Liberty versus Equality

Liberty, individual liberty is an American ideal. The founders made it the centerpiece of the Declaration of Independence and it was made the underlying basis of our Constitution in the Preamble and the Bill of Rights. Declaration: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Preamble: "We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." Were there ever any greater words written? You notice that when the Declaration of Independence gets to the unalienable rights, equality isn't there. For me the one word that describes what the United States is all about, is "Liberty" and primarily "individual liberty". Did Patrick Henry say, "Give me Equality or give me death"? No, it was "LIBERTY".

Equality in the sense I'm using here is a European ideal as in France "Liberté, égalité, fraternité". This is not to be confused with "Equal Opportunity" or "Equal protection under the Law, which we have in our society. The American concepts of equality strengthen individual liberty. The concept of Equality I'm using here is more closely related to equal outcomes or cultural, economic and social equality which are left wing concepts of equality. It's more a Western European Left idea than the Soviet/Communists or Nazi/Fascist left idea. [Yes, Fascist are Left, the main difference is International vs national socialism we can argue this later.]

We are seeing these Western European concepts of equality creep into our government more and more. It's nothing new, but lately the left in the U.S. is attempting to "transform", Obama's words, our beloved country into a Western European style country. Think "FRANCE",UGH! Hence we get more redistribution of wealth, more social welfare, cradle to the grave and class warfare. Yeah I know it doesn't work, but hey our left is so much more intelligent than the left of the past.