EDITORIAL - Is it just me, or does the Democrat Party live in an alternate universe? Let me see if I understand all this correctly.

First, terrorism does not represent a significant threat to America even though since the 1990?s we?ve seen thousands of Americans killed by terrorists. The Patriot Act is evil because it might violate someone?s civil liberties if it was abused. And, American soldiers in Iraq are terrorizing young children by breaking down their doors and dragging their daddies away in the middle of the night.

?The People? want the troops to come home right-now-this-very-instant even though virtually every poll outside of the ones taken by the Democratic Underground show national security and the war on terror to be high priorities.

In spite of successful elections, increased cooperation by the citizens, a growing economy and a mostly-rebuilt infrastructure we still have no chance of success in Iraq. And, our president has violated the law by monitoring telephone conversations and e-mails between suspected terrorist operatives here and abroad.

Evil Israelis routinely attack helpless Palestinians just because those same Palestinians have a habit of blowing up school children in buses and pizza parlors. And, Israel still hasn?t given all of its land to Palestine. Who do those Jews think they are, anyway?

Our economy is a disaster even though it?s grown steadily for the last three years. Our unemployment rate, which hovers around five percent, is indicative of bad stewardship by the president even though it?s among the lowest in the world. Our president is an uncaring monster because slightly over a tenth of the population may be without health insurance for a few months out of the year. Our president is simultaneously an idiotic redneck because he has a ranch in Texas and a rich, spoiled frat boy because he went to college. And, he?s a dry alcoholic because unlike Ted Kennedy, he actually quit drinking.

Oh, and he?s also part of a monarchy because his dad was president two decades ago. Almost forgot that part.

We must attain energy independence from foreign powers, but we can?t drill for domestic oil in places where we might actually find some. We should instead cram our families into electric cars with the brute horsepower of a hamster and almost as much rear leg room as a golf cart.

We must lower our use of fossil fuels by using alternative methods of generating electricity. Unfortunately, we can?t place wind generators in any area where they might offend the eyes of rich liberals or where birds might fly into the blades.

We can?t pray in school, can?t place a Nativity scene on public property, shouldn?t say ?under God? in the Pledge of Allegiance. We should also remove ?In God We Trust? from our money.

Protecting our borders violates the constitutional rights of illegal aliens.

Old cartoons like ?Tom and Jerry? are evil, violent and racist and therefore bad for our children. So saith that paradigm of high morals and intellectual honesty, Whoopi Goldberg. But it?s okay to have open homosexuality on prime time television.

If you?re a financially successful black person, with a solid marriage, no arrest record, and a good command of the English language, you?re not really black, even if you vote Democrat. If you?re a financially successful white person, then you?re an evil little snot who should have all your assets confiscated through taxation since you stood on the backs of the poor to get to where you are today.

Crime is a direct result of the private ownership of guns. If private citizens were not allowed to own guns, the crime rate would drop to zero overnight. The only exception would be rich people who routinely hose poor people by having the nerve to turn a profit in their businesses.

A young girl can?t go to the dentist without parental consent, but she should be able to abort a pregnancy any time she feels the need. After all, it?s her body.

Parents have no reasonable expectation to exercise any influence over the curriculum in a public school, even though their children attend the school and it?s supported by their tax dollars.

Powerful developers have more rights to your property than you do. Now, pack your bags and hit the road so they can build that new department store.

Need I go on?

This is the vision the Left has for America; a nation in which a supposedly free people are rapidly seeing our freedoms and our prosperity whittled away by a pack of left-wing activists, politicians, and judges. It?s a nation in which we can no longer properly discipline our children or supervise their education. A nation in which we are seeing our religious rights trampled and ridiculed. A nation that punishes success via punitive taxation and rewards poverty and laziness with a monthly check.

Over the last several months I?ve seen a few instances where our elected leaders on the Right have hit back. Perhaps they?ve finally found their collective spine. Perhaps they?ve figured out that real Americans have had enough of political correctness here at home and subjugation of our sovereignty abroad. Or, maybe it?s just because congressional elections are drawing near.

It might also be because they recognize the fact that the Democrats have painted themselves into a corner. The Democrat Party and a handful of liberal Republicans have foolishly placed themselves on the wrong side of just about every issue important to Americans. If conservative Republicans intend to salvage the security and dignity of the American people, now is the time.

But will they? Time will tell.