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The Centrality of Culture - (since the 1960s "vice has become virtue, and virtue has become vice")
A.I.M.ORG ^ | JULY 25, 2005 | PAUL M. WEYRICH

Posted on 07/25/2005 5:08:06 PM PDT by CHARLITE

At the heart of the challenge facing the conservative agenda lies one simple fact: while we focused our efforts on politics, our opponents on the left focused instead on culture.

Each of us won. Compared to where the conservative movement was the year I came to Washington, 1967, we are today immensely stronger politically. Republicans, most of whom are at least nominally conservative, control both Houses of Congress and the White House. That is success on a grand scale.

Unfortunately, our opponents have won an equally large victory over our culture. Today, what was called the "counter-culture" in the 1960s now controls almost every cultural venue: the entertainment industry (which is now the most powerful force in our culture), the government schools, the media, even many churches. The ideology usually know as "Political Correctness," which is really the cultural Marxism of the infamous Frankfurt School, is using every type of cultural institution in our country to achieve its purpose, which is the destruction of traditional Western culture and the Christian religion. All we have to do is look around us and compare what we see with the America of the 1950s to understand how vast their victory is. The old sins have become virtues and the old virtues have become sins.

The nub of the problem is this: culture is stronger than politics. Despite everything conservatives have achieved in politics, the left's cultural victory trumps ours. That is why even when we win election after election, our country continues to deteriorate.

(Excerpt) Read more at aim.org ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: aim; american; centrists; counterculture; culture; culturewars; democrats; liberals; politics; religion; society; values; vices; virtues; weyrich
"Conservatives must remain strongly involved in politics, to prevent the cultural Marxists from mobilizing all the power of the state to crush us. What I am saying is that we cannot reasonably expect to reverse America's cultural decay through politics alone, because culture is stronger than politics. We must continue our political work, but we must also do something more, something that works directly on the culture. I thought then and I think now that building our own institutions, institutions that reflect and reinforce traditional, Western, Judeo-Christian culture, may be the most effective strategy in that regard." (Weyrich)
1 posted on 07/25/2005 5:08:09 PM PDT by CHARLITE
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To: CHARLITE

Excellent observations from a conservative culture-watcher. We cannot win in the political sphere alone. Our true success will come when we can reverse the amoral nihilism that is becoming the standard of the post-modern era. To do that, we need to demonstrate that a world with values -- even flawed values -- is better than a world with nothing. Sounds easy, but to generations robbed of their moral heros, there's not much left to dream.


2 posted on 07/25/2005 5:33:59 PM PDT by IronJack
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To: CHARLITE

Excellent article!


3 posted on 07/25/2005 5:35:24 PM PDT by Frank_2001
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To: CHARLITE

America’s Mein Kampf

 

Most of the citizens of America do not comprehend what is happening to their country. The changes we see in America did not happen overnight. We hear people remark over and over “It wasn’t like this when I was a kid!”, “What is happening to my countery?”.

“What is happening to my country” started over forty years ago. The changes to be made were charted out and documented in the: Communist Goals (1963). The many groups of Socialist front groups have achieved most of the items listed in the “Communists Goals”.

            The old “Frog in a pan of water” comparison fits very well to what is taking place. Our principals, our morality and our Constitution are under assault and half of the citizens of our country do not see it. Some of these “45 goals” being achieved are:

Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press

Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks.

Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history

Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.

Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."

Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."

Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.

Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man."

Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.

Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.


4 posted on 07/25/2005 7:13:02 PM PDT by Not a 60s Hippy (They are SOCIALISTS, not Progressive, Liberal, Left Wing, Democrats, Special interest groups.)
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To: CHARLITE
Whereas I agree wholeheartedly that conservatives must remain active in politics, I disagree with his prescription for 'retaking' our culture by building parallel institutions. The author points to 'home schools' as an example of a successful method of dealing with liberal school districts. Successful, maybe...for the students whose parents are able to stay home with them AND are good teachers.

But abandoning the public schools to the liberals has three big problems.

1. We are all still paying for the public schools and will continue to do so. That limits the amount of money left to develop educational alternatives.

2. We have a moral responsibility to the students left in the public schools to make sure those schools provide an education that will allow them to become productive members of society.

3. We have a duty to our country to make sure our public schools teach the subject matter in an accurate and unbiased manner. Democracy can only work with an educated public.

If conservatives wanted to put in the effort, they could return sanity to our education system in 10-20 years. All it would take is enough conservatives becoming teachers and administrators. It would take about 10 years to start seeing a difference in the elementary, middle, and high schools. It would take more like 20 to make a difference at the college level.

There are lots of things people could do to retake our schools right now. Have you checked out your schools textbooks? If not, you should not complain about the PC stuff that passes as 'facts'.

When it comes to the public schools, it is time for conservatives to stop whining and take action.
5 posted on 07/25/2005 7:14:58 PM PDT by goldfinch
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bttt


6 posted on 07/26/2005 6:11:21 PM PDT by ELS (Vivat Benedictus XVI!)
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