The death of Anna Nicole Smith is a tragedy, but not for the reasons usually cited.  Bill O’Reilly rhetorically asks his guests why it is that Hollywood celebrities so easily lapse into self-destructive behavior.  What is true in Hollywood is also true in professional sports, in the music industry, and in other glamorous areas of American society.

Why does it happen?  The usual, reflexive response of any respectable Leftist to this sort of problem is a lack of “education” or “health care” or “poverty” or “low self-esteem” or “oppression.” None of these apply to Hollywood starlets or NBA superstars, who have wealth, adulation, beautiful companions and great power.

The Left always assumes that it can make Heaven on Earth.  That is the premise of Leftism.  But there is only one Heaven and it is not on Earth at all.  We all live lives that either have moral purpose or lives that have no moral purpose.  We all, also, choose to live lives that have moral purpose or lives that have no moral purpose.

If you choose to live a life without moral purpose, then this life is it.  Have sex as much as you want with as many people as you want.  Take drugs or booze or anything that makes you feel good.  Travel around the world and see all the exotic places you can.  Eat the most delicious food.  Meet the prettiest people.  Make yourself the center of attention.

None of these things, per se, is bad.  Sex, within marriage, is a blessing.  Wine, in moderation, is a gift Jesus gave as his first miracle.  God made good food for us to eat.  He also made music, art, nature and all the other good things in life.  But the “good things in life” are only good if taken with the knowledge of God and His Creation and with thanks to Him.

Indeed, if the “good things in life” was the most important aspect of our existence, then God, who loves us infinitely more than we can comprehend, would have made us all rich, beautiful, healthy, popular, sexy and confident.  But the reality – the cosmic reality – is that without God the “good things in life” are the “bad things in life.”

Wine becomes a curse.  Beauty becomes a curse.  Confidence becomes a curse.  Delicious food becomes a curse.  Wealth becomes a curse.  Popularity becomes a curse.  All of the blessings which Anna Nicole Smith had in her life, even the greatest blessing of all, children, became instead curses.

So, do I judge the life of Anna Nicole Smith?  I do not.  Her life was between her and her Creator.  I do judge the perverse values of Leftism, however, which told Anna Nicole Smith since she entered Kindergarten that if she were only beautiful, rich, popular, sexy and confident that her life would be good.

I do judge Leftism, which has made sin the “S” word.  Jesus had some very harsh things to say about people who taught children that there was no sin in the world, that there were no rules God had created – out of love – for us.  When Anna Nicole Smith sinned (and all of us sin), she sinned without remorse or question because the Left had taught her that the “S” word is not in our vocabulary.  Her life’s teachers, Leftists, are rebels against the idea of sin.  The result of that rebellion is always tragic, always deadly and always evil.  Anna Nicole Smith was a victim – a willing or an unwilling victim I leave to God – of this great evil.