Who’s World View?

[Martin Hash]

I recently had a long discussion with a young Canadian medical student that reaffirms my experiences with young people (and old) from around the world and their attitude towards America. It blows. We’re talking nasty, nasty, nasty. However, you can take relief in the fact that I owned all the arguments – that none of the Canadian’s points can stand the cold test of intelligent logic – but that doesn’t diminish the hatred, folks. It’s not just Muslims who hate America – it’s everyone – and it’s irrational, deep-rooted, and will eventually lead to war.

The crux of our differences is embedded in the U.S. Constitution with the word “liberty” and what it means. All our lives we are taught to idolize liberty – we even pledge to it. With liberty, you come first, and if someone wants to make you do or think something else then they better have a damn good reason, and be able to prove it in court. No other country regards liberty as their primary goal. Most countries focus on equality, and all the baggage that comes with it… Fine. It’s their country, they can do anything they want. Unfortunately, since “equality” folks don’t respect our liberty, they want us to accept their “equality” values. They want us to homogenize into their world view.

I set him straight, however, he did make an exceptional point that is logical but not obvious - the most conservative Canadian is more Leftist than a Liberal in America. (He considered himself a Conservative.) Why? Because the natural dividing line is "liberty first." If liberty is threatened in America, the courts, using the Constitution as a basis, will usually come to its rescue. This makes Marxist ideals of equality a fool's game. In Canada, and elsewhere in the world, their young children have no reverence for liberty. In fact, "liberty" is a cuss word in most of the world because it is associated with their hatred (envy, etc.) of America. So, the most conservative, capitalism-supporting, low-taxes Canadian doesn't cross into our political hemisphere. As my debating friend pointed out, "we just talk past each other." Use this knowledge the next time you have a friendly political altercation with someone from an "equality first" country.

p.s. The one argument I did lose was Bush Jr. trying to spread democracy to the world. I’m afraid Jr. thought liberty only applied to Americans.