The President of Resentment

American Thinker ^ | November 10, 2009 | James Lewis

[neverdem]

Some people have a government; and some governments have a people, said Ronald Reagan. We are being turned into a nation where the government owns the people. It is the demagogic heirs to the dreadful history of slavery who are now trying to turn the tables; Obama is a slave master in the making. He looks the part; he acts the part; and behind the scenes his Commissars are making it happen.

Obama has never quite displayed his bitter, long-harbored resentment toward America quite as obviously as he did after the Fort Hood massacre. The President couldn't figure out how to respond with the dignity fitting his office.

I happened to be going through the Washington, DC airport a couple of months ago when I heard a lot of people clapping and whooping, a little demonstration. When I looked, I noticed a single, elderly French horn player, sitting on a folding chair and playing patriotic tunes to enliven a parade -- if you can call it that -- of elderly, wheel-chair-bound vets from World War Two coming off their plane: The Greatest Generation, as even Tom Brokaw called them. They looked shrunken, most of those lifelong handicapped vets, wearing baseball and VFW caps, but some of them left their wheel chairs and walked through the reception as the old horn player did his tunes. My eyes started to tear up and I walked over to join the applause as these real saviors of the West went on by. They were greeted by a little reception committee and then went on to what was almost surely their last celebration with their buddies from the War. And that octogenarian horn player kept on playing his patriotic tunes.

Some of the bystanders joined in the applause, but there were some who made a display of their indifference and contempt as well. It was an interesting lesson in our split society. One young man jauntily walked away from the little final home-coming demonstration, prancing in the opposite direction, a little counter-demonstration all by himself. Those old vets in wheelchairs had no meaning for him; just the opposite. They were just mean old white guys, or something equally bizarre. The most democratic Army in history, the one that brought together Italians, Jews, Germans,  Poles, and yes, blacks and Japanese Americans and everyone else, all of them scared of dying but pretty much convinced that their country was in peril from some pretty evil characters in Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan and the Soviet Union. So they fought, and died, sometimes in great numbers. Bob Dole got his lifelong wounds in the murderous Italian campaign, just like John McCain got his shoulder bones broken in the Hanoi Hilton. Some of those World War II guys were wounded for life, and some of them were now being rolled in their wheelchairs in front of our eyes. They meant nothing to the contemptuous young man who pranced away from them.

That'a a small metaphor for this Administration. The young counter-demonstrator had no idea about the sacrifices of the Greatest Generation, the lethal dangers the country confronted after People Harbor, and the heroism of our Soldiers, Sailors and Marines. He'd no doubt been told from childhood onward how evil White America really is. Yes, those WW Two soldiers represented an imperfect democracy; it just happened to be the best one on earth. And they knew that because of their own family histories, because American history was still taught in all the schools, and because they were good and decent people who were shocked by the vile and evil regimes that were conquering Europe and Asia, ruthlessly killing millions of innocent civilians as they went. It was a huge resurgence of barbarism, and their very souls cried out against the injustice of it all. They were Americans. It wasn't necessary to explain things to them. They got it.

And so the high school girls saw their sweethearts going off to war, and were left back home. Some of their men came back, often shell-shocked, but they didn't talk about the war. They went back to their lives and tried to pursue happiness. A lot of them never came back. 

And then some guy named Joe Stalin exploded the first Soviet nuclear bombs, an A bomb and an H bomb. After all of their pain and homesickness and sacrifices, another totalitarian enemy had infiltrated the U.S. Government up to and including the White House staff. Those infiltrations were real, as we now know. They were not just the wild imaginings of Tailgunner Joe McCarthy. So, Americans became angry and frightened by this new totalitarian danger, especially because the State and Federal bureaucracies, the teachers, the media, and the universities were penetrated by the Stalinist Left and their Front organizations. For the first time in human history, a single Soviet bomber could fly from Europe to New York City and drop a bomb to obliterate all of Manhattan. They were outraged and frightened by this new threat, and they supported a vigorous anti-Communist movement led by people like Harry Truman, Richard Nixon, Joe McCarthy, President Eisenhower, and a host of others. For some decades the American people defended itself vigorously and effectively against the Stalin-directed Fifth Column that threatened their lives and freedom.

