The Next Four Years: Battle of the Two "F" Words

Well, it was on.

I refused to watch it.

Huh? What did I refuse to watch? You have to ask? The inauguration, of course.

There I was at the gym, minding my own business, listening to my Chuck Berry, Beach Boys, and Warren Zevon, and all the TV sets had that thing on. I refused to watch; refused to listen to the "soaring" rhetoric; refused to read the closed caption titles. I felt much like what many Japanese must have watching the Missouri pull into Tokyo bay. November 6 was bad enough. I don't need to watch the formal surrender ceremony in which the United States gives in to the Chicago occupation.

Prediction: The next four years will be a battle between two "F" words.

The first "F" word stands for all that is wrong with modern politics in the Western world: It serves as the rallying cry of the takers, the distributors, the believers in the state over the individual. It is, in short, the most obscene word in the English language, a word which must be stricken from the vocabulary of every child, and most certainly not enshrined as official policy. It is a word so obscene that I have difficulty writing it down. I will try to overcome my revulsion. Yes, of course, I speak of the hideous word "fair." No more vile one can exist.

"Fair" is the cry of the leftists who rule and ruin our country. That ugly word serves as the justification to raise taxes, increase spending, and, of course, expand the power of the state over the private sector and the individual. Fear, hate, and resist that word. Whenever a politician uses it, you know a tax increase is coming, some new programs are around the corner, and another piece of your freedom is forfeit. This horrid word often goes along with its faithful companion, the horrible "C" word, "change." For there to be a 'fair' society you must not oppose 'change'! Fairness and change are good!

All too often we conservatives get weak-kneed in the face of the word "fair," especially when its coupled with "change." To do so, of course, is to give up your values and freedoms. Who said life has to be fair? Which article or amendment in the Constitution tasks the government with making life fair? "Fair" is an excuse for "Change" which we are told is "good."

Change, of course, is neither good nor bad in and of itself: it is just change. When Carter gave way to Reagan, that change was good. When the Weimar Republic gave way to the Third Reich, well, that change was not good. Believe it or not, I had this argument at State some years ago, when those of us who resisted and questioned the Department's "Affirmative Action" programs--designed to ensure greater "fairness" in hiring--were accused of "fearing change." We were gathered in a meeting with the mighty ones of personnel and I remember the dopey Director General telling me that I feared change, and my replying, "You're damn right I fear change when it is to the bad." I then went on to give my Weimar to Third Reich analogy. One of her little minions came around to my office the next day telling me "to cool it." Needless to say, I did not get the assignment I wanted, and my career went increasingly into dangerous waters.

The call to make things "fair" is the single greatest threat we face, especially if we leave the elitist takers to define the word.

What hope do we have? I have picked another "F" word that encapsulates all that is remarkable and positive and fresh about the private sector, the market and its genius. That word is "fracking." The process of "fracking" and the amazing technologies that go with it have given new life to America's domestic energy industry. "Fracking" could within a very short time turn the US into the world's greatest producer of hydrocarbons. Canada and the US stand to become the new OPEC, or at least to smash the power of the old one. Freedom, ingenuity, and the private sector have produced this turn-around which promises to revolutionize the economy and the world's political outlook. The problem? The "fair" mongers are beginning to turn their efforts to undermine the "frackers." They can't stand the thought of energy companies providing the energy that Americans want and need. The government must determine what sort of energy we need and use. We must subsidize silly electric cars, solar panel manufacturers, and wind turbines, and try by all the means possible to demonize, restrict, tax, and regulate the "frackers." Is it "fair" to have so much wealth going to Texas, North Dakota, and Alberta?

Fair vs. Frack. That sums up the next four years. The winner will determine what kind of a country we become.