Posted on 11/08/2006 1:55:58 PM PST by joanie-f
More than two centuries ago, Thomas Jefferson observed, ‘Yes, we did produce a near-perfect republic. But will they keep it? Or will they, in the enjoyment of plenty, lose the memory of freedom? Material abundance without character is the path of destruction.’ Jefferson believed that America's survival lay primarily in the character of her people.
Likewise, Samuel Adams warned future generations by referring to ‘good manners’ as the vital ingredient a free society needs to survive. Adams said, ‘Neither the wisest Constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt.’
As the few FReepers to whom I have pinged this probably know, I spent a lot of time over the past three weeks speaking to people about the need to re-elect Rick Santorum. While I was uplifted by the average person’s willingness to listen and comprehend -- and by the number who seemed to be swayed toward voting republican after listening and questioning -- it is still very disturbing to be personal witness to the number of voters who had intended to vote based on superficial perceptions resulting from snippets of campaign advertising, much of which was sheer distortion or out and out fabrication. For every one voter whose door was approached by a conservative intent on informing him, I am sure there were a thousand who entered the voting booth yesterday never having been ‘set straight’. It is beyond disheartening.
So, while I returned home every night uplifted by the fact that people are very one-on-one receptive, the ‘bigger picture’ is pretty grim.
With each succeeding year, the American populace becomes less informed and more special-interest oriented. Combining the ongoing illegal alien problem (whose solution is nowhere in sight) with the ‘education’ that our children are receiving in our public schools (placing less emphasis on our proud heritage, and civics in general, every year – focusing instead on phony, leftist multicultural philosophies), and the Marxist influence in virtually every institution of higher education, exactly what kind of optimistic view can we embrace of the intelligence/knowledge/allegiance of the new (both alien and youth) voters coming down the pike? Where is there a reason to believe that future disingenuous, un-American, anti-liberty candidates and programs will be held accountable by a citizenry that is even more apathetic, disinterested, special-interest-oriented, or leftist-indoctrinated than today’s voters?
Patriotism requires allegiance, education, strength, endurance, courage, resolve, and action. But it does not require the wearing of rose-colored glasses. Until our leadership addresses the illegal alien problem, until the number of voters who feed at the government socialist welfare/entitlement trough (as forewarned by deTocqueville) can be dramatically reduced, and until we determine to educate our children as to their proud heritage and the dangers posed by relinquishing it, election results will continue to fall in favor of powerful liars who can voice the biggest promises to the host of least informed minds.
I believe we are fighting a losing battle. But, unless and until the battle is lost, we are called to continue to do our part to keep the enemies (both foreign and domestic) at bay. To do any less would hold us just as accountable as those passive, 'sideline Americans' who choose not to be a part of the crusade to reclaim this republic from the scoundrels who call themselves leaders, but who bear no allegiance to our Founders and their vision.
I believe the results of yesterday’s election will have strong and insistent implications for the future of our republic. Barring a miracle of God, or a personal/spiritual epiphany on the part of the generally apathetic and/or ignorant-by-choice citizenry (the former is always possible; the latter grows more unlikely with each passing day), I believe that the following events are very likely to occur over the next few years.
Prepare for a dramatic increase in the invasion of America by an irresponsible, parasitic, malevolent army which chooses to thumb its nose at the critical concepts of the rule of law/national sovereignty by illegally crossing our southern border with the over-riding purpose of reaping the benefits of two-plus centuries of courage, moral sacrifice, work, excellence, and unprecedented prosperity … without any intention of contributing their own. In the process, and under the governance of left-leaning American ‘leadership’, they will play an integral role in the realization of the socialization of America. Even worse, we will witness the complete erasure of our borders, and the establishment of a North American Union, in knee-jerk deference to the eventual vision of one-world governance, under which our Constitution will become increasingly ridiculed, mocked, and eventually declared entirely irrelevant, and the vagaries of Marxist/socialist-authored and implemented international law will take precedence.
