Two World Views

Teeming masses of people surround you, a thin slice of blue above you is the only thing in sight that is not the product of man. To be heard you have to clamor, to be noticed you have to do something out of the ordinary. Towering masses of steel testify to the power, intellect, and sublime sense for surreal beauty that reside in man. What is beyond us if only we apply our self to it?

The rich soft soil gives a little underfoot, immense trees vanish into the fog above you. All is quiet all is calm. This is an ancient place a timeless place, there is no denying how incredibly brief you are. This forest needs no company but welcomes you to share in it’s wonder. A tendril of mist brushes a wet gossamer kiss across your cheek as if to say, if you ever lose your perspective, come visit again.

One world, two vastly different experiences. If you’ve ever seen a visual representation of voting preference by precinct or county there is no mistaking that rural and urban voters have a different world view. Why is this? How could living among many others so radically alter your political perceptions and expectations?

Is it the relative anonymity which masks your eccentricities among the many? Possibly. Is it the desire to fit into a peer group? That really could influence persons in either sphere. Maybe that is trending toward the truth, could an urbanite seek to avoid individual responsibility by being part of a consensus rather than the sole proprietor of their own destiny? I think this is the root of modern liberalism.

In a rural setting an individual’s failures are easily understood and painfully difficult to blame on external influences there being so few people around to deflect blame to. Understanding this is helpful to retain control of one’s life. It breeds a discipline that is directly attributable to an observation of the natural environment. A creature that is unable to acquire sustenance from it’s environment perishes and it does so with out intervention or compassion from the natural world. Self sufficiency is the core of individual success in nature as well as being a founding tenant of American Conservatism.

In this ABC News story, John Stossel notes that rural conservatives are far more giving than their urban liberal counterparts. ABC Amazing that this story specifically cites San Francisco in this test of Urban (San Francisco) versus Rural (Sioux Falls) attitudes on giving, the same venue where Barack Obama made his infamous “Bitter Clingers,” comment. Rural people tend to view charitable actions as an individual responsibility while urban people view it as a function of government.

If you venture into the wilds of America you are a fool if you are not prepared for the worst. If you are able contact some one for help, it will take them a while to arrive. If you are mugged in the city, it’s not the availability of human assistance that is the problem, it’s finding someone who will recognize that you are in need and are willing to take time out of their day to see that you get it.

The goal of Liberalism is to divorce voters from the consequences of their actions or lack thereof. How can I say voter, and not individuals, you see individuals are of little consequence to liberals. Individual unviable tissue masses can not vote. The victim of their inconvenient appearance with in her womb should be able to rid herself of the burden because she, the potential mother, can vote.

Reading the left is important to understand the direction they would lead our nation.

“But the pro-life position, whether or not it is based on religious orthodoxy, is more ethically highly evolved than my own tenet of unconstrained access to abortion on demand. My argument has always been that nature has a master plan pushing every species toward procreation and that it is our right and even obligation as rational human beings to defy nature's fascism. Nature herself is a mass murderer, making casual, cruel experiments and condemning 10,000 to die so that one more fit will live and thrive.
Hence I have always frankly admitted that abortion is murder, the extermination of the powerless by the powerful. Liberals for the most part have shrunk from facing the ethical consequences of their embrace of abortion, which results in the annihilation of concrete individuals and not just clumps of insensate tissue.” Read the rest of Camille Paglia’s article here, Salon

The most troubling aspect of this quote is not that Camille is a pro-proponent of abortion, it is the ultimate disregard for the individual. So as people allow the government to assume their responsibilities they also relinquish their value as individual persons. Liberalism discourages individual success in favor of shared responsibility and collective control.

In rural places people are naturally valued for their scarcity. In urban places an abundance of people makes it easier for them to be viewed as a society instead of many individuals. Whether you walk among Redwoods or nameless crowds, the most telling perspective is not of your surroundings but of your self. Is government responsible for your welfare or are you? If your neighbor is in need do you offer assistance or more government? Think about it.