Unfortunately, headline blurbs and and mini-soundbites are the most convincing articles for the vast majority of the populace. I am astounded daily by supposedly educated people who absorb CNN and AP title bars, and are totally convinced that they are fully informed.
The downfall of this nation is that so very few people can bother themselves to examine or discuss ideas and concepts.
Welcome to Idiocracy.
Simple people talk about people.
Mediocre people talk about events.
Superior people talk about ideas.
Socialism sucks because it elevates the "rights" of the collective over the rights of the individual, in all cases.
Statism also sucks because it denies the right of the individual to make his or her own choices, giving that right to the State.
Anyone who believes in either (or both), or who collaborates with those who do, e.g., John "Obama is a decent man" McCain, therefore, sucks also.
See, I can think about ideas! :-)
Also notice that conservatives are frequently accused of getting our opinions from Rush or Hannity. These accusations are pure projection - the one doing the accusing has heard from his leaders that we don’t think any more than he does.
The very idea that we’d do our own research and/or verify stories and ideas that we read is completely foreign to them.
Governor Palin was known to the pro-life conservatives before her nomination. I flat didn’t know what I was going to do if McCain chose Romney or (heaven forbid) Meg Whitman. When Sarah’s nomination was announced, I took off my “Limbaugh/Coulter 08” T-shirt and put on a McCain t-shirt.
“The downfall of this nation is that so very few people can bother themselves to examine or discuss ideas and concepts.”
Exactly. “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge”. - Hosea 4:6