A completely nonpolitical military career did not prepare me for the startling changes I encountered in the people around me upon retirement.  I'd always thought that, for all the shouting and arm-waving, Americans agreed on most things, and the differences were in the details.

On that one, I missed by a mile.  In the years since, it has often seemed that liberals are a whole 'nother species.  At other times, they don't seem human at all, even on what would appear to be issues easy to agree upon.

I had an online discussion with an avowed liberal some years ago.  We were talking about values – what did we value more, this or that?  The question came down to a fire in the Louvre: if you could save only one, a kid or the Mona Lisa, which would you save?

Without hesitation, he said the Mona Lisa, explaining that that painting is a treasure to all of mankind.  The kid, while a treasure to his parents, had less value to mankind than the Mona Lisa.

That answer struck me.  Probably not all libs think that way, but it's certainly in line with the way all liberals think.  You know, that think globally, act locally stuff that gives us fanatics on climate change and "save the delta smelt."

And that kind of thinking I attribute to not believing in God (or, as I think is actually the case, being unsure about God).  Why?  Because that kid is a treasure to God in a way the Mona Lisa (or the statue of David, or the Great Wall of China) doesn't even approach.

I would save the kid.  To my mind, any innocent human life is worth more than any work of art.  Admittedly, it's hard to imagine a scenario that would come down to this kind of choice, but still: which would you save?