Democrats: The Party of "You Can't"

By Douglas V. Gibbs
Author, Speaker, Instructor, Radio Host

It's a matter of whether we should look at things as they are and as they should be based on truth, or looking at things as they ought to be from an idealistic point of view as they should be based on feelings and unrealistic expectations that defy both the rule of law, and human nature.

The liberal left is guilty of the latter.  They believe themselves to be the possessors of truth, when it is only lies they understand.  They are a ruling elite who believes they know what is best for the collective, and what is best for the collective is not what you desire as an individual.  Individualism, and individual choice, in fact, is the ultimate enemy.

While they say they are the ideology of choice and freedom, in reality it is the opposite.  As they say they are the givers of freedom to the homosexuals, they are taking away the religious freedoms of anyone who dares to oppose their demands.  While claiming they are protecting the freedom of the choice of abortion, they kill the unborn and take away the right to life of persons who are in the first stage of development of life.

In reality, the Democrat Party is the party of "you can't".  You can't live if you are in the womb and your mother rejects you.  You can't have a religious belief if the government decides it is no longer a religious belief (homosexuality, transgenderism. . . ).  You can't keep and bear arms unless the government allows it.  In New York you can't drink the amount of soda you desire.  In California you can't buy ammunition without close government scrutiny.  You can't keep more of what you earn, and you can't pursue due process when it comes to certain federal or local agencies (like the IRS, or CPS).  If you hold a government job the list of "you can't" extends even longer than that of the average citizen.  For example, if you are a public school teacher, you can't have a Christian Cross or a Bible on your desk, or anywhere in the classroom.  As I learned regarding one of my daughter's teachers a few years ago, however, Buddha, Peace Symbols, Yoga, Islam and icons showing a belief in the normalization of homosexuality is not only allowed, it is encouraged.

According to the Washington Times, the big list of "you can't" is 13 items long. . .

1.  You can't have Happy Meal Toys - In California, Santa Clara and San Francisco Counties passed separate ordinances in 2010, preventing restaurants from offering toys to children in conjunction with "unhealthful food and beverage choices." This included meals of 600 calories or more that didn't include enough fruits and vegetables. The so-called Happy Meal ordinance was easily passed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in an 8-3 vote. McDonald's responded by announcing that they would start charging 10-cents for toys in Happy Meals.

2.  You can't have Sugary Drinks - In 2012, then New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed the "Portion Cap Rule" limiting the sale of sugary beverages to 16oz. The ban applied to restaurants, delis, movie theaters and sports stadiums. Bloomberg pushed for it as a means of fighting obesity. Restaurants, the soft-drink industry and a majority of New Yorkers hated it. The Board of Health unanimously approved, but the New York State Court of Appeals ruled against the ban, writing that the city’s Board of Health “exceeded the scope of its regulatory authority” in enacting the proposal.

3.  You can't have Plastic Grocery Bags - Democratic sponsors of the House bill say the best solution to excessive plastic bag trash is to place a nominal fee on single-use carryout bags.

4.  You can't have Toy Guns - In the Ohio House, Democratic State Rep. Bill Patmon of Cleveland introduced House Bill 119, making it illegal to manufacture, sell or display toy guns. The ban would apply to any toy gun that a "reasonable person" could confuse with a real one and comes with a possible $1000 fine and up to 180 days in jail. An earlier bill was introduced in Ohio requiring some fake guns to be brightly colored. That bill hasn't moved forward and Rep. Patmon has said it doesn't go far enough.

5.  You can't have Bottled Water - In San Francisco, the Board of Supervisors approved a measure that bans the sale of bottled water at events held on city property. Supervisor David Chiu authored the legislation in 2014, which also prevents the use of city funds to purchase bottled water. Over the next four years, the ban will phase out the sales of plastic water bottles that hold 21 ounces or less in public places. Violators could face fines of up to $1,000. Environmentalists love it, but the American Beverage Association called it "nothing more than a solution in search of a problem."  If you'll remember, it was the Democrats who encouraged the rise of bottled water in the first place.

6.  You can't have Horse-drawn Carriages - While not the law yet, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has every intention of banning horse-drawn carriages in the city. The contentious proposal (Int-573) states that as of June 1, 2016, "it shall be unlawful to operate a horse-drawn vehicle in the city of New York or offer rides to the public on a vehicle drawn or pulled by a carriage horse." The bill also hopes to ease about 300 carriage drivers into new jobs as cabbies, offering job training and the possibility of green taxi licenses, which can pick up passengers outside the busiest parts of Manhattan. Penalty for breaking horse-carriage rules could hit $25,000. City Hall has hired a consultant to study the issue.

