They Say They Want a Revolution

All it takes is a little slap to the face to make the left start panicking and plotting revenge. Just in time for post-election celebrations on the right, ultraliberal cartoonist and columnist Ted Rall has published his book, "The Anti-American Manifesto," in which he advocates a violent revolution to change this country into a Socialist dream state. In an interview that could only take place (one hopes) on MSNBC, talking head Dylan Ratigan coddled the would-be Guevara with the softest of questions and abundant nods of agreement. "Are things in our country so bad that it might actually be time for a revolution? The answer obviously is yes," said Ratigan in introducing his guest. "The only question is how to do it?" (And the libs wonder why more people watch Fox.) Some voices on the right have also floated the idea of revolution. So what makes them any better than the benighted left? The answer, if you don't already know, is freedom. The American Revolution established a country where the inherent rights of mankind would be protected and nurtured. It wasn't perfect, and the people had to grow into the some of the nobler concepts of the Founding Fathers, such as equality before the law. But America was the first country founded around the idea that rights come from God, not from government. Socialism puts up with none of that. Oh, Socialists are good at talking about equality and rights and yada-yada, but at the end of the day, Socialism is about stealing from people who have been successful, buying off the poor with peanuts and channeling all wealth to "the state," which is to say, the newly anointed Socialist leadership. Socialism is about impoverishing the masses, violently crushing dissent and keeping careful control over people's inherent creativity and industry. It is, in short, tyranny. Somewhere deep in its heart, America understands this. The calls of radicals like Rall for a Socialist revolution are just proof that the left is getting desperate.