Personal and corporate industry will find themselves under relentless attack, with government, academia and media working feverishly to revoke the citizens’ right to keep the fruits of their labor, and replace it with a monstrous entitlement state which will ensure a massive, far-reaching, involuntary redistribution of wealth – aimed at punishing personal and business excellence and ambition and promoting personal and business mediocrity, with the end result being a dramatic increase in the power of the state and complete dependence on state largesse for our existence.
There will be continued erosion in respect for, and protection of, the institution of marriage and the nuclear family. Government will become even more of an advocate for homosexual rights, abortion rights, and laws which will continue to attack and destroy any notion of the importance personal responsibility for one’s own actions. Families will find themselves under relentless attack, with the government usurping increasing power over the lives and minds of the children of America, and with parents finding themselves serving simply as biological creators and temporary physical custodians of wards of the state.
Government intrusion into the education of our children will escalate. Despite the unconstitutionality of the federal government dictating education policy, it will continue its aims at leftist indoctrination of the generations to come through the political power implicit in loans, grants, regulations, activist court decisions, and curriculum manipulation. Government-controlled curricula will continue to downplay, if not eradicate, the importance of our constitutional heritage while indoctrinating our children in environmental mythology, globalist doctrine, and sexual liberation. As a result, future generations will not understand their proud roots, nor be willing to defend the noble society which emerged from them.
The federal government will continue to pass laws focused on driving up the cost of medical care, so as to eventually allow the government takeover of that all-important industry. The direct takeover of medical care in programs like Medicare and Medicaid, as well as the free hand that trial lawyers have obtained in dictating the terms of care (while coincidentally lining their own pockets, and those of the politicians to whom they choose to contribute) have played a major role in the destruction of what was once the most excellent health care system in the history of the human race. The government’s interference in the healthcare free market through ERISA mandates related to HMOs and other managed-care organizations, and the medical aspects of our tax code, will continue to undermine healthcare in American, while lining the pockets of the privileged few, driving good doctors out of business, and eventually placing the government in complete control of our health and well-being. When medical care is forced to circumvent government rules and bureaucratic management, it will not be long before the quality of each and every American’s life will be profoundly and inalterably affected.
The left will eventually impose its own brand of ‘faith’ on the American culture – a secular humanist ‘faith’ in which man and his needs and follies are the focus of ‘worship’, and the mention in the public square of the name of the one and true God becomes legally and politically verboten … there will arise an incrementally, governmentally-imposed ‘faith’ in which moral absolutes are deemed criminally intolerant and situational ethics are raised to the level of holy sanctimony.
The war on Islamic fascism will be transformed into a series of compromises with evil, including the retreat of American forces from the Middle East, which will result in brutality against liberty-oriented Middle Easterners that will rival the bloodshed that occurred in the killing fields of Cambodia. Our enemies, in the Middle East and the Far East especially, will become dramatically emboldened, and our genuine allies, Israel and Taiwan especially, will find themselves looking down the barrels of vicious, barbaric, unyielding guns … and, when they turn around to see who is watching their backs, they will see nothing but darkness.
There will be another terrorist attack (if not a simultaneous series of attacks) on America, made possible by a deadly combination of open borders and failed paper-tiger policies, which will make the holocaust of 9/11 seem like a walk in the park. The increased demands for vigilance, defense of sovereignty, and sense of nationalism that occurred five years ago have all but evaporated into the political ether, and the after-effects of what was surely our final wake-up call have fallen by the wayside. There will be no more wake-up calls. There will be death blows, after which America will be brought to her knees, pleading for mercy with barbaric madmen, and no longer capable of even whispering the word ‘freedom’, let alone defending that noble, precious, God-given gift.
The democrats controlled congress for forty years, from 1954 through 1994. Ronald Reagan was entirely responsible for paving the way for the Republican Revolution. The miraculous and providential accomplishments of the Reagan Revolution are now nothing but a fond memory. And, to those who believe that the pendulum will eventually swing back, and that conservatism will regain the prominence and power necessary to reclaim our beloved republic from the scoundrels, I say there is no time to wait to reclaim her again. We have run out of options and wiggle room. The hot breath of a mad and unprecedentedly barbaric and determined adversary, bent on our annihilation, is breathing down our necks now. They will not be denied ... nor does our current leadership – especially after yesterday’s election results – appear to have what it takes to hold them at bay.
