October
20, 2004
Kerry's Real Gaffe
By James
K. Glassman
Did you catch John Kerry's gaffe in the third debate?
No, not the one about Mary Cheney being born a lesbian. That
abusive and cynical outburst produced gasps in living rooms around
the nation and certainly cost Kerry votes.
But there was a more serious gaffe in the debate. It revealed
how Kerry's vision of government is at odds not just with that
of George Bush but with that of America's founders. In answer
to a question about gay marriage, Kerry said: "Because we
are the United States of America, we're a country with a great,
unbelievable Constitution, with rights that we afford people,
that you can't discriminate in the workplace. You can't discriminate
in the rights that you afford people."
"A gaffe," as columnist Michael Kinsley once wrote,
"is when a politician tells the truth." In this case,
Kerry's gaffe is an inadvertent statement of what he--and many
on the left--believe is the truth but is actually false and dangerous.
The key phrase was "rights that we afford people."
This was no mistake. He said it twice.
Kerry believes that the United States government, through the
Constitution, "affords" rights to Americans. My dictionary
defines "afford," in this context as "give, grant,
confer." In other words, we fortunate, benighted Americans
have a country, a government that grants us rights.
That's an utterly inaccurate reading of the great documents of
the founding of this nation. Our government does not grant us
any rights at all. On the contrary, Americans start off with rights,
and it is we who grant the government certain limited powers to
protect those rights.
Where do our rights come from if they don't come from government?
They come from God--which may be why John Kerry doesn't get it.
The Declaration of Independence makes the relationship between
citizens and government crystal clear. "We hold these truths
to be self-evident," it says, "that all men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable
rights." (In other words, God gives us rights that can't
be taken away.) "Among these are life, liberty and the pursuit
of happiness"--which is to say, everything.
Now, what's the job of government? The Declaration says that
it is "to secure these rights." And, to make sure there's
no misunderstanding, the document emphasizes that governments
"are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from
the consent of the governed."
This is no small matter. Alexander Hamilton, who is being honored
in a wonderful exhibition here at the New-York Historical Society,
wrote in 1774, "That Americans are entitled to freedom is
incontestable upon every rational principle. All men have one
common original: they participate in one common nature, and consequently
have one common right."
Hamilton was 19 at the time. Kerry, who is 60, has another view,
befitting the senator rated farthest left by the National Journal.
Kerry sees government as a great benefactor, bestowing gifts
on us (paid for with our own money), as long as we behave in ways
that government approves.
Bush, on Oct. 13, eloquently expressed the opposing vision: "I
believe the role of government is to stand side by side with our
citizens to help them realize their dreams, not tell citizens
how to live their lives." The founders would agree.
From these two different visions come different policies. Bush
wants lower taxes because "it's your money." Kerry wants
higher taxes so he can build, for example, a nationalized health
care system.
Bush will preserve Social Security for people now getting benefits,
but he thinks "younger workers ought to be allowed to take
some of their own money and put it in a personal savings account."
In an "ownership society," people are free to control
their own assets, their own destiny. Government guards that freedom.
In the debate, Kerry offered no plan to save Social Security.
Instead, he blasted Bush's reform as "an invitation to disaster."
He doesn't think that Americans can make decisions about big things;
he wants government to grant rights and benefits.
Don't get me wrong. I don't think government should be passive.
George Washington's Farewell Address, which Hamilton largely wrote,
states, "In a country so extensive as ours, a government
of as much vigor as is consistent with the perfect security of
liberty is indispensable."
Government's job is to keep us free, which is what George Bush
has been trying to do--in foreign policy and domestic.
