The real problem with the left isn’t any policy

Yesterday in a conversation about gun control Hillary Clinton said, “We need to make every politician who sides with [the NRA] to look in the eyes of parents whose kids have been murdered.”

And that’s a perfect example of what’s REALLY wrong with the left.  

I’ve been asked before what policy Obama has implemented that makes me loath him like I do. And my answer has always been that there’s not one particular policy that has turned me against him.  Don’t get me wrong, outside of the way we’ve killed a few notable terrorists and pirates I do disagree with nearly every decision Obama has made.

But the policies of the left are just a symptom of the problem.  Their way of looking at the world is the problem.

And that’s why Clinton’s statement is so profound.  

When making policy decisions, why should we look in anyone’s eyes…much less the eyes of a grieving family?  Our decisions on how to run this great country should be based on common sense, logical reasoning and a recognition of the importance of personal responsibility….NOT emotion.

In what other area of life to we advocate making serious, life-altering decisions based on emotion?

• When our teenage daughters are “in love” at 15 years old, do we encourage them to elope?
• When our sons graduate do we encourage them to choose a college based on the quality of the dorm parties and cuteness of the girls?
• Do we come home with a new puppy every time we see a cute little ball of fur up for adoption?

No.  No, No, No, No, NO.  We don’t do any of those things because we realize that our lives would be a wreck if they were governed solely by emotion.  But the left refuses to acknowledge that emotional decisions will wreck our country.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not devoid of emotion…it’s just that I don’t let my emotions govern my decisions.

For example, I love my wife.  I hate spending even a day without her and it’s been like that since our first date, fifteen years ago.  But before I proposed to my her I made sure that we had the same ideas about my career, how we’d spend our money, how we’d discipline our kids and religion.  Because I knew that regardless of how much emotion I felt for her we both deserved to make a rational decision about our marriage, because that’s the intelligent thing to do.

I do feel emotion for the victims of these mass shootings, but I realize that infringing on the rights of the people not responsible for those crimes won’t solve anything.  I do feel emotion for the poor of our country and their inability to afford healthcare, but I realize that taxing the “haves” to fund the lifestyles of the “have-nots” is a bandaid solution, not a cure.

I’d be willing to sit down and explain to the victims’ families why gun control isn’t the answer to these tragedies.  But I wouldn’t want to.  I wouldn’t want to have that conversation because it would be nearly inhuman to intrude on their lives in a time of grief to push my personal agenda.  (I suppose the left could learn something from that, too.)