Temper, temper

By Mark Salley | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice

The Left is having a temper tantrum over America250. The babysitters spent the last 10 to 20 years…letting the children do exactly what they wanted. The children didn’t like mommy’s and daddy’s rules. So the babysitters, rather than enforcing the time-tested rules, let the children break them. And, break the rules they did. They left behind civility, honesty and responsibility.

The leftist babysitters chose not to reign-in or teach the children. They decided, not merely, to let the children break all the rules…but not to punish the rulebreakers! No more “time outs” in the corner. No more going to bed without dinner. No more having to apologize and accept responsibility for wrongdoing.

The children learned…”just do what you want.”  

• You want something from the store but haven’t earned money to buy it?  Just take it. 
• Someone upset you or hurt your feelings? Just rage against them; call them vulgar names; shout in their faces.

Appallingly, many of these ungrateful children have taken to violence. When screaming wasn’t getting them what they wanted, some turned to breaking things. Some turned to hurting people. Some did even worse.

Sure, most children go through rebellion or show a rebellious streak. But the children’s rebellion did not keep most parents and guardians from upholding the rules, from teaching right from wrong. 

America was blessed with founding fathers the likes of Jefferson, Adams and Franklin. These fathers didn’t make the rules…they just wrote them down. 

They didn’t “make the rules” because the rules already existed. These men merely stated the rules — the laws — were “self-evident.”  The men documented the rules, declaring them “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.”

No man had to create these laws, these rules. No man COULD HAVE created these laws or rules. Only the Creator — as these men acknowledged — only He could have created the laws of good and evil. 

And, thank God, the founding fathers had the wisdom to recognize this truth. Thank God those men were compelled to state these self-evident truths in the Declaration of Independence. 

The Declaration signed by 56 men — and the Constitution that followed (signed by 39 men) — established the foundations for this country. And, using these documents, the nation’s “parents” began teaching these self-evident laws to their children. And, in turn, the children learned  — not just to know the laws — but to honor and uphold the laws.

And for a couple of hundred years, Americans respected the laws, upheld the laws and implemented systems of law and order to hold lawbreakers responsible when laws were broken.

Over time things began to change. The disregard for rules wasn’t birthed in the 1970s, but lawlessness may have begun to flourish. …And here we are today. 

Today it is “law enforcement” that is ridiculed by the babysitter-set. It is the lawbreaker who is heralded for “standing up to the man.” 

For the last dozen years babysitters were inviting all their troubled friends to a sleepover. “Come one, call all” they shouted. “Come break the laws! Come to this country for free health-care, free education, free phones, free whatever.”  

And, the babysitters told these newcomers, “If it’s not-free, don’t worry, just take what you want from others.”

But praise God — the laws of good and evil are written on the hearts of men and women. 

Even when the “adults” failed to teach the children about the founding fathers, the declaration, the constitution…a vast majority of people “knew in their hearts” right from wrong. Right and wrong are written on the hearts of men and women. 

And today, these people — the people who support law and order, the people who acknowledge the existence of good from evil, the people who recognize truth from lies — these people are back. 

And little Bobby (DeNiro) and pretty Janie (Fonda) have resorted again to screaming. They have resorted to tantrums. Even televised tantrums. 

It won’t work. People know in their hearts: law and order is good; lawlessness is evil!  

Mark Salley served as deputy press secretary to former Colorado Gov. Bill Owens during the final 18 months of his second term. His background includes media relations work with Xcel Energy and serving as editor of the former Front Range Journal in Idaho Springs. In 2000, he was selected as a Colorado Voices columnist for the Denver Post.

Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in commentary pieces are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the management of the Rocky Mountain Voice, but even so we support the constitutional right of the author to express those opinions.