by Tom Tancredo

This drumbeat that began right after the event in Arizona, and really before that, the media focused on this idea of partisanship, that we need to be more bi-partisan. In my opinion, bi-partisanship is over-rated. It doesn’t offer much and here’s why, we as conservatives always lose when we reach out across the aisle.

The tempo increased, the intensity on the part of the media increased, and this mantra gets chanted on every single progressive talk show. MSNBC, all the usual suspects. All of the talking heads, the newspapers of record, the New York Time, The Washington Post, The Denver Post, with the headline of the day “Obama calls for civility”.

There is a reason they are doing it. It has nothing to do with lowering the political temperature in the room. No, it’s not that, but you have to think about, what is, actually happening in this country.

We are engaged in a war, it is a war of ideas. Ideas that are diametrically opposite ideas. Ideas about what kind of country we will be, and exactly who we are as a nation. We need to grapple with the idea of “Who are We” as Americans. We are losing track of what it means to be an American and what America is going to look like. It is a war, it is not a shooting war, but it is a war of ideas. The murder in Tucson has nothing to do with it.

It is because we are in this war of ideas, that, it is so dangerous. The outcome of this war, will determine what kind of America we will be, if we will be America, at all, as we knew it. An America that distinguishes itself by borders separating us from Canada and Mexico.  An America distinguished by a tradition that is called Western Civilization, based on Judeo-Christian principles.  A tradition that establishes rule of law, that as supreme, not rule of men. A tradition that focuses on individual liberties, recognizes and focuses on the idea that an individual is far more important than the collective.

If that vision, that I hold, of America, is the same vision you hold.  If you believe as I, it is the vision that was shared by our founding fathers, that was fought for in war after war after war, that so much blood has been spilled to preserve. Then you recognize why, the battle of ideas can become heated, that rhetoric can become hot.  There are really some important things at stake.  We are separated from the other side by a chasim.

50 years ago, but the last 100 years, we have had a progressive movement in this country.  It was held in check for some time.   And even as late as the 50′s and 60′s, most Republicans and Democrats had a similar idea of what America was all about and at least who our enemies were.   Scoop Jackson was a Democrat but couldn’t have been more of a hard liner.   In terms of anti-communist and strong military, and of course, that was a good thing, because the Democrats controlled congress for some 40 years.   But they had a strong sense of national defense.  They had a commitment to beat the communists, not just to survive but to win.   This is something that the vast majority shared. So, the fact is, we didn’t have rhetoric that was so inflamed.  There was a time when the rhetoric was not as heated as today, but things have changed.

Barack Obama said I intend to fundamentally transform America.   Think about those words.  I intend to fundamentally transform America.  Into what, I might ask?   He did not say I have a great desire to build a better America.   The familiar rhetoric of politicians.   No, his intention was, and is, to fundamentally transform America.  The America he sees is not my vision and I hope it is not yours.

He’s talked about it, about the Constitution, the document that needs his interpretation.  He’s talked about how America is not a Christian nation, and has gone to great lengths to try to show that this is true.   His idea of what America is about,  is not mine. I hope it is not yours.

I hope now you understand why the rhetoric gets to the point of being hot.  It’s important.  Everything is at stake.