Right

Right is:

• not wrong
• the opposite of left
• something to which I am entitled without the consent of others
• an angle of 90 degrees

Unless you are deranged, you probably want to be - and think you are - right most of the time. You probably are embarrassed when someone points out that you are not right. You might put a good deal of energy into trying to convince yourself and others that you are right. Caring about what is right is generally regarded as desirable. We reward others when we say about their action, "it was the right thing to do."

We distinguish the work of crusaders in our minds when we say they are campaigning for rights, rather than for liberties.

A civil liberty is not necessarily a right. If it were a right, that's what we would call it. This begs the question of why the American Civil Liberties Union calls itself that name. If medical care, jobs, housing, homosexual marriage, man-boy love, pornophilia, or a good many other disputed entitlements are rights, why is the organization that campaigns for them focused on liberties, not rights? Maybe the ACLU was founded by people who knew that they were advocating for something other than civil rights.

I think it is right to obey the ten commandments. That is to say, I accept that the commandments are not wrong, and that one who obeys them is right. Of course, there has been only one Person who lived an entire life without breaking one of those commandments, so no matter how hard we labor to be right, we will often be wrong. We can't take much pride in the part of our life we are not wrong, since we spend so much of our lives in transgressions, large and small.

There is a movement afoot in the United States to relegate the ten commandments and the Source of their authority to the dustbin. If this weren't so sad for the future of the nation and those on the left who are making this push, it would be amusing. The Author of Liberty gave us all the freedom to make stupid mistakes, and to ignore Him and His law. He sent His love one time in the person of Jesus Christ to absolve us of our sins, and commissioned His followers to tell the world about God's love. Any society that turns its back on this truth will fail miserably. Any society that denies the Creator a voice in the public square is founded on folly. Any society that claims that the public acknowledgement of God is "establishment of religion" is ignorant beyond imagination and merits contempt.

The same is true of a society that enshrines envy as a basis for government. If you believe government should ensure the more even allocation of resources among the populace, you have fallen prey to an insidious social weakness that defies human nature, centuries of experience, and simple economics. If you claim that taking (by force of law) from those who "can afford to pay" to give to those with less is "the right thing to do," you are deluding yourself. It is right that everyone - not just the rich - should give freely to the poor, the ill, the widowed, and the imprisoned. What is wrong - just plain wrong - is for government to take from the rich and the middle class to redistribute to others. Here is why:

1. Government of men can only be just if it reflects the will of the people. A government that has the power to take from only some of the people and redistribute to others has been taken over by a minority. Today in America, more voters pay no income tax than pay any. The ability of elected officials to pander to the entitled is no longer subject to restraint by the vote of taxpayers.
2. Government cannot act charitably. The donor is not willing and the recipient is not getting charity, but an entitlement. Entitlements are demeaning and socially destructive. This is why we have third generation poor on public assistance after the enactment of the Great Society 45 years ago. Meanwhile, taxation drives out true charity by reducing the disposable income available for it.
3. Government cannot reliably channel resources to those who need them. Most in need are far more lacking in human reinforcement than in money. Consider the public schools. Well intentioned, they perform much worse than private schools and at much greater cost because they are in the hands of politically correct administrations that will not enforce discipline and cannot provide love or instruction in the faith and values that built our nation.
4. Government is frequently suborned to pernicious causes that imperil the nation. What sort of country provides greater "rights" to foreign invaders than to its own citizens? What sort of country rewards sloth and indolence and punishes productivity? What sort of government ignores the simple truth of nature and follows unproven science to impoverish its citizens in pursuit of environmental causes that would only affect the world if all other nations also participated?

None of these truths is new to 2009, but the elected leadership of the United States is new. This "leadership" has debased our currency, doubling the amount in circulation since January 20. It has vitiated the meaning of legal rights by deforming the bankruptcy courts to steal the legitimate position of bondholders. It has forced banks into a form of federal receivership and rearranged the executive ranks of these firms. It has announced its intention to abdicate world leadership. It has appointed cronies to high office and fired those with the temerity to challenge it.

Are we not astonished that the handicraft of Barack Hussein Obama has gone unchallenged by the citizens of this once-great nation? How can we not have risen up as one and driven this incompetent tyro from office? Are we so enthralled by the sycophantic media as to ignore his usurpation of the right? Are we so deracinated that we no longer cherish the freedoms that enabled the United States to lead free men and women around the world for more than 60 years? Do we no longer remember the sacrifices made by those who prised our freedom from the grip of no less a tyrant than this Obama - George III?

I waken daily in the hope that some ill has befallen this unforgivable buffoon. I pray that we will be liberated in my lifetime from the penury and class-envy that he brought to office. Let us all strive to put him in his place - which is most certainly not the White House. His political precursors, Wilson and Roosevelt, were stricken down. Perhaps a merciful God will strike Obama as well.