Mark Steyn: 'Death of the American Idea'

Having come close to being thrown into prison in Canada for merely speaking his mind about the dangers of militant Islam in Europe, Mark Steyn knows a thing or two about human liberty and just how fragile that liberty can be, even in Western democratic societies.

While a so-called 'Human Rights Tribunal' in British Columbia narrowly exonerated Steyn for exercising free speech, the question is why should this trial have taken place in a supposed 'free' society to begin with? And, how much longer will it be before America falls prey to the very same mindset?

According to Steyn, it won't be that long.

America, he says, took a turn toward the Left in this election. And, regardless of how we may try to rationalize it all away by our explanations of what went wrong, somehow we allow government to gain more control over our lives, little by little, year by year.

Can you imagine, asks Steyn, President William McKinley in 1898 even conceiving of the possibility that one day in America one Presidential candidate would be proposing giving a tax rebate check to over 40 million Americans who pay no taxes, and the other Presidential candidate proposing a government bailout of individuals who fail to make their mortgage payments?

I can go even further. Can you imagine in the early 1900s Teddy Roosevelt conceiving of a day in America when a President-elect had at one time proposed a complete ban on all handguns in America?

Yet here we are. We should not even be having these discussions in America. But we have gradually given away our rights to be point to where the opponents of human liberty feel free to openly discuss infringing on the rights specifically named and protected in the Constitution.

Read Mark Steyn's 'Death of the American Idea' and seriously ponder over what, exactly, brought us to this point in America where so many of our fellow citizens believe it is incumbent upon them to place limitations on rights recognized and guaranteed by the Constitution.

Even in my lifetime, I remember a day in America when these issues were settled because we were free. There was no mention of ANY possibility of limitations or infringements on our God-given rights.

So, my friends, how did we get to this point? What plan of action, what tactical decisions were made that led to the present crisis of liberty?

I have my ideas, but many won't like them. Compromising with the individuals who are clearly anti-freedom did us no good whatsoever. In fact, the opposite took place. The compromises we thought would help us gain ground only served to strengthen the enemies of liberty and weaken the resolve of the electorate to fight them.