Before conservatives and Republicans engage in too much schadenfreude about Rep. Anthony Weiner’s resignation from Congress, a word of caution might be in order. Let’s not get too happy over Weiner’s departure, and by all means let’s not jump to the conclusion that his conduct is an indicator that all Democrats are like him.
I’m sure there are conservatives and Republicans who do things as goofy and despicable as Weiner did, and we all aren’t that way either.
And let’s remember this: No matter what the conduct of the individual elected official, be he or she Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, the bottom line is still the fundamental philosophical and political differences between liberals and conservatives, and Republicans and Democrats.
• Aren’t Republicans and conservatives for lightening the load on American taxpayers? Don’t liberals and Democrats feel they are entitled to suck money out of our wallets?
• Aren’t we for limited government? Aren’t they for making government as Brobdingnagian as possible.
• Aren’t we for interpreting the Constitution as it was written? Don’t they think the Constitution should be rewritten almost daily, based on their whims about what the law of the land is?
• Aren’t we for, as much as possible, getting the federal government out of education, even if it means dismantling the Department of Education? Don’t they believe that some Washington bureaucrat knows better how to educate our children than teachers and parents at the local level?
• Haven’t we supported things like vouchers and charter schools, the better to give parents — especially those in areas where public schools are a wreck — more choice in their children’s education?
• Don’t they — with some bold, notable exceptions — oppose vouchers and charter schools and leave poor citizens to the tender mercies of unsafe, abominable noncharter public schools? Don’t some of them hypocritically do this while sending their own children to private schools?
• Don’t we believe the Second Amendment means that citizens have a right to defend themselves against armed criminals with firearms, if necessary? Aren’t they against private citizens owning firearms, and consider it our tough luck if we’re harmed or killed by criminals if we don’t have weapons to defend ourselves?
• Don’t we believe that the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision was a horrendous, egregious misuse of judicial power? Don’t we believe it’s morally wrong to kill an unborn child? Don’t they believe it’s a woman’s “choice” to have an unborn child sucked down a tube if she so desires?
• Don’t they believe — after much crowing that abortion is a private matter between a woman and her physician — in public funding of abortions for poor women? Aren’t they asking the public to foot the bill for the result of something that is, by definition, the ultimate private act?
• Don’t we find their position on this matter to be the utter nonsense it is?
• Don’t they believe that if a girl under 18 gets pregnant that she has the “right” to cut her parents out of the decision-making process on whether or not she gets an abortion?
• Don’t they accuse us of racism while they shamelessly race-bait at every opportunity?
Some examples: Didn’t Al Sharpton compare former President George W. Bush to Eugene “Bull” Connor, the notorious public safety commissioner of Birmingham, Ala., in the early 1960s?
Didn’t Leadership Conference On Civil and Human Rights leader Wade Henderson just whip out a Bull Connor card?
Wasn’t Weiner accused of using race-baiting tactics during his run for the New York City Council in 1991? Ah, how the chickens have come home to roost!
Examiner Columnist Gregory Kane is a Pulitzer nominated news and opinion journalist who has covered people and politics from Baltimore to the Sudan.
