Posted on 10/30/2009 9:30:47 PM PDT by Steelfish
OCTOBER 30, 2009 We're Governed by Callous Children Americans feel increasingly disheartened, and our leaders don't even notice.
By PEGGY NOONAN
The new economic statistics put growth at a healthy 3.5% for the third quarter. We should be dancing in the streets. No one is, because no one has any faith in these numbers. Waves of money are sloshing through the system, creating a false rising tide that lifts all boats for the moment. The tide will recede. The boats aren't rising, they're bobbing, and will settle. No one believes the bad time is over.
No one thinks we're entering a new age of abundance. No one thinks it will ever be the same as before 2008. Economists, statisticians, forecasters and market specialists will argue about what the new numbers mean, but no one believes them, either. Among the things swept away in 2008 was public confidence in the experts. The experts missed the crash. They'll miss the meaning of this moment, too.
The biggest threat to America right now is not government spending, huge deficits, foreign ownership of our debt, world terrorism, two wars, potential epidemics or nuts with nukes.
The biggest long-term threat is that people are becoming and have become disheartened, that this condition is reaching critical mass, and that it afflicts most broadly and deeply those members of the American leadership class who are not in Washington, most especially those in business.
It is a story in two parts. The first: "They do not think they can make it better."
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Noonan’s waking up but still doesn’t fully ‘get it’. We aren’t disheartened. We want the usurpers out.
Rush Limbaugh commented on this article in today’s (Friday) show and said that disheartened is not a good term. Rush said that Americans are ANGRY. Now that is far more descriptive and I think Rush is right.
And you, Peggy, were just giddy to see him installed.
I can understand why she feels guilty .
No wonder she supported Obama.
Peggy, too late, too little. We don’t have time to wait for you to catch up. Enjoy stupid, you seem to be stuck there.
Yeah...she and Newt ought to go have tea together....and leave the adults in charge.
Sarah....Told'ya.....So.
Read my tagline.
Noonan and Newt have both jumped the shark.
and right now ... the CONSTITUTION needs OUR HELP, after what the IDIOTS in DC are doing.
She’s a beltway lib who doesn’t like Sarah Palin —she’s BETTER than us.
We’re unsophisticated to her...
Maybe you are "governed", Peggy, but I'm not.
I have nothing to do with those scumbags and I won't let them touch me.
Palpable nonsense, of course.
Imagination won't get us out of our financial mess.
Principled adherence to sound, and proven conservative policies will do that (but it will take time, discipline, and it will take the Peggy Noonan's of the press to admit they were WRONG about Mister Obama and his Marxist goals.)
And, nobody's holding his breath waiting for Ms. Noonan to deprogram herself from her post-menopausal crush on Marxist Obama.
.
The problem, Peggy, is that for 8 decades the Democrats have been rushing to the Left. They control the MSM, education, pop culture and a large part of the church. The Republicans, desperate to compete, got caught in their wake and followed behind them.
Now we find ourselves as a nation with a Soviet-style authoritarian government coming to power. Those who love what America has been and remained through her various inner and external conflicts, no longer have a party they can turn to. It truly has become “us” (liberty-loving patriots) against “them” (statists/totalitarians/communists/socialists).
We also have alternative communication (the Internet) where many experts who would never have had a voice 20 years ago now analyze and state their opinions. Those who care about what is happening are intelligent enough to weed out the truly objective, knowledgeable bloggers from those just seeking recognition. Those experts are spreading the truth about where we are economically.
We also have talk radio and Glenn Beck's program spreading that truth.
And it really isn't that hard to understand.
Our economic system (controlled by a socialist, central bank we call the Federal Reserve), has done exactly what they always planned to do, which is the exact opposite of their stated mission. They planned on stripping of America and Americans of their wealth, stealing that wealth for themselves, while at the same time weakening America as a nation by destroying the middle class.
Their goal has been the same as the totalitarians that now run the government: a two-tier social structure with the rulers and the serfs.
And THAT, Peggy, is the despair that Americans feel. We feel that we are about to lose and that not only America but all the world is about to be cast into a new Dark Ages where the overlords oppress the serfs for their own benefit and crush their spirits so that they no longer desire liberty.
But Peggy. There is something you should know. You are only seeing the despair. And the tone of your article is almost pathetic because it displays how you are only viewing the situation out of one eye.
True Americans will not “go gently into that good night.”
This could get very, very ugly before the Dark Ages.
That should alarm you far more than despair, which is actually a last glimmer of hope before people believe they have absolutely nothing left to lose.
I pray it doesn't come to that. Because that would be all the totalitarians needed to say, “it's time to stop handling them with kid gloves,” and to crush us violently.
I pray it doesn't come to this, but history yells at us from the dark abyss of the past that this is often the course of human action.
Your time to wake up was over a year ago, when you chose instead to use your column to trash a much, much better and more sensible woman.
While you were on your knee-pads before the Kenyan-born communist muslim usurper, we were trying to tell you what a huge mistake you were making, but you would not listen.
You didn't just betray the Republican party; you betrayed the whole country. And now, because of you and other people like you, the country is in great peril.
