Leftists Just Don’t Get it #59818283

Okay, so I just made up that number but it doesn’t matter because Leftists aren’t particular big on math or accuracy.

Today the net is buzzing with the story of a house in Obion County, Tennessee that burned to the ground as firefighters watched. The Left, always eager to politicize tragedy, took to the net to make this an example of the type of country Tea Partiers / Conservatives allegedly want. How intellectually bankrupt is the Left? Very.

First of all, they set up a strawman in this case. Conservatives aren’t anarchists. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a conservative who doesn’t think there are basic government services which are necessary to provide for an orderly society. Chief among these basic services are fire fighters and police. I challenge any Leftist to ask a Conservative which they would choose to allocate their tax money to: Welfare or Fire / Police. It’s an idiotic argument that serves to highlight the fundamental difference between the Left and the Right. Conservatives believe in limited government so that it can focus on providing basic services competently. The Left believes in unlimited government which, as we all know, leads to bloated bureaucracy that can’t provide anything efficiently.

There’s also the question of personal / individual responsibility. In this case, the homeowner CHOSE not to pay an additional fee (aka a Tax) to get fire fighting services from a nearby town. He clearly chose stupidly. The fee / tax was only $75 per year! At what point does the Left think people should be subject to the consequences of their actions? The homeowner chose $75 dollars over the security of his house. He rolled craps. It was HIS decision.

In many places around the country, fire fighting services are provided by volunteer fire departments. In other places you pay for fire fighting whether you want to or not. And, in some places like Obion County, it is an optional fee / tax. That’s how it should be. Local governments deciding what is best for their areas of responsibility. Leftists, on the other hand, would prefer a Federal Fire Department where taxes are collected and the funds distributed at the discretion of bureaucrats far away from where the funds will be used. Where all the fire fighters are Federal employees who can’t be fired and who belong to the SEIU. This way they can concentrate power and wield it to ensure they keep that power and take the decisions out of the locals’ hands.

The Left is trying to suggest that Conservatives want no government. They couldn’t be more wrong. This is an example of an individual making a stupid choice and the government not micro-managing his life. The people in that county now have a case study in “Why we should pay the $75 per year.” Had the fire fighters chosen to save this guy’s house, there would be no motivation for people to pay the $75 per year and the city government would probably have to stop providing the protection to the county altogether or jack up the taxes on the city residents. In the long run, everyone wins because people will make better decisions in the future.

If the Left had their way, there would be higher taxes, inefficient government and out of control spending where the misery is spread to all instead of being confined to this one dumb homeowner.