Hopenhagen (sic)

Again, this is turning out to be a proxy fight for the fundamental issue confounding the world: Right vs. Left. Rule by the will of the people, or rule from the top down. And even this is a proxy, for the bone of contention has always been raw 'power'. Clearly the West has wielded immense influence and power for the past half century. Now, it is being challenged by those who think of themselves as being equally worthy.

The one thing that has lifted the West - especially America - above all the others was liberty. As our government grew, costing us more and more of our liberty, we also lost our advantage. Now, we're just like everybody else. Knock us over with a feather; knock us over with lies; knock us over with promises; knock us over with threats; knock us over with guilt; knock us over with anything you've got. We've become so corrupt; this ship of state is no longer seaworthy.

For one thing, we've begun believing in our own dystopian tales: The world as septic tank; the world as rat-infested tenement; the world as home to starving war orphans; the world of jihad and nihilism; the world of rising sea levels; the planet as hockey rink. And it's true, without a way to transcend appearances it's difficult to go on. Many of us have robbed ourselves of the tools needed to survive: religion, family, hope - the Left more so than the others.

Actually, we on the Right can sit back and relax. The Left has already won. The food fight we see is exclusively among those on the Left. Plays for power are notoriously destructive; they leave victims in their wake. This was the big idea of allowing Iraq and Iran duke it out for so many years. We didn’t really care who won as long as both sides were diminished. In the same way, the Left will diminish itself. The Right will grow stronger in comparison. Let’s hope we won’t overreach as the Left is doing; as every amateur gambler in Las Vegas is tempted to do.