Is there really any nicer way to tell you this?
Perfect!
I thought Peggy had been busy taking sculpting lessons so she could sculpt a nice bust of Zero.
Who knew that she still picked up a crayon and attempted to assemble coherent sentences?
I cannot for the life of me understand how after all the Obaminations, 54% still approve of 0’s performance in office according to the latest FoxNews Dynamic Poll. Perhaps, we just may have crossed the Rubicon.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?
Who has ever had any reason to have confidence in "The Experts"? Month after month after month (ad infinitum), the newsholes begin their economic reports with, "the number of job losses was higher/lower than experts predicted", "the number of new housing start-ups was higher/lower than experts predicted", "the rate of growth was higher/lower than experts predicted", etc.
I don't think I've ever heard one single report begin with, "the experts were spot on".
Retire, Peggy. It's time.
Peggy is a Newt style RINO.
Oh yeah. she's the one who was kissing Obama's ass and praising him about a year ago.
Ronald Reagan would be so disappointed with her!
We have a totally corrupt executive branch, judiciary and largely corrupt legislative branch.
We have been sold out to the Saudis, China and Indonesia.
Thank corrupt judges like David O. Carter, Judge Land in GA and others.
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I think the facade is cracking and the leftist in the media can no longer maintain a straight face when reporting what the WH tells them to. We are seeing a slow but deliberate turning of the tide.
ABC, CBS, AP, Bloomberg all attacked the WH on Stimulus numbers and the WH snapped back at them just as expected.
Hopefully in the coming day we will see more and more MSM types begin to ask hard questions and demand hard answered.
Did you hear the black woman on Glenn Beck who was thrilled to be getting money from Obama - she had no idea where it was coming from, said maybe it was from his “stash”, but she said gleefully “this is why we all voted for him”.
See my tag line....
Peggy who?
Don’t know her any more.
And she’s a snob who doesn’t get it to us.
LLS
LLS
Beck and the other radio and TV talk show beauties can only be trusted up to a certain point.
Remember, please, that Fox News and nearly every other radio talk show host has completely ignored Obama’s eligibility as a natural born citizen. Beck and the rest nearly completely ignore the bullying done by the homosexual lobby, and only superficially cover government stories when they are so outrageous they can't be ignored. ( Just to give a **few** examples of what they ignore.)
Yeah! All of these guys are useful, but we must remember that Beck ( and the rest) are **entertainers**! When the tyranny looms, **all** of these guys will willingly use their talents to support and uphold the oppressors. They will spit shine the jack boots crushing our necks. ( Peggy will too!)
Even though she’s unbelievable slow at seeing the obvious, it’s still a good thing she has come around. Her description of people in government, especially the Barney Franks of the world, is priceless: callous children. That is indeed what they are — that’s what liberalism is and when it graduates to Communism it’s callous tyrannical children whos steal your freedom and liberty and wealth.
So you are starting to get the big picture that was so obvious to true conservatives well before November 4, 2008.
But you still are missing the point. It's not that Americans are "disheartened." That may be what your executive friends feel. That's not what the ordinary citizen is believes.
We see that we are becoming disenfranchised. The political powers trying to take away our constitutional right to the pursuit of happiness by controlling every aspect of our lives. We are angry. We're angry at Democrats for pushing this agenda and we distrust Republicans for taking the payoff over the last 12 years and letting this socialism slide by.
We know that government has stopped trying to represent us and has begun trying to control us.
When the American people feel disheartened and distrust their government, political turmoil and upheaval is almost certain. That's they way it was in 1976 and that's the way it is today.
I certainly believe that those in the elite class are *disheartened*. These are not folks who have ever even thought about changing things, except perhaps to change them just enough to make sure that they and theirs are in power or at least close to it.
I have had the experience of knowing both the rural middle and lower working class lifestyle and the upper class urban lifestyle. It didn’t take long to learn that for those without power and economic opportunity, their pride in America, love of her freedoms and experiences in defending both were a strong foundation in their lives, along with a deep love and faith in God. This is all totally missing in the elites. They do see America as so strong and unassailable as to be capable of being assaulted daily without consequence. They also have always been able to get whatever they needed or wanted because, as one scion of power once told me:”It is easy if you know how things are done.” This was in reference to a prominent Progressive having gone totally bankrupt and then being able to access a $1M loan with which to start over, successfully.
Now, those people of privilege are facing totalitarianism in all its lies and their money and power are being held hostage to political servility. They have no experience with powerlessness. They really do believe it is totally wrong to ever resort to armed insurrection or even to be in physical proximity to a gun. They are proud of their agnosticism or atheism and even those who profess religious affinities do so more out of the comfort of ritual or for social reasons than any deep faith. Many are realizing that only a small fraction of their class is protected in the new America. These are people who fear and hate firearms to the point where they would submit or die rather than fight for their survival and their freedom. They were comfortable protesting Bush and being against all war because they really believed they were not risking their own comfortable position and it made them feel good about themselves to think they were on the moral side of the argument. Now, they have, in some instances, become the demonized *greedy special interests” and they are, in their own minds, without recourse for the first time ever.
