America The Contemptible
Everyday I get up and read another hit-piece on “America the Contemptible.” Generally, written with a gotcha, aren't we clever bit of sophomoric insight into our collective past. You'd think it was still the 1950's when reading this stuff. As if the last sixty years never happened. And, that Americans were completely oblivious about their shared history, in spite of the fact that many lived through it. Apparently, what Americans really need is for some ambitious twenty year old to come along and explain it all.
"What...there was slavery? You mean woman didn't always have the right to vote? Jeez! Who knew!"
This probably happens because this is news to young folk. Why? Because, they're young and lack historical perspective and have no real world experience to speak of. It's also probably why most young people are politically left-leaning. And, why they are an indispensable source of labor and enthusiasm for progressive causes.
Winston Churchill is alleged to have said "If you're not a liberal when you're 20 you have no heart. But, if you aren't a conservative by the time you're 40 you have no brain." Whether Churchill actually said this is open to debate, but the thought seems reasonable enough to me. Of course, I realize that all a progressive has to do is point to some dim-witted conservative on Fox News making a particularly outrageous statement and they have just cause for believing that progressive thinking, no matter how repulsive, is A-OK. That's how we get things like partial birth abortion or the not-so-subtle creep towards the acceptance of euthanasia as one of the last great frontiers in the battle against tyranny, to say nothing of the constant and open attacks on the 1st amendment and free speech.
"Don't you know that when people can speak freely, sometimes people's feelings get hurt. So, maybe we should rewrite the 1st amendment, to spare their feelings, just in case."
Or, last, but certainly not least, that dividing people along every sectarian line really is the best way to unite people.
Calling this Orwellian is almost redundant.
Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of buffoons on the right, far too many, in fact. But, what I'm talking about are principals. Principals of government. Economic and moral principals that are the basis of any and all civil societies; like the rule of law, individual property rights, free markets and other arcane ideas that conflict with the ambitious progressive agenda.
Unfortunately, the populist face of both liberalism and conservative trends towards the lowest common denominator, leaving me to conclude that all of us could use a good dose of historical objectivity. Hopefully, detached from political partisanship. That probably isn't going to happen, though. There is simply too much ideological turf at stake. When the world-view of adults becomes little more than a caricature of reality—one that's informed primarily by partisan political propaganda—then, you know we're in serious trouble.
In that regard, the right-leaning and left-leaning buffoons serve their purpose as a distraction from the task at hand, which is really the erosion of individual freedoms, so we can get out of the way and let our betters get on with the business of governing. It's always easier to govern when the people know their place.
So, shut up, don't make waves, unless they're right kind of waves. The kind that compels the tax money to flow upward, towards that great house on the hill, where great men and women are said to live. Remember, be happy that you get the crumbs that fall off the table, or even those will be withheld. And, if, on some distant day you find yourself wondering, “How did we get here?” Just look in the mirror, and you'll have the only answer you'll ever need.
Mark Magula
"What...there was slavery? You mean woman didn't always have the right to vote? Jeez! Who knew!"
This probably happens because this is news to young folk. Why? Because, they're young and lack historical perspective and have no real world experience to speak of. It's also probably why most young people are politically left-leaning. And, why they are an indispensable source of labor and enthusiasm for progressive causes.
Winston Churchill is alleged to have said "If you're not a liberal when you're 20 you have no heart. But, if you aren't a conservative by the time you're 40 you have no brain." Whether Churchill actually said this is open to debate, but the thought seems reasonable enough to me. Of course, I realize that all a progressive has to do is point to some dim-witted conservative on Fox News making a particularly outrageous statement and they have just cause for believing that progressive thinking, no matter how repulsive, is A-OK. That's how we get things like partial birth abortion or the not-so-subtle creep towards the acceptance of euthanasia as one of the last great frontiers in the battle against tyranny, to say nothing of the constant and open attacks on the 1st amendment and free speech.
"Don't you know that when people can speak freely, sometimes people's feelings get hurt. So, maybe we should rewrite the 1st amendment, to spare their feelings, just in case."
Or, last, but certainly not least, that dividing people along every sectarian line really is the best way to unite people.
Calling this Orwellian is almost redundant.
Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of buffoons on the right, far too many, in fact. But, what I'm talking about are principals. Principals of government. Economic and moral principals that are the basis of any and all civil societies; like the rule of law, individual property rights, free markets and other arcane ideas that conflict with the ambitious progressive agenda.
Unfortunately, the populist face of both liberalism and conservative trends towards the lowest common denominator, leaving me to conclude that all of us could use a good dose of historical objectivity. Hopefully, detached from political partisanship. That probably isn't going to happen, though. There is simply too much ideological turf at stake. When the world-view of adults becomes little more than a caricature of reality—one that's informed primarily by partisan political propaganda—then, you know we're in serious trouble.
In that regard, the right-leaning and left-leaning buffoons serve their purpose as a distraction from the task at hand, which is really the erosion of individual freedoms, so we can get out of the way and let our betters get on with the business of governing. It's always easier to govern when the people know their place.
So, shut up, don't make waves, unless they're right kind of waves. The kind that compels the tax money to flow upward, towards that great house on the hill, where great men and women are said to live. Remember, be happy that you get the crumbs that fall off the table, or even those will be withheld. And, if, on some distant day you find yourself wondering, “How did we get here?” Just look in the mirror, and you'll have the only answer you'll ever need.
Mark Magula
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