In Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice, Shylock’s servant quips, “The truth will out.” And often it does. Sometimes it wriggles to the top of an official investigation, but more often it just stumbles forth out of the mouths of those who seldom even speak sense, let alone the truth. Last week our beloved vice president really let it slip.

She was rambling on about the monumental, historical step forward it has been that we now have a Second Gentleman. I guess that’s her only accomplishment -- to be sitting in the place of Vice President (and no one can understand how she got there) while having female reproductive organs. Evidently that’s important and that does seem to be the only talent she possesses.

But then she went blathering on about what it means to be a Democrat. She seemed to be under the impression that Democrat-itis is a special genetic construct that meant you had unique capabilities the rest of us lack. This is what she said: “We, as Democrats, have the ability to see what is possible, what can be, unburdened by what has been.” Whoa. You wouldn’t think they’d say that out loud, but there you have it. 

This has long been my complaint with leftists (Which is now synonymous with Democrats.)  -- their refusal to check their policies against history.  What a cool idea! -- they say, patting each other on the back. Let’s take all the money from the rich and give it to the poor! Wow. Do they take even a moment to look back on history and see if anyone has ever tried that before? Na. They’re “unburdened by what has been.” What was it that happened to the Soviet Union? Never mind. Forge ahead.

Seems they might want to check back and see what things might happen if we don’t get control of our borders. Do they even know what happened once the barbarian tribes sacked Rome? Wouldn’t a prudent person want to know if willy-nilly printing money could have any negative consequences? Have they heard about the hyperinflation in post WWI Germany?

They don’t even have to go very far back into history -- Venezuela or Cuba or North Korea -- to see what a disaster socialism/communism can be, but they’re too busy being unburdened to check the rearview mirror. Could the Biden administration (whoever that is) have noted FDR’s utter failure to guide America quickly out of the Great Depression? No. Joe and Co. just repeated the same approach, throwing printed federal money at the problem. That got FDR nothing but the slowest recovery in the world. But the Dems, bless their little, incurious hearts, never look back.

Or was Kamala’s remark aimed more at the left’s determined effort to erase the Constitution? Is that what she meant by “unburdened by what has been?” We won’t pay any attention to that old relic -- is that what she meant? Funny, but not too long ago that august document became a “living” document so that the Left could mold it into anything they wanted (Roe v. Wade), but now it seems to have shriveled up and died altogether -- at least in the wishful thinking of the Left.

Was she referring to biblical concepts? Are those the ideas she and her ilk are no longer burdened with? None of that “wrath of God” palaver for her. Her folk are determined to march on into the future -- never mind Sodom and Gomorrah, never mind the Flood, never mind the dire predictions about one world government prophesied in Revelation. (The left is no more worried about the future than it is the past.)

And those old, old ideas about loving God and obedience and doing unto others -- those are just silly and rusty and not likely to produce a power grab. I’ll admit, though, that progressives are taken with Lucifer’s ancient lines about being “like the Most High.”  That’s the power grab of all power grabs.

Or was she referring to Christian morality? That is a tough one for the Left. Those folks don’t want to be “burdened” with Ten Commandment niceties; they cramp their style and interfere with some of their favorite lusts. How better to cure the guilt associated with child pornography than just labeling it a “preference?” Alleviating shame over stealing from your fellow-citizens via taxes and inflation can be accomplished by calling it “your fair share.”

Which brings up another leftist break with “what went before” -- language. Why go by the old definitions? Who says a recession is two consecutive months of low GDP? Who says men are men and women are women? Language changes, sure, but what if we give it nudge? What if we massage “equality” into “equity” and instead of referring to opportunity, we mean outcome? If they can accuse traditional parents of being terrorists when they try to protect their children, they can protect the real terrorists and put down objections to their propaganda. If they can alter enough terms, they can confuse every issue there is and have us all tied in knots before we even realize they have a rope.

Or maybe Kamala was referring to American tradition (I think of the Norman Rockwell painting of a family gathered around the Thanksgiving table.)? We are traditionally a self-reliant, freedom-loving, God-fearing people. We traditionally honor family, and hard work, and integrity. We love our children and want them to have it better than we did. A political party that could erase those values, could have its way with the people. Does she think that’s possible? Well – several generations have been spoon-fed communist indoctrination since birth, so maybe they can pull that off.

It’s not that I believe that our eloquent VP actually thinks any of this. I doubt she actually thinks. This is the only coherent thing I’ve heard her say, so maybe she has a new speechwriter -- hard to tell. But one way or the other she let the mouse out of the trap. She and what’s left of the Democrat party are determined to forge ahead with their power-grabbing plans -- history, tradition, morality, the Constitution be damned. In other words, America be damned,  “unburdened by what has been.”

Deana Chadwell is an adjunct professor and department head at Pacific Bible College https://pacificbible.edu in southern Oregon. She teaches writing, logic, and literature. She can be contacted at dchad_02@charter.net.

Image: National Archives