A difference in how the word is used – and its target:
“I’ll work every day to make Washington, D.C. as inconsequential in your life as I can.”
A lot of Americans reject this view — Americans on both left and right. There is a segment of the Right that wants America to be small, quiet, closed, and inconsequential; much of the Left wants America to be socialist, or social-democratic, indistinct, and inconsequential. Then there are the others. The cliché is true: that the 2012 election is hugely important. Americans will be answering, in a way, “What kind of country are we going to have?”
The latter speaks of what some Americans wish for America, the former speaks what most Conservatives and Libertarians wish for our overgrown Federal Government. The latter is an appeasement and a choice to decline; the former is a choice to affirm the true strength of America: individual Americans and not its government or government programs (no matter what Obama thinks).
Some might think that I was rather harsh to the point of trashing Gov. Perry’s "same answer at Gov. Jon Huntsman’s illegal immigration answer – incomplete on purpose". Too bad, but let’s have the discussion. This ("..as inconsequential in your life…") is spot on, and is another way of stating what Nordlinger is saying: we refuse that inconsequential view of what the United States should become.
Once again, this election is going to be about two very divergent views of what the US will be:
- Just another European socialist country ruled by the Administrative / Welfare State, where its citizens are wards of the State and it makes the decisions? That the State is premier?
- Or revive and revitalize our heritage of upholding up individual Liberties and Freedoms, where the greatest good is keeping an environment where individuals can be successful (for face it, if your life consists of only what the State gives you, as a healthy individual, is not success).
Americans historically have hated to be other than number one – The SEALs mantra that second place is "first loser" rings true. Most Americans are proud of their country and do not share the guilt that many of the Left have developed for their own country. It is clear that through his actions, Obama’s policies has putting more towards the first end point than the second and may well put America into the inconsequential bin – his choices are making consequences for us all.
“I’ll work every day to make Washington, D.C. as inconsequential in your life as I can.”
Gov. Perry, in opposition, has declared that it should not be up to a centralized government, a regressive Administrative State, to determine our future as a collective. Rather, it should be the point of Government to lower its profile so as to allow each individual to determine for themselves how their futures will turn out – be it at a personal level, a family level, or a professional level.
With his declaration, Gov. Perry has put Progressives on alert – he is going after the heart of their belief system: that ordinary people cannot live their lives without the guiding hand of the State. Any diminution of the State is a direct attack on them individually – he will be set upon by the Left’s pack of jackals. But make no mistake, in doing so, their end game is to disallow us our individual choice as well.
