token) to his Cabinet. What more do people like Powell want? In the mean time, the Democrats nominated perhaps the most leftist candidate in their increasingly sordid history, and Powell embraces the guy. There's something fundamentally wrong (and selfish) about that.

Essentially, the whole liberal philosophy is built on selfishness. Rush Limbaugh has said for years that liberalism is a "gutless" choice; true, but selfishness goes hand-in-hand with lack of courage. A prime example of this is knee-jerk opposition to war. When I was growing up, the easiest thing in the world for young people was to oppose the Vietnam War. After all, the war was fought with half-measures and no clear objective and that, along with a media drumbeat of bad news, made the war naturally unpopular. That played right into my generation's hands; many of them could claim a noble cause for burning their draft cards when in fact it was pure selfishness in refusing to serve that drove their actions.

We'll see just how unselfish Obama himself isn't one way or the other, sooner or later. Hopefully, sooner as he gives what I predict will be a much-less-than-gracious concession speech on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.