Nominating Barack Obama as the candidate of the liberal party for president, Bill Clinton dwelled upon the need for cooperation.
Presumably, he did not have in mind the kind of cooperation that Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid gave President George W. Bush by trying to block his every move. Or that Obama gave John Boehner when Obama welched on their deal.
But Clinton agrees with the Communist Party of the U.S.A. that Obama would be the best president because Obama wants to continue transforming America fundamentally, making the governmenteveryone's mother, father, brother and sister.
No doubt the Founding Fathers would have ordered it up that way if they had been blessed with Obama's wisdom.
But they didn't, and that is why Clinton should be thanked for highlighting the difference.
Democrats, liberals, fascists, socialists, progressives and communists believe the individual should be subservient to and dependent upon an all-powerful state, although each of those left-wing factions has a slightly different take on how it should be structured.
America rose to the most powerful and prosperous nation on Earth because James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and others thought differently.
They wisely saw that government inherently was not to be trusted and must be limited. The power must be left in the hands of the people. To that end they carefully constructed a tripartite government with checks and balances.
Clinton is a guy, remember, who is a master of words. One who knows what the meaning of is is. So that line, and the context of his remarks, clearly shows his thought process. His big line of the evening revealed the difference Democrats have with the Founding Fathers, conservatives and 150 years of American history: You see, we believe that 'Were all in this together' is a far better philosophy than 'Youre on your own.'"
Conservatives also believe we are all in this together.
But they believe that citizens work together to solve social problems. They do not rely on rent-seeking, short-term-thinking politicians to solve them.
They know 310 million people are smarter than 536.
They know government doesn't give you anything that it doesn't take from someone else.
And they know government doesn't give you something for nothing.
During the New Deal, jobs went to states where Democrats needed votes, not to states with crushing unemployment. Ward-heelers in big cities parceled out those jobs to Democrats. Republicans need not apply.
Obama's soporific follow-up speech asking for a do-over said little but for this: It will be a choice between two different paths for America.
Damn right.
This election, more than any since 1932, will decide the future for America. Rather than a constantly improving society with a government that works for the people, it could continue descending into a stagnant society where people work for the benefit of politicians because they have no incentive to work for themselves and their families.
You'll cooperate then or else.
Lloyd Brown was in the newspaper business nearly 50 years, beginning as a copy boy and retiring as editorial page editor of the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville. After retirement he served as speech writer for Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
