I was thinking about something that you might relate to this morning…

I think something many liberals and Democrats (often one in the same) don’t understand about many conservatives and Republicans (too often not the same) is we get angry and saddened by the same things you do. It honestly disgusts me that there are families in this great, wealthy land of ours who have no medical insurance. It maddens me that there are folks over-extended in their loan obligations, unemployed, facing hardship. Like liberals and Democrats, when I see those things I want to help those people and I want to make our country better. Unlike liberals and Democrats I don’t think of the Government as the solution.

Our founding documents are structured so that Government has a very limited role in our lives and it’s up to us, independently, individually, to fix the things that need fixing. Work in a soup kitchen, donate to charity, be a big brother or big sister… Our great nation has many, many great charitably organizations that help the indigent, one case at a time. And, unfortunately, that’s the only, real way to solve these problems; one person at a time.

It’s not the issues we disagree on, nor does either side like sympathy or compassion. It’s the tools we disagree on. I know Government can make some of these things better; it works that way in many other countries. Most of Western Europe have Governments much more involved in citizens’ lives and many of those countries function well. But it’s a very different type of Government and a very different type of citizen. The U.S. has always been capable of big, great things, primarily because our Government is limited. We are the most charitable nation in the world. We are the most inventive nation in the world. We are the freest nation in the world. The more we try to make our Constitution a tool it is not, the less able that document is to function as a guidepost for the structure of good governance.

We all see these problems and we want a magic wand to fix them, but giving a 25 year old who makes $50k/year “free” health care because he does not understand the importance of health care in his life, and chooses to spend his money on other things does not “fix” that 25 year old. It actually makes him less responsible, worse. Voting to take money from some guy in Oregon to give insurance to the family next to you in Texas does not make you a better neighbor. You live next door to a family in need and you did not help them personally. You did not sacrifice your time to help them get work so they can pay their bills. You made a guy in Oregon who has a good job work some extra hours to buy them health care.

The Government is often an attractive option because it’s so big, and so remote. It’s easy to forget we’re robbing our neighbors when Government implements a program. That very remoteness also means lessons aren’t learned when Government does step in. That’s precisely the reason why I never look to Government as a good solution when I see something wrong in my life, our the lives of others.

I agree that some of this is different. To me, the biggest, most critical component is “new media.” Let’s look at Perot’s Presidential bid. I didn’t like either of the mainstream choices, and probably would have voted Perot if I didn’t think I’d be wasting my ballot. I don’t think Perot would have been a great President either, but I was more than sick with the poltics of usual of the major parties. But, all there was was the MSM at the time. It was very hard to really know how serious Perot’s bid was, or how many folks were willing to vote for him.

Now with blogs, cable news pundits and a plethora of weblogs, etc. we have more information. That’s why I say Holloway is so interesting. In prior times the guy wouldn’t stand a chance. He would get no coverage. Now, he’s got a chance. If he does well it will be a testament to two things; new media really is a paradigm shift, and there are a lot of really, really pissed off folks out there, and they’ve been pissed off for a long time.

Like I’ve said, I’ve seen this movie before, and it always ends the same way, but the new media does give it a new wrinkle.