Posted on 09/11/2008 10:57:32 PM PDT by joanie-f
Most conservatives decry the ‘bread and circuses’ atmosphere of modern politics, principally because the consistent focus on meaningless pursuits takes the citizens’ focus away from the important issues … even crises … that must be considered, and faced, if we are to remain a free society.
Our Founders continually warned that liberty, and the republican form of government that is best suited to ensure it, can only be maintained through an informed citizenry.
Wisdom and knowledge, as well as virtue, diffused generally among the body of the people, are necessary for the preservation of their rights and liberties.
Many of us consider the ‘bread and circuses’ nature of modern American society to be most frequently exhibited in our adulation of the Hollywood crowd, professional sports figures, and reality programming, the accumulation of creature comforts, the me-oriented nature of the citizenry, the need to ‘be entertained’, etc. … with an incremental de-emphasis on genuine heroes, the importance of personal character and responsibility, and a sense of civic duty ... which includes being educated about our history, and concerned about our future as a free society.
I completely agree that all of the above trends have increased in intensity over the past fifty years, and that, if they continue to gain momentum, our very lives, liberties and sovereignty as a nation are in grave danger.
A sub-level of this toxic trend has become glaringly apparent over the past few weeks of the election campaign.
Our republic is facing potentially deadly crises the likes of which there is no historical precedent:
... and on and on, ad infinitum ...
One would think that, with one of the (if not the) most crucial presidential elections in the history of our republic approaching in fewer than eight weeks, the crises mentioned above would be foremost on the minds of every American who intends to step into the voting booth on November 4th. And, even more importantly, one would think that the American media (the self-appointed purveyors of information and education) would be hard at work seeking, and reporting, the candidates’ opinions on, and proposed solutions to, all of the above.
Yet what do we predominantly see and hear in all of our media outlets? What are we being subliminally told is of utmost importance in this crucial election?
Many of my conservative friends, all of whom are true patriots, have voiced the opinion over the past few days that they are glad Barack Obama and the left are ‘getting a taste of their own medicine’ via the production of the new RNC ad that plays off of Obama’s lipstick/pig gaffe, and they are pleased with all of the attention his gaffe, whether innocent or purposeful, is receiving.
I could not possibly disagree more vehemently.
By producing such an ad, and even debating Obama’s intent – indeed, by even giving credence to this story – conservatives are accomplishing three fatal outcomes:
(1) they are legitimizing the bread and circus atmosphere in this election process
(2) they are stealing a worthless page out of the left’s playbook
(3) they are spending major campaign funds on nonsense advertising that would be better spent educating the public about issues of critical importance to our republic
On my list of 'Things I Want the Voting Public to Know about Barack Obama That the Media Aren't Reporting', there are 8,563 items ahead of the fact that he may (or may not) have referred to his opponent as a pig.
I think the McCain campaign, and the RNC, should be telling us about those 8,563 things in their campaign ads, and leave the lipstick remark to those who believe it has some importance in the grand scheme of things. The fact that they have wasted the donations of loyal Republicans on such nonsense is infuriating to me.
The media, academia, and the political left profit from such abject stupidity. It allows them to fill the airwaves with such drivel, and to scrupulously avoid discussion of Barack Obama’s dark, longstanding connections to anti-American zealots and his agenda to impose his Marxist/black separatist ideology on a populace that has been programmed to be preoccupied with ‘looking the other way’.
Half of the American electorate is ready to put such a man in the White House. And I believe that ninety percent of that group possesses no real knowledge of his infamous background or his ultra-left-leaning agenda.
Why have so many of our countrymen fallen into such an ignorant stupor? Because, for fifty years, we have allowed the leftists in the media, our institutions of ‘higher education’, and Hollywood to incrementally turn our focus away from the enemy within ... and toward tattletale pranks and kindergarten pursuits.
I don't give a rat's patoot what derogatory label one candidate may affix to another. What I do care about is whether that candidate intends to dismantle the noble foundations upon which my country was built.
And the media be damned.
We're going to pay a terrible price for allowing ourselves to be so pliant in the hands of those who most certainly do not have our best interests at heart.
~ joanie
How in the WORLD can you say she's not pro-life!Telling lies about political opponents is, in some minds, acceptable. The better question is why is EternalVigilance pretending to be a conservative while tacitly supporting Obama by attacking the GOP team?
Obama: “If they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.”
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of interest.
Obama Says A Baby Is A Punishment
Obama: “If they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.”
I could not agree more with your stated conclusion, joanie-f, but then, having read the thread replies before replying myself, I see nothing on the thread but defense of moderation, and the suggestion to the more Conservative voices hereon that they should be the ones to compromise.
I would submit that the compromise that is sought is the very cause of the problem you have identified, and the antithesis to the conclusion that you, yourself, have penned.
Because we do not hold our own to the standard we have supposedly imposed, they are free to play these games of distraction, hoping that the circus atmosphere will keep us far away from those damning subjects they would just as soon avoid.
IOW, lay the blame right here. It is FreeRepublic, and places like it, that are supposed to require much of our own- If we do not, no one will.
But then, it is so much easier to attack the other side, and falsely inflate our own...
GADZOOKS!! A moment of clarity! Welcome home! We've been busy while you were away...
The “states’ rights trumps unalienable rights” position is not pro-life.
Can you explain to me how thinking some states can allow murder of unborn children is “pro-life”?
Remembering your recent posting history to me, I expect only verbal abuse back from you in reply to this simple question.
This might mean something, if your position wasn't "defaulting" to the complete scoundrel McCain.
Oops... Clarity slipping away... Back into catatonic sheepledom.
It is really so simple.
