United Liberty

The Democratic National Convention kicked off yesterday in Charlotte, North Carolina. And while President Barack Obama won’t be renominated until Thursday, we frequently heard tall tales about how great his presidency has been for the United States.

There is talk of the potential 2016 nominee possibly addressing delegates this week, but there is also speculation that Democrats may move the venue for Obama’s big speech due to the elements; though there is talk that this could be due to a less than capacity crowd at Bank of America Stadium.

But between the familar rhetoric that we’ll hear this week comes some sad honesty. Back in July, I explained that President Obama’s “you didn’t build that” remarks were bad regardless of context. The specific issue at hand was government “investment” in the economy. But government has no money of its own. It only has what it takes from taxpayers through coercion.

As I explained at the time, the Left “seems to view government as some sort of omnipotent entity that grants its citizens rights and views all income earned by everyone as its own.” There will some that will take issue with me on this; but the longer this campaign goes and the more President Obama talk about the supposed greatness of government, the more it becomes a truism.

The lastest example is a video from the opening of the Democratic National Convention, which notes the differences that Americans may have, whether the be religious or ethnic background, but exclaims that the “government is the only thing we all belong to”:

That’s right, government is a virtue to Democrats. If there is anything that the last four years have taught us — a lesson that we should have learned in the 1930’s — is that government, through excessive regulation and a hefty tax burden, is an impediment to creating a prosperious country of individuals.

As Jim Geraghty alludes to, the video is a “revealing moment” into what Democrats really believe. It’s not the liberties that we have simply because we exist as individuals that bind us. Nope, it’s the government.