Posted on 10/26/2005 10:31:00 PM PDT by SirJohnBarleycorn
America is in trouble--and our elites are merely resigned.
It is not so hard and can be a pleasure to tell people what you see. It's harder to speak of what you think you see, what you think is going on and can't prove or defend with data or numbers. That can get tricky. It involves hunches. But here goes.
I think there is an unspoken subtext in our national political culture right now. In fact I think it's a subtext to our society. I think that a lot of people are carrying around in their heads, unarticulated and even in some cases unnoticed, a sense that the wheels are coming off the trolley and the trolley off the tracks. That in some deep and fundamental way things have broken down and can't be fixed, or won't be fixed any time soon. That our pollsters are preoccupied with "right track" and "wrong track" but missing the number of people who think the answer to "How are things going in America?" is "Off the tracks and hurtling forward, toward an unknown destination."
snip
That's what I think is going on with our elites. There are two groups. One has made a separate peace, and one is trying to keep the boat afloat. I suspect those in the latter group privately, in a place so private they don't even express it to themselves, wonder if they'll go down with the ship. Or into bad territory with the trolley.
(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...
Teddy has been doing his best for the last 40 years to make the country fall apart.
She has summed up what I've been thinking for a very long time very well.
I'm a young man (twenty-two) and I can only imagine the trials and testings that await us in the years to come.
Peggy's spellcheck needs help.
I'm so glad Peggy has figured out what is going on with "the elites" in America. Geesh. What a stupid and pointless column.
Uhh, what?
I think Peggy has gotten herself worked up a bit too much.
the elites criticizing the elites.
I too feel we are heading into a dark period, similar to the 1970s. Eerily similar.
I'm beginning to think one of the biggest "lurking" dangers this country faces is drivel like this from past "government" employees.
yea throw out W put hillary in the white house,
get rid of nixon put in the peanut farmer.
everybody stop drinking the kool aid and remember you still have the power to make sure the above scenario doesnt happen.
don't lose your focus, and remember us conservatives have something the libs don't have, and that's faith.
Amen, Jim.
Doomsday Chicken Lickin the sky is falling is all about doing nothing. It is suicidal, culture of death stuff. There are a few basic steps required to get back on track. Imposing the Constitution would be an excellent place to start, and end.
Yes sir, well said.
In particular, there is too much focus on the president as being personally responsible for saving the nation from every ill.
The MSM and Hollyweird have peddled an image of the president sort of like the Russian peasants of old used to view the Czar, a “great father” who if he only knew of the real problems people faced would surely make them all go away.
People need to take more responsibility for their own lives and stop looking to the president or the “elites” to solve all of their problems. That’s how the people of this country managed their lives before the huge explosion in the size and reach of the federal government.
The only legitimate nominee for SCOTUS, btw, is one who would strictly limit the Regress to the powers granted in Article I, Section 8.
Peggy has lost it. Now she's gone apocalyptic.
Peggy would do herself and all of us a favor and read some history. Every generation's "elites" (whoever they may be at the moment) have pronounced doom on this country, and yet, we continue to survive and even flourish. Time for a little less navel-gazing, Peggy, and a little more time spent with real people and a study of our own history to learn that what keeps us strong still survives. As Will Rogers said: "Every time we have an election, we get in worse men and the country keeps right on going. Times have proven only one thing, and that is you can't ruin this country even with politics."
We have four enormous dangers facing us at the same time:
-Islamic terrorism (soon to become nuclear capable, if it isn't already). Our allies are feckless, venal, or openly against us, and our own organs of opinion are 95% controlled by "one-worlders" or enemies of the Constitution.
-Illegal immigration. Ten-twenty million illegal aliens are here, their children born here are immediately declared American citizens, and there is no end in sight. Can you imagine what would happen if we had a serious economic or political disruption in this country, with ten million+ uneducated, non-english speaking people flotsaming around on top of our own desperate or poor people? The very fact that they got in, and that more and more pandering to them is occurring, signals the weakness of the immune system of America.
-The threat from China. They are willing to take losses from us to get what they want (Taiwan in the short term, and land for expansion in Canada, Australia, and yes- the U.S. in the medium-term). I can't say I am certain that the horrifying speech recently attributed to Chi Haotian is legitimate, but it is akin to other statements made by Chinese generals recently.
-The deliberate attacks on the freedom of the American people by all three branches of government:
*The legislative branch recently violated the 1st amendment to the Constitution by passing CFR (upheld by the Judicial branch).
*The Judical branch recently violated the Constitution by expanding eminent domain to allow seizure of private property to benefit private litigants.
*The Executive branch recently proposed violating the Constitution by attempting to expand the Patriot Act by allowing the FBI to seize information about American citizens or record their conversations without a warrant. Add to these violations a dozen others that you can think of yourself.
Peggy was prescient in her famous "when someone does the Big, Terrible Thing to New York or Washington" column, and I fear she is right again.
Us normal people are getting along with life just fine !
"We're doomed!" She may have a point there.
I guess Peggy doesn't think George Washington, Abe Lincoln or FDR had a myriad of complex and rapidly evolving issues during their terms in the Whitehouse. Typical of people who make a living inside the Washington D.C. beltway, Peggy seems to think the country revolves around the wisdom of the ego-maniacal snobs in D.C.. Instead, what we are really witnessing are folks who for decades have considered themselves "elite" suddenly realizing that they are more accurately described as "irrelevant". This piece by Peggy has all the wisdom of a teenage cheerleader lamenting the fact that her popular group of friends are no longer looked to for advice and consent. With the advent of easily accessible information on the internet, I no longer need Peggy, the New York Times, Teddy Kennedy or any of the tens of thousands of snobs toasting each others' intellect on the East Coast to tell me what the "correct" answer is. In fact, I'd prefer to hear nothing from them at all. With that in mind, I couldn't be happier they are drifting into a deep malaise. Good bye, and good riddence. The rest of America has work to do.
WTF is this poor woman talking about?
She writes like she is down on the Saxon Shore watching the last of the legions depart.
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