Defining the Legacy of WWII Veteran Delbert Belton

Standing outside a social club in Spokane, Washington, an elderly gentleman was waiting for a friend, not wanting to leave her to walk by herself. His intent was to protect her, meanwhile he was the one that really needed the protection. After surviving what his generation called “The Great War”, including being wounded, he would not live through a beating with heavy flashlights by two 16-year-old black youths. Delbert “Shorty” Belton served his country once when he was young, and now in death, he could end up doing the same. But it would mean some difficult choices for the people of this country, particularly conservatives.

Once Belton’s death hit the news, social media lit up with calls to not forget him. The charge was arguably led by actor James Woods, who has become the latest celebrity to be embraced by conservatives on Twitter. While responses have been focused primarily on the Obama administration, or on the woeful condition of American society in general, it is nearly impossible to truly address the underlying problems that lead to this tragedy. Also, it is very tempting to point fingers at one specific person, or group of people. Unfortunately, the old adage that reminds us that when we point one finger at another there are three pointing back at us holds in this situation. This is our own fault.

It is easy to react to situations like this with righteous indignation, and blame others for the fact that it has happened. In truth, many times conservatives are absolutely correct when placing the blame for societal problems on others. In this case, the fact that two teens ended up beating an old man to death is a direct result of a myriad of failed liberal policies that removed essentially all teachings of morality and ethics from public schools, discouraged strong family units, encouraged single-parent families, and eliminated any basic desire for individuals to have even a slight amount of self-respect. But this did not happen overnight, and certainly didn’t occur simply because Obama ended up in the White House. If anything, the latter happened because conservatives have been failing for a very long time to prevent liberals from tearing apart our institutions.

That’s a huge buzzword for the left – institutions. Except for when it is something that they are for, institutions are considered the enemy. They are symbols of the bad old days, when traditional values kept everyone under control, and kept their collectivist creativity under wraps. You know, back in the day when Belton was young, and people in this country would rather work than take from the government.

There are many people that are making a big deal about the fact that the boys that beat Belton are black. Of course it is tempting to call out men like the Rev. Al Sharpton over their silence on this, because of how vocal they were on behalf of Trayvon Martin. It’s tempting to suggest that they are silent because the victim was not black – just the perpetrators are. They are giving up a huge opportunity with this silence, but perhaps it’s better that they don’t speak up. It is a message that should come from conservatives.

This isn’t a race crime. Even if the boys come out with racist statements, saying that they targeted Belton because he was white, this is not a race crime. It is a crime that is the result of raising entire generations of children without the tools that they need to survive. Children need guidance, rules, discipline, regimens, and limits. They need parents that actually do their jobs, and make the tough choices necessary to raise children that have respect for themselves and others. Any idiot can end up having children, but that doesn’t make them parents.

So, what does that mean for conservatives now? What should be said about the death of this hero? Instead of trying to lay blame on others, and instead of complaining about the policies that have lead us into becoming a society that produces children that have zero respect for life, we need to stop reacting. That sounds like doing nothing. The suggestion here is that instead of focusing on the problems, we need to focus on solutions. Why did these boys do this? Because they had no real role models, no guidance, no proper education, and no understanding of real consequences for bad actions.

All politics are local. In this case, if the people of Spokane had gotten fed up with youths causing trouble in the community, they could have made a concerted effort to remove people from their school board that refused to demand that the school administration not use zero tolerance policies, or positive reinforcement to the exclusion of discipline. Instead of allowing their children to be taught that arbitrary rules trump common sense, and that no matter how bad you are there won’t be any major consequences, they could have put a stop to the latest crop of liberal policies for schools.

In spite of the fact that liberals have done everything that they can to make the public think that they are opposed to big business, the fact remains that they are still using public education in much the same way it was created for in the first place. Don’t forget, the point was to create a class of citizens that could be gainfully employed, and more importantly, be consumers of goods. Now it’s still about controlling the masses, but instead of providing industry with a workforce, the goal is to provide the Democrat Party with voters that are dependent on the government. They don’t care how they behave, and they certainly don’t care if they are running around beating war heroes to death. In their book, that is just two fewer votes.

It’s a harsh statement, and definitely cuts away all of the nonsense that typically ends up in these arguments. But, think about those arguments for a moment. We should pity those boys, because they didn’t have a good childhood. Maybe they didn’t have fathers in the picture. Perhaps their mothers ignored them, or were addicted to drugs or alcohol. Or, they came from the poor side of town. Not one of those circumstances isn’t the direct result of a liberal policy or program that virtually guarantees an underclass in this nation that will remain dependent on the government for life.

Andrew Breitbart said, “If you can’t sell freedom and liberty, you suck.” There is no freedom for people that are dependent on the government, and that is the message that we need to be getting out there now. It’s easier to just take, and there are millions of Americans that are doing that now. Instead of just saying “that’s not right,” or “you’re not entitled to what other people worked to earn,” maybe we need to be saying that when you take, you are no better than the boys that killed Delbert Belton. We need to say, “Look! This is what happens when you hand everything to people through social programs!” People do not learn to value anything if they do not have to work for it. Now, we are seeing that people learn that even life has no value if they don’t work for anything they have.