by El Zorro Viejo (aka; Jim)

The "them" I refer to is the political right. Yesterday I happened to pick up Mona Charen's newest book, Do-Gooders: How Liberals Hurt Those They Claim to Help (and the Rest of Us), and had to put it down after reading the first page and a half. She opens with a polemic about how Liberals mucked up the justice system in the 60s and 70s. Her argument seems to depend upon one being a white, middle-class, sheltered princess. As far as I could see, she wants the world to be like it was in 1953: where suburban white folks were not bothered by the police. Of course, she conveniently overlooks the role the police played in keeping immigrants and blacks in "their place" (my quotes, not hers...). Miranda (which she sees as a major evil) came about to enable significant segments of the population to enjoy the same rights which the white middle/upper classes took for granted. So, no, the cops can't beat up on a citizen just because his ethic background isn't pure European. And, no, the cops can't question a citizen without first telling him/her what rights are accorded to all citizens. When an economically advantaged, educated white person was arrested, usually the first thing they did was scream for a lawyer. And even in those "golden" days, once a citizen requested a lawyer, the cops were obliged to pull back and await that personage's arrival: failure to do so would almost certainly result in the case being thrown out of court.

Sometimes I wonder. I look at Ms. Charen's last name and I have to think that the ancestor who brought the family name to America probably did so in part, at least, to escape official persecution. All I can do is think, "how soon we forget.". Ms. Charen is wrong about Liberals in the most fundamental way. I have to assume that the rest of her book is written in a similar fashion which is why I won't be finishing it. I just don't have the time to waste on elitist propaganda.

I picked up another book at work this week: Politically Incorrect Guide to American History by Thomas Woods. This look at U.S. history very often contradicts what we were taught in school (this is particularly true for those who attended secondary school prior to the 80s.) In one of his pieces, Mr. Wood notes that the Founding Fathers were actually conservatives as opposed to being revolutionary firebrands. Well, while it is true that one of the things they were trying to do was maintain the freedom from outside (read British Monarchy's) interference in their internal affairs, it is also true that they decided to write down exactly which powers were accorded to the state and which powers were reserved to the individual sovereign citizen. It is in this enumeration of our rights (which was done mostly by saying what the state could not could not do) that our Founders reached for the sublime. It is here that their true greatness lies. And it is here that their innate liberalism comes to the fore. Mona and the rest of the "strident right" just plain don't get this.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. ©El Zorro Viejo 2002-2005