Friday, January 25, 2013

Dear Progressive

The greeting in this letter started out, "Dear Liberal".  But then I realized you prefer to be called "Progressive", because I suppose that's a term that makes you feel good about yourself.  My purpose in writing to you today is to ask you a question.

Why do you hate me so?

You deride me for my Christian faith.  You call me supersitious, weak-minded, intolerant, ignorant, hateful.  All because I believe there is an all-powerful God who created us, who loves us, and who will welcome those of us who acknowledge him into eternity after our physical bodies die.  He never told us to be intolerant, ignorant, or hateful.  Rather, God's message to mankind (oops, humankind) is to love each other and be good to each other.  Why does that make you angry?

You think I'm heartless for supporting a political perspective that believes that people should take responsibility for themselves and their families.  Why do think that's heartless?  Studies have proven what I never needed a study to prove; that people who get a good education, marry and stay with a spouse for life, then together raise children in a cohesive family unit are far happier and more successful in life than those who choose "alternative" lifestyles.  I don't need to be a Christian to recognize how those basic truths make for a safe, peaceful and prosperous culture.

You get red in the face when we talk about unions.  I don't have a problem with a group of people who work together at a company somewhere banding together for the purpose of negotiating better pay, benefits, and working conditions for themselves.  I simply think its unAmerican to force people into a labor union they don't want to join, where a large portion of their wages is confiscated to be spent on lavish lifestyles for the unelected union bosses and to fund campaigns for politicians chosen by those same bosses.  As a member of a labor union, you are not allowed to so much as ask to see the books of what you thought was your own organization?!  I prefer to choose what organizations I want to join and what causes deserve my hard-earned money.

My pro-life orientation also makes you angry.  Why would you hate me for expressing scientifically established fact, that human life begins at conception.  Surely you're not arguing that you will fight to the end to preserve a "right" to reserve infanticide just in case you find somebody cute you want to take to bed without consequence?  Why do you insist on making a straw man argument about abortion for rape and incest victims, when the number of such cases are so small as to be statistically insignificant?  Or is this merely an extension of your hostility over my inconvenient truth that sexual behavior is only appropriate within the context of the nuclear family?

You think I love war.  I can't figure out where you got that idea, because in reality I believe war should be the last resort and used for protecting ourselves against enemies determined to kill us.  It is the government's foremost responsibility to raise a strong army to protect its citizens.  You often state that no war is justified.  The very idea that a foreign soldier or jihadist might one day walk into your home and kill you is nothing more than some right-wing fantasy, according to you.  When you and your like-minded friends take over control of everything, I suppose all I have left is to pray for God's protection - because you and your "Progressive" friends will never protect me.  Sadly, you won't protect yourselves either.

Which brings us to guns.  You find them frightening and unnecessary.  You go on and on telling me that nobody "needs" a gun.  You are appalled that I might go out in the woods to shoot a poor little animal.  You scoff at the very idea I might need to protect myself from a home invader one day, something that happens every day across the country.  Pardon me for pointing out, you don't have the slightest idea what you're talking about when you stridently demand that the government ban "assault rifles".

There are so many other things we could discuss, but I will end with the economy, jobs, deficits, and debt.  You don't care to so much as consider the fact that our mutual destruction is taking place right now by ruinous spending in Washington, DC.  I wish you would at least consider the harm your god-like president is doing to both of us as he pays interest on the debt with printed money.  Everything costs more, but you and I don't get higher salaries to offset those rising costs, so our standard of living continues to erode.  We're trying to save for retirement, but our retirement funds are drying up in front of our eyes as the value of each dollar in our IRA and 401K shrinks faster than their investment earnings can replace it.  Your god-like president is telling businesses what they may and may not do within their own operations, pushing their costs ever higher and forcing them to consider leaving for a friendlier country or closing the doors forever.  You're just fine with all that, and hate me for suggesting I am not.

I don't hate you, and it hurts me that you hate me.  I want to be your friend.  My hope for you is that one day you will open your mind and let the light in just long enough to understand.  Perhaps the first step on the journey to enlightenment is the end of hatred.

Whether it offends you or not, I will continue to pray for you.

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