7.  You can't have Goldfish - The San Francisco Animal Control & Welfare Commission proposed a ban on selling goldfish to prevent their inhumane suffering. In 2011, Commission member Philip Gerrie proposed the Humane Pet Acquisition Proposal, which included small pets and fish. He said that "most fish in aquariums are either mass bred under inhumane conditions or taken from the wild," leading to "devastation of tropical fish from places like Southeast Asia." As predicted by Supervisor Sean Elsbernd it was "an idea that will end up in the dustbin of history and go absolutely nowhere.”

8.  You can't have beauty. . . hence, you can't have Barbie Dolls - A West Virginia state delegate wanted to put an end to Barbie. Democratic Delegate Jeff Eldridge of Lincoln County proposed House Bill 2918 in 2009, banning the sale of Barbie dolls and "other dolls that influence girls to be beautiful." The Barbie Ban Bill claimed that the Mattel doll placed an undue importance on physical beauty to the detriment of their intellectual and emotional development." Eldridge couldn't find a single statehouse colleague to sign on to the bill and said he didn't really expect it to pass.

9.  You can't have Crosshair Symbols - Shortly after the 2011 shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona, Representative Bob Brady of Pennsylvania announced that he would introduce a bill making it a federal crime to use "language or symbols that could be perceived as threatening or inciting violence against a Member of Congress or federal official." His intention was to ban crosshair symbols like those on a map used by Sarah Palin to demonstrate which congressional districts she was targeting for the 2012 election season. Brady's idea was to expand Expand Title 18, Section 871 of the US Code (threats against President) to include more public servants from written threats. Conservatives responded by finding several examples of Democrats using similar crosshair symbols on campaign material.

10.  You can't have Early Football Kickoff - The governor of Minnesota, Democrat Mark Dayton, said he was looking out for the needs of college students when he went after Saturday morning kickoff times in late 2014. Dayton told the St. Paul Pioneer Press, "I'm going to propose that we pass a law that no (Division I FBS) football game in Minnesota can start before noon." Blaming TV networks for college game schedules, the governor decided that students didn't want to be awake at 9am on a Saturday to start tailgating before University of Minnesota football games. When asked if he was serious, the governor said he had been talked out of it for 10 years while he was a US Senator and intended to get other Big Ten state governors involved.

11.  You can't have the Pledge of Allegiance - In Massachusetts, Democratic State Congressman Frank Smizik vocally backed a 2011 effort by the Brookline Political Action for Peace group to ban the Pledge of Allegiance in school. The group said that the pledge had no educational value and was “reminiscent of totalitarian regimes.” While students already had the right not to say the pledge,Smizik claimed that students who refused were being bullied. He agreed to co-sign the resolution, citing both the First Amendment and a calling it an anti-bullying measure. At the time, School Committee Chairwoman Rebecca Stone was reported to have said that, with other important issues on their agenda, she didn't believe that the Committee intended to reconsider the existing policy.

12. You can't have Candles - This one was not on the Washington Times list. In 2011 A Democratic lawmaker in Nevada has introduced a bill that would outlaw air fresheners and candles in public places.  It would even prohibit priests from using candles in Mass.

13.  You can't use Certain Words - Political Correctness and Hate Speech laws have been emerging in an attempt to limit our speech.  Sometimes, the Democrats are even willing to seek the law to ban words.
In January of 2014, Texas Representative Sheila Jackson Lee took to the House floor to propose banning the word ‘welfare’ from the government’s vocabulary. Using the 50th anniversary of President Lyndon Johnson's war on poverty, Lee said, "maybe the word welfare should be changed to something of, 'a transitional living fund.' For that is what it is — for people to be able to live." Jackson Lee was referring to all welfare, including food stamps, unemployment, Medicaid, and Medicare.

What's next?  They want to ban fossil fuels, and eventually private conveyances other than bicycles.  They want to ban any education other than that which they control.  They don't think you are good enough parents.  Will they ban parenthood.  You can't have your children, and you can't believe what you want if it disagrees with the liberal left agenda.

What is the next "you can't?"  Freedom of Speech?  The Press?  Assembly?  All of the above?  Meat?  Travel between the States?

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary