[Tolik]

Interesting!

This ping list is not author-specific for articles I'd like to share. Some for the perfect moral clarity, some for provocative thoughts; or simply interesting articles I'd hate to miss myself. (I don't have to agree with the author all 100% to feel the need to share an article.)

I will try not to abuse the ping list and not to annoy you too much, but on some days there is more of the good stuff that is worthy of attention.

You are welcome to browse the list of of truly exceptional articles I pinged to lately. Updated on February 10, 2009.  on  my page.
You are welcome in or out, just freepmail me (and note which PING list you are talking about).

Besides this one, I keep 2 separate PING lists for my favorite authors Victor Davis Hanson and Orson Scott Card.  

[Tolik]

You might be interested to see this one

[sauropod]

Good post.

[I see my hands]

Short and sweet.

[Nathan Zachary]

"In short, the boys begin to realize that justice and happiness in a community rests upon the moral condition of its citizens...Adeimantus comes to discover a dark and ominous secret: without proper moral conditioning a regime's "defining principle" will be the source of its ultimate destruction. "

And that is exactly what has happened to the USA, all of western society actually. Scarier still, is that vaccums do not stay vaccums for long. Islam is fast filling that void.

[deannadurbin]

How Democrats Become Tyrants.

[smokingfrog]

Best thing I've read in a long time.

We have allowed the liberal left to plant the seeds of our own destruction, especially the public "education" system.

[gunnyg]

Re The Right To Be Left Alone....

http://gunnyg.wordpress.com/2007/09/22/the-right-to-be-left-alone/

[Texas Fossil]

“Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.”

- Ben Franklin

[Cap74]

Great post. The only problem I have with the author’s take is that it doesn’t go far enough in its explanation. The U.S. had a ‘hard Left’ for a long time. Two major things happened in the 1960’s, and one in 1989-91, that put us on the path to where we are today.

The first has many causes and many perspectives, but the fact that it happened and it’s effect on voting patterns and public policy are clear: the permanent radicalization of the black minority. Whether used consciously or not, overtly talked about or nervously hushed-up, race is now a huge dividing line in American politics and the Republican party is largely the White party. Again, opinions on how, why, and what to do about it are many - but it is the situation.

Second, beginning in the 60’s the nation’s culture, much of its press and its academia were taken over by Marxist and anti-capitalist, anti-traditionalist, anti-Christian and anti-white groupthink. Even then, there were times when the majority of americans could revolt against that, notably in Reagan’s era. The rallying point seemed to be the patriotism and moral clarity of the Cold War and the evil spectre of the USSR.

Third, the fall of the Soviet Union. We all thought that was a signal of victory and the end of Marxism as legitimate political theory and practice. I think it seems to have removed the example we all could point to of the utter failure and utter evil of Marxism. It also removed the term ‘communist’ and even ‘Marxist’ as effective ridicule. Somehow being an actual Nazi, or at least being thought of as one, is instant death to someone’s political, academic or cultural career (and for good reason.) But being a communist/Marxist is both able to be fashionable and somehow shielded from receiving an accurate label. Those, like us here at FR, who call people Marxists are seen as ‘nuts’ or ‘divisive’ while actual Marxists are seen as cool and ‘progressive.’ Because there’s no USSR for them to claim allegiance to or publicly back (and reveal their anti-Americanness) they are never called out as hating America in the general public.

Just my three cents worth...

[geologist]

Thank you, for this excellent article. It all seems so familiar doesn't it?

Our house of cards has collapsed; and no one wants to make any changes, that makes them change too.

It is a reality that every generation must learn from history; and for the current one, it seems that is too much trouble. So they/we are lemmings.

[LibWhacker]

When is it too late to turn around? Does Plato say anything about that?

It seems like it is way past that tipping point to me; most conservatives seem to be old codgers, like me and most others on FR, while nearly all youth are libs.

[geologist]

Wow! Terrific homepage. Loads of great back articles, etc.,

I intend to return to it often.

Thank you.

[Obadiah]

The problem will be that certain classes of people with have their freedoms limited by the iron hand of the government. We see it already. Liberals want a retirn of the “Fairness Doctrine”. of course what this will mean is that they will go after people like Rush and Hannity while NPR and the rest are expanded.

We saw articles posted last week from Daily Kos(saks) how they believe it’s time to do away with the Republican Party. That’s how we get to dictatorship. One segment of society gets power and uses that power to surpress the other segment of society and that circle of power tightens as oppressions expands to more and more.

It is a pattern that has been oft repeated and appears to be repeating again, right here at home.

[marron]

Thanks for the ping. Yes, the guy is singing my song.

Sustainable freedom is self-government, and self-government is always a moral quality. Only people who are capable of governing themselves are capable of being free. All the rest will be, must be, governed by others.

When the numbers of people within a society who are incapable of ruling themselves reaches critical mass, the society itself ceases to be free.

And how are the moral underpinnings of a free society, any society for that matter, passed from generation to generation? They are passed first and formost by the family, by the church, and in the schools. Its not necessary that everyone internalize the principles in the same way, but it is necessary that enough people internalize them by whatever means so as to keep the society on track.

The break-up of families strikes right at the heart of this. The corruption of churches does too. And the corruption of the schools is the final nail in the coffin. When only a few people still understand the guiding moral principles that allow men to govern themselves and to live free the society itself will reject freedom as a burden that they can no longer bear. They will reject it as an illusion, a fraud that some men use to make other men do their will. They will gladly throw their freedom away in an unholy alliance between the ones who want to be cared for and the ones who think they are uniquely qualified to rule the masses.

And there will never be peace, because there are always many more resentful souls who think they are uniquely qualified to rule than there are openings for rulers. And the people who expect to be cared for are never going to be satisfied with the quality of the crumbs that fall within their reach. So the result is not only slavery but endless violence and repression.

[VR-21]

Wonderful post! It brings to mind a Samuel Adams quote...

"No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffused and Virtue is preserved. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauched in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders." - Letter to James Warren, November 4, 1775

[semantic]

I don't know why people get so worked up regarding the coming destruction of the USA. I mean, was it supposed to last forever? If not, then at what point would it end? Somewhere in the distant future ... or now? Why not now? What makes us and/or this time so unique that it can't happen?

Look, it's sort of like everyone coming to realize that the best way to move forward on the economy is to let the big banks fail. Likewise, the best way for us to re-establish a free market Republic is to let the current system die. Hussein is the perfect solution - let him and his lib friends bury the corpse. We can restore a New USA after the reset point.

[ForGod'sSake]

Good article but through it all, Plato, Socrates or even the author of this piece even intimates that in its simplest form, there is the hidden hand of pure evil driving us into the abyss. IOW, NONE of this is happenstance, but by design. Man’s nature is such that without a reverence for God and Godly principles, we are automatically doomed to go the way of all previous great civilizations. The hidden hand of evil knows no compassion or remorse; its only desire is to rule.

[erman]

The only part of Plato's Republic covered in today's universities are the homosexual implications of a man traveling with 2 young men.

Remember that all great men in history were gay..... that is the current thinking.

[spodefly]

BTTT