The majority of Americans cannot continue to accept, at face value, leadership which says what we want to hear, and then proceeds to do as they wish (which, in the case of the current, and now future, leftist leadership on the Hill, requires the eventual subjugation of American citizens to the state, and the eventual subjugation of the American state to globalist governance). Simply put, the future of our republic will lie in the willingness of her people to take the time, and expend the effort, to look beneath the surface. Believing the words from the mouth of a leader is a conscious choice that must be made by every concerned citizen. As with any choice, it cannot be made without critical thought. Believing their words was okay when our leaders in Washington were virtuous. It is a deadly practice when they are anything less.
Over the last twenty-four hours, I have heard countless references to the need for bipartisanship and building bridges. Bridges are only as desirable and powerful as the relevance of what lies at the other end. I, for one, want no part of bridge-building, when doing so means creating a meandering, but single-minded, path to self-destruction.
For now, adieu.
Nixon went to China, and Bush will sign any amnesty bill put before him.
You are correct.
Consider this: Walter Williams has proposed that a citizen should receive one vote per $10,000 of taxes they pay; ie: If you pay $100,000 in taxes then you would get 10 votes, if you pay $10,000 then you get one vote, and finally if you pay nothing then you lose your vote. At any rate, anyone on any kind of welfare should have no vote, IMO.
This is most often attributed to Alexander F. Tytler:
"A Democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves largess out of the treasury with the result that democracies always collapse over a loose fiscal policy, always to be followed by a dictatorship."
So, my fellow Freepers, we are indeed in deep do do. I had to turn off the Hannity and Colmes tonight because Hannity was going to "shoot it out" with the major POS jesse jackson. I can't bring myself to listen to any liberals these days, since they look like the Star Wars bar scene when two or more of them get together. Hillary screeching, the greasy schumer, gravely voiced rangle, nostralitus, et al......all make my skin crawl.
I'd like to be able to say that you're right, but there is much more to it than that. The media have been against conservatives, and the Republican party for as long as I've been alive. The threat of amnesty and the NAU are what made the difference and gave the globalist elite a night to celebrate. If we can divorce the Republican party from globalism we'll win, but if we can't, it's lost.
This was a tough day.
Unfortunately, not on the important issues.
Amnesty, and the NAU are what need a veto, and Bush would sign them ina minute.
Precisely!
Hopeful reply, Jeff. Yes, I think we will eventually prevail again too, if there are enough left to trod the 'right path. And I would agree, the cost will probably be enormous.
No question.
Nazi Germany proved that industry can coexist with fascism - successfully. Capitalism and Adam Smith are not required when everybody agrees on the split.
I do NOT think that there is a planning commission with Osama and one or another Kennedy (or waxman) sharing the chair;
But there are overriding goals shared by the two sides that I'd bet trump reason.
" I say there is no time to wait to reclaim her again. We have run out of options and wiggle room. The hot breath of a mad and unprecedentedly barbaric and determined adversary, bent on our annihilation, is breathing down our necks now. They will not be denied ... nor does our current leadership – especially after yesterday’s election results – appear to have what it takes to hold them at bay."
I'm afraid I must agree with you.
Joanie, nicely written article. Still most of what you describe is already well underway - the NA Union, the illegals, the socialist medicine creeping in. So while this may accelerate it, the vector today is the same as yesterday.
My take away is a little different. Leaders matter. Perhaps socialists can implement their agenda with out great leaders, but Conservatives can not.
The only real move towards conservativism, that is back towards the Republic and away from the United Socialist States of America and Mexico is, took place during Reagan.
Now we chose Bush. We thought he was electable. (He was, barely). We thought "He'll be better than Clinton/Gore/Kerry". He has been, perhaps. But if we are going to be moved to the left I might rather have the Dems in charge.
Bush isn't a great leader. A good man, yes, I think so. He has done some good things, and he has sone some things that I don't approve of.