Vote for RINOs => Get more RINOs
Don't vote for RINOs => No more RINOs.
Try repeating those last two lines whilst hitting yourself upside the head with a 2x4 a few hundred times...
The thought of Sara Palin resigning the Vice Presidency.. is just too possible.. An unheard of move.. Historical.. and generating conversation of historical scope..
Catatonic hallucinations.
Will John McLaim veer conservative?
d00d, yer smokin' crack.
All because of Palin-esque political moves?.. YES..
That's a whole lotta stuff to be stackin up on that little girl, even if she is a moose killer. You have known her for about two weeks.
Wipe the star dust out of your eyes and lower the bar about 50 feet. She ain't no goddess, she's just a Western girl- They all turn out that way. You can swing a dead cat and hit plenty of them right here in my town. This here idolizin' just naturally has to stop.
Sheesh! some people's kids! ; )
I think, EV, that when many people think of states’ rights, at least from our side, in dealing with abortion, they are thinking about state regulations, and the state’s right to restrict abortion-something SCOTUS only recently has been upholding, and only in limited ways.
I agree with your assessment of states’ rights and how it is a governmental obligation to defend and protect innocent human life.
The states have no rights to vote for or order the murder of innocent human beings.
However, many people are beginning with the premise that SCOTUS has already usurped the states’ power to exercise its duties in this regard. They are trying to push back as best they can. While I agree with your belief that we all have a duty to do alot more than this, I think we also need to recognize where we are in this battle.
Let’s not disparage our own.
There was particular force in her voice when she stated that this is a decision for the states.
She’s just shown that she’s not “one of our own.” It’s a charade. But, I’m not “disparaging” her anyway. I’m simply pointing out that hers is not a pro-life position.
There is no such thing. There is Conservatism or there is Liberalism. They are diametrically opposed. One serves one or the other.
I dislike (vast understatement) much of what McCain stands for, and yet, now that he has named a genuine conservative as his running mate, there’s no way on earth I can be kept from voting for the ticket, or campaigning in its behalf.
Then in doing so, one must take the morbid position of hoping for McCain's disablement, in one form or another, as without such an event, the lovely conservative VP is without power and without pulpit. She is, for all intensive porpoises, a songbird in a golden cage. It is McCain's Soros financed machinery one is voting into place....
It’s one thing to compromise with those who would bring our republic to her knees. It’s quite another to hold so single-mindedly to conservative tenets that, by default, we wind up allowing such scoundrels to take the wheel.
So... He's a scoundrel, but he's our scoundrel, dang it!
I wholly disagree with your approach. The betrayer betrays. It is his nature. Far better to be in opposition with a clear message and a righteous heart.
Talk about cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face. Some purist conservatives appear willing to perform an entire face-ectomy.
Better to cut off one's nose to spite one's face, than to cut one's throat to save one's face.
Republicanism gone amok.
Do you believe that states have a right to "legalize" murder?
*sigh* If it were ever said that I would be opposing you fine folks on this issue, I would have surely denied it, But I will be standing with my good FRiend EV on this matter.
By her declaration, Palin desires that RvW should be overturned and that the matter should revert to the states. While that is how our libertarian FRiends would like to settle it, it is not the current Pro-Life stance, which is to endorse the RTL Amendment to the U.S Constitution.
While one may happily include all sorts in the term "Pro-Life" for the purpose of general discussion, the Evangelical community will expect a candidate of her caliber to endorse the RTL Amendment, *not* "return to the states".
I believe that is the point that EternalVigilance is highlighting, not to mention that she has signed on to a campaign which suffers embryos to undergo the knife.
As good as she is on Life, Sarah Palin is not technically in line with the Pro-Life movement, and will have problems (BIG problems) if she will not work hard for the RTL Amendment.
…
PALIN: I think it should, and I think that states should be able to decide that issue.
Guess what? That is the CONSERVATIVE position. The Feds should not mandate one way or the other.
The battleground should be at the STATE level.
The follow-up question should be, "in such a situation, as the governor of Alaska, would you support such a bill prohibiting abortion in your state?"
Until you have that answer, you have no basis to support your ridiculous claim. She lives pro-life...she is even against embryonic stem cell research, unlike McCain (according to a statement in the 2006 gubernatorial debate shown recently on c-span).
You have NO basis for your claim.
I think the Right to Life Act needs to be enacted, too. If we ever get a prolife majority, I hope they will pass it, and I believe McCain will sign it.
Call me naiive if you wish...
I know O won’t sign it. O will ensure their deaths for generations to come.
Unfortunately, these are the only realistic choices we have right now.
Gotta go!
Pax Christi to all!
LoL..
Unalienable rights are not a state issue. Your position confuses and conflates unalienable rights - some of which are enumerated in our Constitution and some of which are not (that's why there's a Ninth Amendment), and Enumerated Powers. You, and Ron Paul, and John McCain, and Sarah Palin, are promoting a false federalism by doing so.
She lives pro-life
You mean because she didn't kill her child? Since when is not killing your child considered to be proof that you're "pro-life"?
The Feds should not mandate one way or the other.
The right to life is the supreme right. Which critical, but lesser, rights do you also think are state issues? The right to keep and bear arms? Free speech? Freedom of assembly? The right against self-incrimination?
You have NO basis for your claim.
I have every basis for my claim. Please tell us how you think you have a basis for states to alienate rights that our founding documents call unalienable.
Not true.. I live about 10 miles from her, Grasshopper..
Its you that don't know her..
John I admit is missing his strawberries.. but placated he might be a fair Captain.. Ole Kingfish(Jobama) though is the Mad Hatter.. and Biden is the drunken Mouse.. And is poised to wish us ALL a Happy UNbirthday..
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