Noonan is reporting what she sees and hears from her own circle of friends and contacts. It rings totally true. They will only become angry when their own assets are reduced, their own perceived power is negated and they experience fear from the minions of the tyrant. They are just now experiencing political betrayal. Hatred will follow.
Some may have already joined the rest of us in our anger, but cannot yet admit it publicly. As the arrogant callous children become more and blatant in their misuse of power, I expect more of the broader class of elites will at the very least support us in any attempts at a restoration.
We need every ally we can get.
Guess you couldn't see what was coming down the road last fall...from your elitist wannabe house.
I agree with your analysis. People like Noonan and her elitist friends can be allies. However, anyone who acquiesced to Obama the way she did can never be trusted in a leadership position again.
Re: allies
CharacterCounts andd reformedliberal.
Often on Free Republic I see glowing posts of admiration for Beck, Rush, Hannity, and the other radio and TV talk show beauties. Yes, Noonan and other prominent conservatives in the media can be useful allies. Some are even doing some extraordinary work...BUT...we should exercise caution.
Remember, please, that few of the loudest and most prominent conservative spokesmen have done the following:
** Covered Obama’s eligibility
** Very few cover the bullying done by the homosexual lobby
** Few cover the problem of having government schools that are fundamentally socialistic institutions, and only superficially report school outrages when they are too egregious to ignore.
** Few properly identify the dry rot infecting our nation as Marxism, and most persistently mislead their listeners ( and readers) by using the terms “liberal” or “radical leftist”. They make these enemies of freedom seem as non-threatening as a Norwegian.
And...No..A few jokes is **not** covering an issue.
These people are self-interested **entertainers** and we must always remember that. When tyranny looms these guys and gals will use their prodigious talents to spit shine the jack boots on our necks.
So...Yeah!...I agree with reformed liberal. We do need and should use every ally we can get,...BUT...We should exercise caution. True patriots will emerge but it won't be from the ranks of our talk show loud mouths. And....people like Noonan will likely offer her services as a paid propagandist for our oppressors.
Didn’t hear Rush’s comments but he is right.
Peggy Noonan was once a great writer.
Peggy, Peggy, Peggy...
I still have no use for you.
Waaaaah waaaaaah. Don’t blame me; I voted for Palin!
“The experts missed the crash.”
I think the ‘experts’ were warning of the crash, but you had to look at alternative media to find such articles.
When she's not swoonin, Noonan's croonin'--
I am so sick of Peggy. I wish we could vote our erstwhile pundits out of "office."
Just the Keynesians who are still in the White House. They were wrong in the 1930s and are wrong today. They turned a recession into the Great Depression.Not Peter Schiff and the Austrian School of Economics.
I agree with you both. However, if we only accept people with *pure* resumes, we will remain a minority, isolated and marginalized.
The changes we seek are going to be slow, perhaps agonizingly so. Each inch a former liberal or RINO travels towards conservatism will be full of their personal experiences and personal sense of betrayal. I know that is how it was for me.
It is asking a lot to expect anyone to turn totally on their friends and families. That is the dilemma for many liberals and RINOs who are not totalitarians and who, if they took time to really examine their beliefs, are really Classical Liberals. We need the entertainers and the journalists who can still get space in the SRM. I don’t expect everyone to become a martyr. Some will be very helpful just because they are not yet demonized. I know the Left. They will ask more and more of everyone they assume agrees with them and at some point, they will ask too much.
So, trust, but verify and meanwhile, accept their efforts for whatever good can be acomplished.
The final few feet will be over social issues, including education, and will come at the very end of the journey, if not sometime into or even after the crossover.
The aspect of social conservatism that finally impressed me the most was my personal interactions with committed Christians. Not one was a Church Lady. One, in particular, has a highly colorful vocabulary and a combative persona on many issues, yet, I have no doubt of her faith walk and she left me comfortable enough that I could broach these issues with her and get honest, thoughtful and compassionate responses.
OTOH, my interactions with liberals who are Christians left me wondering at their real beliefs and over the years they have proven to be what I call *Convenient Christians*. So, I learned to trust my gut on this issue as well as all the others in my life that demanded discernment.
As the totalitarians prove themselves to be relentless to even those who want to accept them, more and more of the people “who want to be good” will appear and they will be catalysts for the change in other reflexive liberals or liberal Republicans.
One can withhold acceptance in order to be true to one’s own values, but the journey will be faster if we can be content with incremental change from others formerly arrayed against us. Exercise discernment, but don’t let it keep anyone totally outside the fold. I was an unlikely conservative just 20 years ago. I recognize that I am not unique and there are millions out there who will support us, even if they harbor some differences on individual issues.
Re your post 38, I think that you have some good insights about the developing situation. It would be interesting if we can eventually see some surveys that show not only distrust but a developing hostility among the urban upper crust towards this Administration and this Congress.
And yes, we need all the allies we can get.
We’re Governed by Callous and clueless Children. It fitted both the DNC & RNC rather well until Hoffman, NY-23, made the RNC wake up.
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