Avoiding Conflict Avoidance

In the official liberal belief system, the key to it all is "conflict avoidance." Because if only we could avoid conflict then everyone could live in peace and justice.

Er, no. Not quite, chaps. In reality, life in the world is all about conflict. We humans, occasionally, create a moment in which conflict recedes to the margin. But not really. Conflict still continues, but in a sublimated form. Thus, in politics, we fight civil war by other means.

Against the liberal notion of conflict avoidance, I believe we should understand conflict, its rhythm and its typical human manifestations, and use that knowledge to make society work better--and families and churches and associations, for that matter.

That's why I think that we need President Obama and his Democratic friends to pass their awful ObamaCare legislation. They have done the American people a huge favor by overreaching on health care. They could have got to ObamaCare eventually, by slowly ratcheting up the level of government intervention, by turning every health care problem into an argument for more government.

But they didn't. They went for the whole Kahuna. And the American people woke up and decided they hated it.

So now we have a once-in-a-generation chance to make a huge national statement against Big Government. Not a government that slowly encroaches upon Americans and their freedom. In this case it is a government that is lunging towards a huge increase in government power.

In November, we have a chance to make the election about a single issue. The issue is simple: Repeal the Deal. Repeal the huge increase in government power. Repeal the huge increase in taxes. Repeal the huge increase in government boards and bureaucracies. Turn America around and make a statement for freedom and against government power.

Americans can always be tempted into signing on to some delicious subsidy that gives them something for nothing. We are all tempted by that kind of offer. But the Democrats in their hubris, going for the big historic achievement, have made a mistake. They have accidentally framed the issue in Republican, conservative terms.

Anyone can believe that a neat little subsidy might be rather nice. But nobody can believe that a huge bureaucratic government program is going to deliver better health care to the average American than the private sector.

So let's thank the Democrats. And let's not avoid the necessary conflict ahead. We are going to have to fight this battle over the size of government some day, and the time to fight a battle is when your side has the best chance of winning. I'd say that the current situation heavily favors the Republican side this fall.

Suppose that a new Republican Congress is elected on the platform of Repeal the Deal? What does the president do then? What does the MSM do then? Do they say that the American people were confused? That the American people are wrong?

Or do they admit that the new Congress was elected with a mandate, a mandate to repeal the cruel and unjust health legislation passed in a blur of corruption and Chicago bare-knuckle politics?