Recently there have been several news stories regarding the Left and our side: Congressman Lewis and the Black Congressional Caucus, The Tea Parties that turned out benign, and the Leftist protesters that are virulent and call for harm to our side’s leaders and spokespeople. A discussion with some friends brought up the concepts of hatred and evil. This discussion yielded mixed conclusions; we all agreed that there was hatefulness in the behavior of the Left, but there was the question of what evil is. These words,”evil” and “hatred,” have been on my mind and perhaps because of these recent events, I wanted to analyze the meaning and interpretation of these words.  Here are some word associations:

Hatred:  hostility, enmity, rancor, resentment, antipathy, ill-will, intolerance. I could stop right here because you all know where this goes, but it is deeper than that and I will show it.

Evil:  amoral, corrupt, depraved, hateful, malevolent, malicious, unprincipled, vicious, malice, black-hearted. Right now I see many words almost interchangeable with any of the definitions or associated words. Keep this in mind.

Good:  enjoyable, appropriate, delightful, esteemed, nice, right, decent, noble, valid, and wonderful. That list goes on and on.

When I see or hear words from the Left directed toward us, I am amazed and shocked, but no longer naive.  Who in the world are these people talking about? Then I realize they are talking about us – decent, caring people who love our country. People who work hard, raise families, do what they can for others, and now give time they don’t have to try and save this great nation. We are speaking out, we are getting involved in our communities, we are reading the Founding Fathers, and the Constitution; and for this, we get trashed, maligned and denigrated by a portion of the population that gets the airtime and the support of the MSM and this administration.

What is so bad about half of the American people that our own government with the aid of the media, mocks us? The media makes a big deal about “right-wing” extremists – they’ve referred to us as racists, haters and Nazis, at one time or another.  Tabitha Hale’s Freedom Works post has an excellent collection of who is really doing the hating, and wishing harm to others. The recent sign at a demonstration, “Hope Sarah Chokes” or wishing Rush Limbaugh to get cancer and die, are remarks and public displays of this extreme vitriol. How many times did the Left wish publicly, that Pres. Bush would be harmed?  The Leftists Dems encourage this type of rhetoric by their silence, because it helps their agenda.

The media has stumbled over themselves to try and distort the Tea Parties. See Vassar’s post at their lack of success. In the end, it is the extremists of the Left, that has the public square and ear, who seek to sow hatred and enmity and stigmatize those that don’t agree with them. Strange how they don’t call our true enemies, the Islamic Jihadists, these names, just their fellow citizens get these ugly labels.

Consider that hatred has to be fueled, fed like a greedy fire. Stoked. This is what is happening with the Leftist administration and media. But there is a danger when a government stokes the flames of hatred of one group of citizens against another. The extremists in our government are aided and abetted by the media and hate-filled sites like Daily Kos and Huffington Post, many of us never visit, because we cannot absorb such venom and vitriol.

Let me talk about our side for a bit. We do not hate, we are driven by something much lighter, more positive. We see things wrong and we want to fix them, not project hate and destruction. We are able to voice discontent, disagreement and frustration without calling for someone’s death. We also quickly marginalize those on the extreme end of our continuum – we do not present them as heroes. We are not elitist looking down upon a whole group of people. We have discovered that the Constitution, in an incredibly marvelous way, fits us all in. Simple as that. Maybe intuitively our side realizes that hatred can only destroy, it can never build up anything. Even in our most passionate moments of protest, we have not sought their destruction or harm, but only to stop them from causing harm.

So about this hatred that oozes from the Left, and the foaming mouths that utter such hatefulness toward an innocent group of citizens. It is their empty souls that spew venom toward our military (Murtha and Kerry are two examples), yet it is that military that protects this country and their right to spew such venom. Do evil and hatred go together? Yes, I believe they do and for the Leftist extremists, the two are entwined. There is hateful behavior that those with an agenda encourage, and this is where the inherent evil exists. Most of us understand evil as exemplified by the atrocities of the 20th Century: Hitler, Stalin, and Pol Pot. But no one should think that those hideous genocides occurred in a vacuum. I believe we see the same kind of mentality fostered today, and hatred stoked, similar to the kind that enabled those infamous names to carry out their horrific deeds. It was the townspeople who smashed the storefront windows, or gave up their neighbors, or despised the gypsies, the homosexuals, and political opponents.  I use this example because the German people thought they were regular people and that they were right.

The names of Milosevic and Saddam Hussein, Ahmadinejad, Kim Jong il come to mind as well.  A leader with the support of a portion of the population, driven by hatred, can lead to unspeakable acts against their fellow man.   I don’t believe that we would have such horrors here as have happened elsewhere in the world,  but I do believe that understanding how propaganda and fostering a certain mind set can lead to extremes of behavior that we ordinarily could not fathom.  What seems impossible now can gain credibility over time.  These are examples that help to remind us of the extent that man can feel hatred and commit evil.  It may be controversial to say that one can glimpse similar mindsets in those of the radical Left, but I think it is there and in an insidious way the future is being affected, just what form it will take remains to be seen.  The seeds of hatred help sow evil.

When the Left cheers the most despicable and heinous comments made about our side – people who are decent and good and hard working Americans – and they sneer at us and belittle us, that is hatred and evil, and must be fought.  There is danger in this attempted marginalization of a group of citizens.  Since Obama and the Leftists took over the nation, they are unrestrained now.  Can we change their mindset? I do not know. IMO, it is more than just corruption and a loss of perspective that drives these people.

We need to think about the differences between our side and theirs, because I believe those that hate us will be the ones to cross the line to stop us.  Whatever our response, it won’t include foaming at the mouth with vitriol, or “hope you die” signs, it will be with dignity and truth and the law, and as much as possible, we will prevail. But it is necessary that we finally recognize, (even if we don’t understand it) the hatred directed toward us.

You know that saying that revolves around “knowing something when you see it?”  I think that is what has happened to many of us. I have not looked for evil, almost didn’t recognize it, but now I know it when I see it.