But what he has never done is really understand, inspire, and drive the case for Conservatism. Instead, from early on he's wanted to play the 'sugar daddy' role. Free drugs for seniors, amnesty for illegals, billions for liberal educrats via "no child left behind".
By compromising (to win) behind a weak leader we assured that the frog (us) would continue to be boiled (moved towards Socialism).
At the same time we left ourselves open to our positions being mis-stated. Conservatism itself has taken a huge lump, and it's because the people who should be the formost exponents of it in fact care little for the principles that are central too it. Or, are at least unable to explain them clearly to anyone.
The Dems will always have a compelling story: "We will take care of you. Here, have some goodies, on us."
I heard a talk radio caller today say "I've never been a Conservative. I don't believe in trickle down". The left has determined the field of debate. The left has defined the terms and characatured us as "tax breaks for the rich". This has succeeded in great part because we don't have leaders who can counter these statements effectively. It has also succeeded because, like all successful lies, there is enough truth in it to sting.
Therefore I'm going to focus on the leader. Being and electable R isn't enough. (It may be a minimum requirement, but it can't be the only one.)
Are we going to sleepwalk through another election and let the media and inertia make McCain our Presidential candidate? Because he seems to again lack the fire that would make our movement wake up.
We need a leader more like Goldwater, who is willing to call a spade a spade, and present the real conservatism to many who don't know what it is.
Leaders matter. Weak leaders will eventually lose, whether is it Dole, Kerry, Bush the elder, or now George.
Leaders matter and we need to start now to find the very best we have (even if they are not millionaires or gifted with Robert Redford looks).
We need to find someone who can, once again, articluate a choice, not an echo - to use Goldwaters famous phrase.
Without that person we might win a tactical skirmish here and there, but we shall surely lose the war.
What you describe is the idealized solution. It has never happened in the real world, and I suspect it never will.
Because the Framers did not anticipate the demagogic efficiency of the electronic bully pulpit, they ruled out the possibility of the MTV mis-leader. In Federalist No. 64, John Jay said: "There is reason to presume" the president would fall only to those "who have become the most distinguished by their abilities and virtue." He imagined that the electorate would not "be deceived by those brilliant appearances of genius and patriotism which, like transient meteors, sometimes mislead as well as dazzle."
If yesterday's electoral debacle teaches us anything, it is this: If we are to retain our democracy in this age of the electronic demagogue (and terror), we cannot--we must not-- rely on the theoretical enlightenment of an increasingly disinformed, misinformed and uninformed electorate.
Your solution's underlying premise, (that we must remain in the system to save the system), is fallacious at best and tantamount to Lady Liberty lifting herself up by her own bootstraps.
- "The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment." (R.M. Hutchins)
The Common Man
by Mia TBalance is anathema to bill clinton.
bill clinton thrives on instability.
He gets off living on the edge.
Disequilibrium undergirds his every scheme:
An electorate distracted,
a balance of power fractured.Filegate and The clinton Putsch,
committed in tandem,
the product of a careful criminal calculus,
at once empowered clinton
and disemboweled his opponents.
clinton was now free to betray with abandon
not only our trust,
but the Constitution as well.As if threats of extortion and injustice were not enough,
clinton also embarked on a campaign to quash dissent
__ "partisan, mean-spirited!" he said __
demonstrating once again his distaste for democracy
and his predilection for criminal overkill.It's easy to see
how the common man in the 1990s
could imbibe such notions.
And the Zeitgeist emboldened the Philanderer-King.Distrusting
the common man's essential wisdom,
the founding fathers appropriately distanced him
from the decision-making process.But the founding fathers did not anticipate
electronic media or demographic science
which transmuted our democratic republic
into an illusory direct democracy,
into a de facto __ if indirect __ dictatorship.By conservative estimate,
there is now enough fiberoptic cable
for the MTV tyrant to hang us all
(and to make it look like suicide).
It is natural for man to indulge in the illusions of hope.
We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth,
and listen to the song of that siren
till she transforms us into beasts.
Is this the part of wise men,
engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty?
Are we disposed to be the number of those
who, having eyes, see not,
and having ears, hear not,
the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation?
