More On Howard Dean's Spirituality

I’ve done a little more thinking about Howard Dean’s attempt at religious thought during yesterday’s speech in Tennessee. Dean thinks that Republicans are not adhering to Jesus’ command to “love thy neighbors”, and, of course, Dean thinks the Dems are. The real problem here for Dean is not that Republicans don’t love their neighbors, but that they don’t love their neighbors in the manner approved by Dems.

The best way to describe this is to refer to the old saw: “If you give a man a fish you feed him for a day. If you teach him how to fish you feed him for a lifetime.” Dems are in favor of the “give a man a fish” school of thought (no pun intended), and in fact not only do they want to give a man a fish, they want to give him YOUR fish. You see, if you’ve won life’s lottery and been blessed by the Almighty with more abundance than your neighbor, it’s only right that the government should take your abundance from you and give to your less blessed neighbors. Of course, Dems never consider wealth to have been won through hard work and dedication - it only comes through luck and mystical blessing (see Ted Kennedy). Therefore, you have no right to want to keep what you’ve earned or decide for yourself how you want to spread your good fortune.

The main problem with the Dem approach is that it creates a class of people dependent on government handouts. Dems love that because they become loyal voters who are regularly scared by Dems into believing that they cannot survive if Dems are not in power. Dems want people to win life’s lottery without actually buying a ticket.

Republicans, on the other hand (or at least conservative Republicans), believe that true compassion is not just handing out other people’s money, but providing training, inspiration and getting the government out of their way so they can pursue their own path to economic freedom. This creates a class of independent people who are not looking to government as the answer to all of their problems. Unlike the Dems, Republicans are not afraid of people who want to stand on their own two feet, and who create private sector jobs and stimulate the economy. That’s good for everyone – except Dems.

Unfortunately, I’m beginning to wonder if today’s Republicans are not falling into the trap of big government. There certainly have not been many concrete signs that the GOP is interested in reducing the impact of government on our lives. Government programs have soared under the Bush administration, and there is no spending restraint in sight. Much of this is in response to criticism levied by people like Dean and the other Dem leaders, and the GOP has got to learn how to ignore the critics on the left and how to make their case for smaller government to the American people. Otherwise, the nation will be trapped into supporting burgeoning government programs that will require more and more tax dollars to fund, and that will rob the economy of its entrepreneurial spirit.