Why I am not a democrat

First let me begin by stating that I have a good many close friends and family that are democrats. Many of whom are near and dear to my heart, and all of whom I think very highly of for their intelligence and passions. I suppose that these many friends look on me as a decent enough fellow who has just been misled on some key issues. Or perhaps they feel that even though I have some good arguments I'm missing some crucial point they are aware of and that I am just not capable of perceiving. Or perhaps they think I'm just a bit of a dullard and they tolerate my antiquated purile views entirely out some sense of their own superiority. Much like a contemporary man trying to explain Wittgenstien's Tractus Logico to a cave man, they take pity me on because I'm just not able to grasp the complicated abstract concepts of what they are talking about.

For all of these folks and for any others who might stumble upon this little essay I'd like to give a brief explanation of why I am not a democrat. My biggest issues of disagreement with my democrat friends are the notions of self reliance and fairness. This is because when I speak with my many democrat friends their biggest concern is what the government is doing enough for the people. Which I often find ironic considering that it was a JFK who is noted for saying "Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask rather what you can do for your country". However, the pressing concern of all the democrats that I speak seems to be "What can the federal government do for me". There seems to be a firmly held belief that the Federal government should be responsible for fixing all of their problems. And on that note I must agree with Gerald Ford in his quote: "Any government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take it away".

It all comes down to the notion of personal freedom and responsibility. My belief is that people should be responsible for their own actions, our destinies should be ones of their own creation. With every action we take we roll the dice, and we alone should bear the consequences of those actions. And yes sometimes life can deal out some pretty rough hands to us, and some pretty cushy hands to others. And yes sometimes we can make some pretty rough mistakes. That is how we learn. However, if we constantly look to the federal government to provide for us and bail us out of every hardship we will eventually be handing over every freedom which our forefathers risked their very lives for. It doesn't really matter that we can't take care of ourselves. Not to worry big brother will take care of us.

In closing I think the best way to some up my point of view is a quote from one of my favorite founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin:

"The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. "