Today we are seeing a Second Cold War, but the enemy is within, just as it was after World War II. We are seeing outright front organizations again. "J Street" is a classical front organization, which should be called "J  Front." It's a fraud, claiming to represent people who never voted for them. George Soros, who sets up many of these phony fronts, is a man who accommodated the Nazis, among other distinctions. He has never displayed a smidgen of guilt for his role in the the disposition of Jewish possessions after their owners were arrested and sent to death camps -- men, women, and children. Normal Holocaust survivors feel tremendous guilt; Soros sounds jaunty and devil-may-care about the murderous cannibalism of those years. He made out well, and started his long road to fortune. Today he is financing Obama's "Coup from Above," with the same insouciance with which he betrayed his Jewish relatives in Hungary.

There's a story to be told there. But don't expect the media to tell it.

The American people are hearing a call to arms -- not literal arms, for our system can self correct. But we have to out-organize and out-pressure the Left. They have called us "the enemy" ever since Alinsky's little book radicalized the revolutionaries of the Boomer Left after the violent revolutionary groups were readily suppressed.  When somebody really considers you their enemy you have no choice. Either you return the compliment, or you get overwhelmed by the new Chicago Mob in D.C.

The Left has shown how to fight from a position of the minority and win. American conservatives by a recent poll have a two-to-one majority. They are constantly undermined by the political Left: Ridiculed in the media, demeaned in the schools and universities, out-maneuvered in politics at the state and national level by Leftists who are far nastier and far more ruthless than ordinary, decent Americans. This is a struggle for the country. We need to toughen up.

The first lesson is to start telling the truth without fear. Shout it out. Demonstrate. Tell your truth to your relatives that you've been trying to be nice to all these years. Make it pleasant and polite, but firm. Don't yell. Just talk and talk and talk. Yes, you can stand out from the crowd. Half of your listeners will privately agree with you if you state your case well, and over time they will find the courage to speak up, too.

The second lesson is to build up a cadre of leaders -- in the media, in politics, in the educational system, everywhere. We have at least one charismatic leader now in Sarah Palin. That's why she is under constant, vicious attack from the Left. That's why they burned down her church in Wasilla. They fear her. I love her for the enemies she has made. There are many other good people, but a charismatic political talent comes just once in every generation. She needs and deserves support. So do others.

When conservatives betray American conservatism, let them know you will vote against them, and support their conservative opponents in all the ways that work. Don't get nasty and hysterical. Just be calm and firm.

The third lesson is to organize, organize, and organize. That's how the Left did it. Tea Parties are good, the Heritage Foundation is good. There are many good organizations: We need to support them with our dollars and with our voices.  We need to mobilize conservatives into active pressure groups around their greatest concerns: Web freedom is a crucial one right now. So is free radio and TV. When the Left attacks Fox News or Rush, we have to raise a gigantic fuss on their behalf. The media cannot be allowed to ignore our demonstrations. We have allowed far too many good people be attacked and attacked and shrugged our shoulders.

The election of 2010 will be a major survival test. If Americans fail that test, we will become Britain in its catastrophic decline under fifty years of socialism. A new Ruling Class will arise, just as it has in socialist Europe, and they will not care one bit about the people. They will import hostile voters from Third World countries. They will forge alliances with Islamists, as they are already doing.  America will be helpless, and all the hostile forces around the world will know it. They will all be trying to push us under. If we are governed by a domestic Fifth Column, then North Korea, Russia, China, Iran, Hugo Chavez, the Sunni Moslem Brotherhood, all will beat us down. Real democracy is just not their thing.

At the U.N. we see kleptocracies in charge. Behold our future if we do not act.  Chicago and Detroit stand as warnings.

Conservatives are individualists, so we have to do something unusual: organize, organize, organize. Local and national. Even international. Some of our friends are in the British media, where they are looking for us to stand up and defend civilization, just as they stood up against Hitler when we were still dithering. Some of our friends are in Australia, in Canada, and yes, in France. Around the world there are millions of people who get it. We can be American patriots with allies all around the world. They need leaders and vocal support just as much as we do.

And we must militantly defend the freedom of the web. The Stalinoids will attack it viciously, just as they will attack talk radio and Fox News. We are fighting the same enemy Ronald Reagan fought. We have to do it just as intelligently and vigorously as he did.

The word "activist" used to be a media word for the Left. It's high time to make it work for American conservatives.

Become an activist or lose your country.

[Bobalu]

[kabar]

They will import hostile voters from Third World countries.

The Dems have been doing this since 1965.

[Biggirl]

2010 is coming and Obama will get his butt kicked via the mid term election.

[rockinqsranch]

Thanks for this post.

