A Cheap Revolution

Revolutions take place all the time. There was the American Revolution, the French Revolution, the Industrial Revolution. There is social revolution, economic revolution, cultural revolution. There are currently stirrings of revolution of a sort in our own country today. We just celebrated America's Independence Day. It is regarded essentially by all as a heroic revolution against an evil regime. Some are even drawing parallels with the growing sense of revolution today where an expanding number of left-wing Democrats are aiming the country toward overt socialism. There is the classic outcry against the 1%, the rising tide of opposition against authority by the "little people," the demand for freedom, for something better. Isn't it the same?

There are key differences.

In the 1776 version, America sought to disassociate their country with their monarch's country; in today's version the rebels hope to take the country from those who are already in it. The aim of the American Revolution was liberty; the aim of today's rebels is entitlement.

Some of the most striking differences are found in the Declaration of Independence.

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.

The aim of that revolution was to secure their God-given rights. They didn't believe they manufactured their rights or even earned or deserved them. They believed they were endowed by their Creator. Today's version is not that version. The Creator has been expelled. Rights are now what we make them, what we claim, what we believe to be "self-evident" without the slightest backing. So there is the "right to a living wage" and the "women's reproductive rights" (by which they mean "the right to kill a baby to avoid reproduction"). There is the right to universal healthcare (which, if you think it through, points to a stunning universal injustice in all mankind for thousands of years because no such provision has ever been made before this new modern version).

The framers of the Declaration of Independence appealed to "the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions" rather than today's version that appeals to our basest desires, where "Me Too" means more of "I want what you have and I'll take it from you by force if I have to."

Finally, they wrote, "And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor." These were men of faith with a lot to lose -- lives, fortunes, honor. In today's class warfare -- the poor versus the rich, the have-nots versus the haves -- there isn't a lot to lose. Those who don't have a lot hope to take from those who do. Not much on the line for them. If they lose, they lose little. A cheap revolution if they can pull it off.

I think there are parallels between the Revolutionary War of 1776 and the current revolutionary push against America's current government and economy. I just don't think there are nearly as many as the Left would like to think. Their war is not against a monarch, but against Capitalism. Their fight is not for freedom, but for that which they think they are owed. Their rights are not derived from their Maker, but from their own imaginings. They make no appeal to any Supreme Judge, but only to what they want. And unlike the American revolutionaries of old who risked a lot, they risk little. The only question is whether or not Americans have the stomach anymore for what is right and reasonable over the emotional pull of what we desire.