For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost,
I am willing to know the whole truth;
to know the worst, and to provide for it.
Patrick Henry
In a dark time, the eye begins to see.
Theodore Roethke
half-full fyi
I couldn’t agree more. After writing and posting this essay on my own weblog (just before posting it here), I went out and walked the dog, still ruminating about yesterday’s debacle, and convinced myself that each and every point I tried to make could have been expanded into an essay of its own, if not a complete book (not necessarily by me, but by any informed patriot intent on reclaiming our republic).
I deeply admire your love of this country, and am in awe of your eloquence. And I believe we share a deep desire to bring America back to hr former greatness (and beyond), but I do not share your optimism.
… but the blessed 25 years we have enjoyed since he assumed the presidency have been mostly great years for america because he set a course that had been thought out, largely, before he assumed power, as much by others as by him.
I don’t see the eighteen years since he left the White House as ‘blessed’. From the moment he headed back to California, America began its decline. The Clinton years need not be examined, and the two Bush administrations contributed significantly to back-pedaling and diluting all that he accomplished, both domestically and internationally.
Who are these ‘others’ to whom you refer, and whom you credit with setting the stage for Reagan’s leadership? While I agree with your assessment of the accomplishments of his leadership, I am at a loss to comprehend your reference to those who laid out its course beforehand. I have read extensively about Reagan's life, the formation of his character and leadership abilities, and the workings of his administraion. My understanding has always been that Reagan’s ideas (from approaching the Soviets through a ‘peace through strength’ stance to the fundamentals of Reaganomics, and countless innovative policies in between) were either authored by him, or by others in his inner circle, as a result of the unique and visionary guidelines that he provided.
Your ‘one person with a good manifesto, and a leader to push it forward’ is a noble concept, but I can’t see how it can be put into practice. The mainstream media, the power of special interest groups, the biased, indoctrinary nature of academia, the activist judiciary, and all of the recent legislation (CFR chief among them) that have succeeded in virtually silencing the voice of the people, and muting, or at least intimidating, the voices of those in leadership positions who sit to the right of center, all combine to make major grassroots efforts doomed to failure before they even have a prayer of obtaining widespread support.
… the conditions for civilisation, the satisfactioin of humanities real needs, are not products of random choice, they are governed by natural laws. Political freedom. Individual rights. Property rights. Intellectual property rights. Free Association/Capitalism. Sanctity of Contract. The realization that taxation and government mandates are anti-freedom and that while necessary for security, order and justice, that they are toxic in large doses. Humility before God. Faith in Devine Mercy. Belief in the supremacy of reason. Application of reason to the problems of life. Elevation of life, from the bog of indulgence to the summit of lasting accomplishment.
Your list of what you call ‘natural laws’ certainly contains most, if not all, of those freedoms or applications of freedom that we all would like to see preserved, if not enhanced. But it is just those laws that are under relentless attack by the majority in leadership positions (a malevolent majority which was increased as a result of Monday’s voting). Such ‘natural laws’ may be God-given, or human-revered, but it doesn’t mean that they cannot be extinguished or distorted beyond recognition (as they are being, and continue to be) by government gone awry. One cannot rely on political freedom, individual rights, sanctity of contract, or the like, when they have been infringed upon to the point of non-recognition. That is akin to saying that one can use a sword in one’s defense when that sword has already been broken into fifteen useless pieces by one’s enemy.
I see what you call my ‘pessimism’ as ‘realism’ borne of more than fifty years of observing the decline of the country I love, while simultaneously attempting to do my part to stem or stop that decline, only to discover that the playing field has been rendered so un-level as to allow the enemy within and among us a tactical advantage that can no longer be surmounted.
OMG. Fantastic post!
Liars and prevaricators are going to have their way with us unless and until another major tragedy of the scope of 9/11 or beyond occurs, and, by then, it may well be too late to salvage what's left.
With that said, I admire (and always have) your love of this country, but cannot share your optimism (at least 'optimism' in relation to what I see as my own 'pessimistic realism').
Best to you and yours, M Kehoe ...
~ joanie
Thanks for the kind words, Gramma. :)
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