[sodpoodle]

It would have been useful if Obama’s psyche had been more thoroughly examined.

His skin is black - but does he harbor a disgust that our African American descendants of slaves were not sufficiently militant in demanding full equality? Did the divorce, remarriage and early death of his white mother and subsequent dependancy on his white grandparents leave him resentful? Did he fantasize that his absent, neglectful Muslim, polygamous, Marxist, Kenyan father was somehow an heroic figure?

With such an exotic, unusual childhood and background - emotional baggage would be *normal*. Is he?

[Catholic Canadian]

This is one hell of an article.

[neverdem]

Did the divorce, remarriage and early death of his white mother and subsequent dependancy on his white grandparents leave him resentful?

IMHO, she offed her kid on her parents and did her own thing.

Ms. Soetoro, who died of ovarian cancer in 1995, was the parent who raised Mr. Obama, the Illinois senator running for the Democratic presidential nomination.

That "typical white person" was a description of his grandmother, no?

[jpl]

What an outstanding piece by Mr. Lewis, and one I agree with 100%.

We conservatives tend to be individualists, and that is a strength, but at the same time it's also a weakness politically.

The American taxpayers, most of whom are conservative, are one of the biggest groups in the entire country, but we're the most abused, because we're almost completely disorganized. That needs to change, and it may be now with the Tea Parties.

[Jacquerie]

I met a Harvard Law alum recently in a social situation. He teaches Law at a Florida University. He served during the Korean War; he is probably a generation older than me.

After a heated discussion in which he denied that our Unalienable Rights come from God, stating that rights come from government, it didn't take too long to get him to admit that in his and fellow Harvard pal Cass Sunstein's perfect world, detention camps are eventually in store for constitutionalists like me. I am not joking.

There are very frightening people pushing for the collapse of our republic.

[haroldeveryman]

Good article, as far as it went. What it lacks is a long term view.

The actions the writer recommended (spread the word, have leadership, organize), will help us get started. But the the totalitarians did not snatch victory from the jaws of Cold War defeat by just talking and demonstrating. What really brought us to this point was the insidious, decades long process of taking control of our schools, universities and media, as well as eighty years of building their own invisible government by infiltrating and bloating our bureaucracies.

This has enabled Congress to pass “Manhatten phone book” size legislation the content of which the rest of us “have no business” being concerned about. Ditto for International treaties that have and will be ratified.

At least two generations have grown up that have no idea about American culture or history. Blatant attacks on freedom of speech and property rights have already begun.

We who value freedom have to be in this for the long haul. We can’t hope to beat the left at their own Washington game, but we can and must reassert the rights reserved to the of States as written in the Constitution. A necessary immediate step in building our future is for states and localities to take control of their own schools. That will make it possible to prevail in the long haul.

[haroldeveryman]

First, just in case it was your use of the “G-word “ that offended him, explain to that it is the physiological and neurological properties of human beings that determine which rights be accorded to them. Before he gets a chance to say something stupid, quickly add the fact that any person’s psychological well being requires his access to freedom and the pursuit of happiness, and that this was already well established by empirical evidence 300 years ago (I think that the framers even used the term “self evident”).

If he were younger, and if you happened to be wearing a disguise at the time and had a good pair of sneakers, you might have even considered the following:
(a) steal his wallet, or
(b) break one or both of his legs.

This would have given him a valuable insight into the virtue of unalienable rights.

[Tax-chick]

bttt

[neverdem]

I met a Harvard Law alum recently in a social situation. He teaches Law at a Florida University. He served during the Korean War; he is probably a generation older than me.

After a heated discussion in which he denied that our Unalienable Rights come from God, stating that rights come from government, it didn't take too long to get him to admit that in his and fellow Harvard pal Cass Sunstein's perfect world, detention camps are eventually in store for constitutionalists like me. I am not joking.

Maybe he's a pal of Charlie Rangel? I would love to know what do they think they were fighting for in the Korean War.

[Jacquerie]

He strongly downplayed his role in Army communications during Korea. I was surprised at first. Not that I expect support type troops in rear areas to brag, but heck, he was in theatre.

This was before he learned to hate his country at Harvard.

[sweetiepiezer]

Interesting article..........
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/images/nytint/docs/obama-s-1983-college-magazine-article/original.pdf

[neverdem]

It’s certainly no Gettysburg Address.

[sweetiepiezer]

In it we can see why he has the dislike for the military.