The Wisdom of Janice Rogers Brown

Pittsburgh Live's editorialist has written a column about why the Left hates Janice Rogers Brown so much. Basically, she slams into the roots of the Left's totalist vision with a sledgehammer. The column is worth reading. Link. Here are JRB quotes from the column:

"If we can invoke no ultimate limits on the power of government, a democracy is inevitably transformed into a kleptocracy -- a license to steal, a warrant for oppression."

"I have argued that collectivism was (and is) fundamentally incompatible with the vision that undergirded this country's founding. The New Deal, however, inoculated the federal Constitution with a kind of underground collectivist mentality. The Constitution itself was transmuted into a significantly different document."

"Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit."

"Where government advances -- and it advances relentlessly -- freedom is imperiled; community impoverished; religion marginalized and civilization itself jeopardized. ... When did government cease to be a necessary evil and become a goody bag to solve our private problems?"

"Government acts as a giant siphon, extracting wealth, creating privilege and power, and redistributing it."

"(W)e no longer find slavery abhorrent. We embrace it. We demand more. Big government is not just the opiate of the masses. It is the opiate. The drug of choice for multinational corporations and single moms; for regulated industries and rugged Midwestern farmers and militant senior citizens."

Bonus coverage: The word "kleptocracy" means "a government characterized by rampant greed and corruption." American Heritage Dictionary. Great word.