Compromise - The Road to Socialism

Last night, I heard Bill O'Reilly say that compromise is always good. He is not unusual among Americans in saying that. When reasonable people get together and attempt to find a way to work with one another to achieve a goal they share, compromise often is worth everyone's effort.

But..... When someone who believes in the rights of the individual is confronted by a socialist, any compromise between them moves the freedom-loving individualist down the road to serfdom. Compromise is no longer good. It is the primary means through which the persistent socialists have robbed most benevolently-minded and non-confrontational Americans of one precious freedom after another.

For those of us who believe that everyone has individual rights, each fifty-fifty compromise on a freedom with the socialists results in our losing half of whatever freedoms we were still allowed to enjoy. Two compromises, and we have only a quarter of our freedom. Frankly, when one has less than half a freedom, it would seem clear to me that one's condition with respect to that freedom is best characterized as slavery.

Let us suppose we drive a hard bargain in each confrontation and we only lose 20% of the freedom each time. At the end of 3 compromises, one has only a 0.512 fraction of the freedom left. This is barely better than slave status. After 5 compromises, one's freedom is less than a third of what it should be.

The compromiser is guaranteed a loss of all of his freedoms over time, because the socialist, who loves using the force of government and loves confrontation, always comes back to demand more. The socialist can always compromise to his advantage. There is, however, no way to compromise one's way back to freedom.

Those who would be free, must be prepared to never compromise their freedoms. They must fight every fight as though their lives depend upon the outcome, because they do. They must fight with no thought of surrender and with no quarter, because only evil-doers prosper from the compromise of the freedoms of the individual. The rational domain for compromise does not include our freedoms!