COLUMN: Multiple reasons point to why Democrats lost this year

With the elections season past and Christmas coming up, I was pondering what I could possibly give to liberals on campus and throughout the world. I decided after such a horrific defeat in the election by the American public that I should give the left some reasons why they lost and why America is better off without their corrupted and destructive policies.

First and foremost, liberals need to recognize that government is not a fix all. Government does nothing but create more problems. For every social problem the juggernaut tackles, several more are created. In fact, Reagan hit the problem on the head when he said that government is never the answer rather it is the problem.

If the left wants to know why healthcare is so expensive or why unemployment is so prevalent they should ask themselves what barrier of entry has the government created under the leadership of the left. Herein they will find the answer. The left needs to let America be America again; let free markets fettered only by price, choice and contract enforcement (with the application of criminal law when necessary) deal with the ills of civilized society. This is the only answer – this is the Constitutional republic the founder’s envisioned. This is what once made America great.

Second, the left needs to recognize that the only equality that can be guaranteed by government is equality before the law. Equal results cannot, nor ever, will be realized. Any time the government tries to engage in these types of activities, it has to necessarily treat some people unequal in order to give more to those who have less. The left tries to engage in some childish Robin Hood fantasy, in which they rob (demonize, tax, discriminate) from the rich and give to the poor (those who did not earn it), thus negating the accountability of personal choice. By engaging in such activity the left deepens the divide of inequality that exists. And creates a government dependent people.

This brings up the next fundamental problem with the left: choice and accountability. Although the left holds dear the platform of being pro-choice they are nothing of the sort. What the left advocates is freedom not to choose, but rather to be free from earned consequences. Take abortion for example, the woman has the right to choose, she can either engage in risky sexual behavior or not. That is her choice. The left says the choice is in whether the natural consequence has to be endured. They say it is all right to kill a child if it is inconvenient. Since when is killing a child OK? The left needs to recognize that for choice to exist, there needs to be accountability and responsibility for those consequences created by the choice.

Finally, the left needs to acknowledge and respect the Constitution and the Constitutional process for enacting legislation. The left, realizing the futility of legally enacting its defective socialist agenda, has been successful in manipulating the Constitution, by declaring it a living document, for their political gain. The have trodden it under foot with willing activists judges who engage in faulty moral relativism and push their elitist agenda on America. The left must recognize that the Constitution is the supreme law of the land and as such needs to be respected and obeyed. It is not merely an obstacle to be surmounted. It is the foundation for freedom.

It has given government specific enumerated powers and guarantees certain rights to individuals. For far too long the left has forced government to move beyond these powers and trump the political process created by the constitution. By doing so it has crushed the rights of all those who have gotten in the way.

If the left wants to get back into power and favor with history, they must stop hating America and its foundation and become friends of freedom. Plain and simple that is what it boils down to.

Jared Scott Westbroek is a senior majoring in law and constitutional studies and economics. Comments can be sent to jwestbroek@cc.usu.edu.