Editor's note: Reb Bradley's latest book, "Born Liberal, Raised Right," was officially released yesterday and is available in WorldNetDaily's online store.
The election is over. The people have spoken. Now they have their man – the most frightening man ever to win the presidency.
And tragically, Barack Obama was elected with the help of many professing conservatives.
How did that happen? What was his appeal to so many "conservatives"?
Barack Obama appealed to some who wear the label conservative, because his charisma inspired hope and confidence like few others have done.
"Give us a leader who knows our hearts," the people said, "one who will make us feel secure and at peace. Give us a man of compassion who will take care of us – one who will bring about change and rescue us from fear and uncertainty. We want a man of hope who will lead us away from pain and into a new future of happiness and prosperity."
Barack Obama won this election because he appealed to people's emotions, while his Republican opponent spoke to their minds.
Unlike past Democratic candidates, Barack Obama won the hearts of people. That is why this race was so emotionally charged for Democrats, and why supporters of the Republican ticket were treated with far more hostility than in previous elections. Obama connected with people's "passions" thereby evoking passionate responses in them. He became their "messiah" and any who stood against him had to be stopped.
It was passion, not reason, that drove this last election.
We live in an age in which the majority of people – even many professing conservatives – no longer make decisions based on reason, logic or moral absolutes. Feelings are what drive them.
I have observed that it is younger conservatives who tend to think with their hearts rather than their heads. This is largely because of how they were raised. Reared by parents who did not train them against their "liberal natures," these children have grown up to call themselves conservative, yet unbeknownst to them, their hearts are liberal.
In my new book, "Born Liberal, Raised Right," I elucidate this concept of being "born liberal" in great detail, so allow me to offer here a brief explanation.
All humans are born with the same predisposition toward life. We may each be born with our unique personalities, but we have the same "bent" – by nature we are all born liberal. I propose that liberalism is, in fact, the natural condition of the human heart. For us to grow into conservatives, we must be trained against our nature. Left untrained, all children would grow up liberal in their outlook.
To be born liberal means that we are born emotional, passionate beings. We come into the world determined to survive, and we vehemently express ourselves to get what we need: "Waaa!" and Momma feeds us; "Waaa!" and our diaper is changed; "Waaa!" and we are put down for a nap. As infants, our strong will can keep us comfortable and alive – the more outspoken we are, the more our needs are met. However, as we start to grow, we no longer cry for necessities – we crave pleasure, also.
At 9 months old, if it's Uncle Bert's watch we want, we grab on and scream when he does not give it to us. Uncle Bert might laugh and marvel at our strength, but he easily pulls his watch away, sparking our anger. We are so furious that if we were seven feet tall and coordinated, Uncle Bert would be dead, and we would have his watch. The will-to-survive that kept us alive as newborns is revealed as a will-to-be-gratified the older we get.
A grasp of liberal as well as conservative outlooks requires that we understand the self-centered drive of human nature. From birth, we are all driven by passion – we want what we want, when we want it, and we refuse things we do not want. Hence, as young children we beg or scream for ice cream and turn our noses up at Brussels sprouts. By nature we hate having to wait and demand immediate gratification – we throw fits when we do not get our way. From our first year of life, we want to gratify ourselves and loathe the idea of reaping consequences for our actions. It is our parents' job to train us to have self-control – to teach us that we can find contentment and security in life without fulfilling all our passions. They must work diligently to teach us that we do not need to be ruled by our "will-to-be-gratified."
What do you suppose might happen if a child's "will-to-be-gratified" continued unimpeded into adulthood? That is, if it is human nature to be self-oriented and obsessed with pleasure, what might happen to a child who is not taught self-restraint during the early formative years? What might happen if he is allowed a voice in all parental decisions that affect him, and indulged with that for which he cries, pouts and sulks? How might a child turn out whose parents do not teach him to wait patiently for what he wants, or who is never forced to suffer through the common hardships of childhood, such as picking up his toys or eating whatever food his parents choose for him? Might not such a child grow up with an over-exalted sense of his own importance; and, consequently, a grand sense of entitlement, little gratefulness and minimal ability to delay gratification?
A society whose children are not raised to have self-control will be out-of-control. Theft escalates in any society in which the children are not trained to say NO to their covetous hearts and respect other people's property; murder increases in any community in which children have not learned from their parents to respect others' right to life; out-of-wedlock pregnancies and incidents of sexual assault increase in any land in which children are not trained to say NO to their passions. It is interesting to note that since people began taking Dr. Spock's advice to soften up on their parenting, the rate of violent crime in the U.S. has risen more than 300 percent.
Think about it – what might happen to a child permitted to escape the consequences of his actions, whose parents clean up his messes and pay for the windows he breaks? He will grow up with "entitlement" thinking, believing that it is the government's duty to protect the immoral from the consequences of their actions, which means clean needles for drug abusers, welfare for the lazy and condoms for the promiscuous. And if many of his friends are raised the same way, might they not share a consensus that pursuit of personal pleasure without consequence is their supreme right?
Children start off life with a will-to-be-gratified, and if it is not brought into check when they are young they will arrive at adulthood with the same self-focused, passion-driven worldview they had as toddlers. This outlook on life will affect their relationships with their families, their employers and their communities. It will also determine their approach to politics and government.
I would like to offer what will be a radical thought for many – at the very core of liberalism is passion. A liberal perspective, at the deepest level, is rooted in the heart – not the mind. The liberal mindset stems from emotions and feelings, which might include compassion for the needy, but more universally expresses itself in the desire for gratification, along with a refusal to suffer the consequences of those desires.
So, do you understand how people were drawn into throwing their support behind a man, even though he stood against so many of their traditional morals? America, many conservatives included, is becoming a nation of liberal-hearted people. Obama simply seduced their hearts.
What is disconcerting about Obama is that he spent his childhood feeding his liberal nature, and then learned to justify his passion-based worldview under the tutelage of Marxist and socialistic thinkers. In January, we will not only have a president whose reason is overruled by emotions, but whose philosophy of government is more leftist than any president in our nation's history.
What makes matters worse is that the heart bonds he has developed with the American people may cause them to tolerate more governmental oppression and controls than they ever dreamed possible.
America, buckle up – we are in for the ride of our lives. However, we cannot set our sites on trying to "survive" and hold our ground the next four years – we need to take ground! For our nation to return to its roots and restore its former greatness, the changes must start with conservatives. It is my hope that "Born Liberal, Raised Right" will clarify for them the path they need to walk.
Order Reb's brand new book now – "Born Liberal, Raised Right: How to Rescue America from Moral Decline – One Family at a Time"
Reb Bradley, a retired pastor, is best known for his classic best-seller, "Child Training Tips: What I Wish I Knew When My Children Were Young." His latest book, "Born Liberal, Raised Right," is now available.