Fear’s the way we die

Love is but a song to sing
Fear’s the way we die
“Get Together,” by The Youngbloods (1967)

This is the cusp of July 4th, 2018. On this 242nd celebration of 13 North American British colonies adopting the Declaration of Independence, breaking chains binding the colonists to the King of England, I am having trouble making sense of the growing fear and madness driving leftists: If you’re not of the left, you are no longer someone with a different philosophy. No, you are the enemy of the left.

To the left, America is no longer a nation of laws, with everyone equal under the law. No, America is a nation where the only laws to be obeyed are those the left favors. For example, starting with the Immigration and Reform Act of 1986, 32 years ago, the U.S. Government has failed to put in place rational immigration laws.

Rather than immigration laws establishing an annual number of immigrants the nation can absorb, the left wants no borders. Instead of the United States vetting people wanting to live here for skill sets, criminal history, health, language, ability to support themselves, identification — the left wants U.S. border gates left open, and for American taxpayers to passively absorb the financial and cultural consequences.

Let’s remember the main point: The United States is a nation of laws. Yet, there is a segment of the American left content with that rule of law as long as the left can achieve its goals. The moment America’s rule of law impedes it, the left wants to broad-brush law abiders as hateful, then ignore, circumvent, or trash the law. The right course of action is working to amend the law.

This is not a new phenomenon with the left. If you were watching in 1991, the inability of the majority Democrats to muster two-thirds of Maine legislators to pass a two-year state budget prompted the majority Democrats to trash longstanding Maine traditions when the next Legislature convened. Democrats introduced passage of the biennial state budget with only a simple majority. In other words, no minority Republican legislators needed to pass the state Budget.

When the public is ignorant of public policy facts, it is the press’s responsibility to help inform the public. Yet, we have our mainstream media serving too often as an echo chamber for the left, instead of objectively reporting or distilling both or all sides of issues. When journalists and others act as if there is no left media bias, I hardly know how to respond. Are they really that blind? Dishonest?

Objective news reporting is not easy. Would-be news reporters who can’t be objective should write opinion pieces instead. Or be honest with the public, i.e. “I am a socialist, who reports news for a socialist news outlet.” Just as the left is quick to add the “conservative” modifier to news reporters on the other side.

There is too much unhealthy fear. The world in which I came of age was not one where the default reaction to a difference of public policy opinion was screech mode, burning and defacing property, intimidation, beating up people, marginalizing people with different ideas as Nazis, racists, and haters.

For those who have never done so, this American Independence Day would be a good time to read about the incredible sacrifices made to secure our freedom. Understand what we, as Americans, gained. And understand how precious are the rights and responsibilities we can just as easily lose.

Love is but a song to sing
Fear’s the way we die

Scott K. Fish has served as a communications staffer for Maine Senate and House Republican caucuses, and was communications director for Senate President Kevin Raye. He founded and edited AsMaineGoes.com and served as director of communications/public relations for Maine’s Department of Corrections until 2015. He is now using his communications skills to serve clients in the private sector.