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
Each state has their own Constitution.
It's amazing the difference two weeks can make!
Thank you for the eloquent, heartfelt words.
~ joanie
More garbage.
And each state constitution has to comply with the federal Constitution as per the federal Constitution. Is that not correct?
Below is a right-to-life blog entry (with my own additions) that I copied a while back, neglecting to note who wrote it. :(
It describes the writer’s perception of what occurs when a child who was scheduled to be aborted manages to survive the murder, and what Barack Obama desires to see happen to that child, in the ‘unfortunate’ turn of events that allows him/her to be born alive. His repudiation of the Born Alive Infant Protection Act – i.e., his condoning of infanticide -- a harsh ideological action that even turned the stomach of the likes of NARAL, represents perhaps the most pernicious of evils in existence today.
I know you are all well aware of the depravity (vast understatement) of such a position. I know I do not have to educate you in that regard. But I simply ask you to read the account below and then reflect on a few questions:
The baby enters a world bent on death and destruction towards its life.
The baby enters the world in excruciating pain and the best trained medical experts in the world refuse the baby any aid - in a hospital - where all facilities are available and the doctors have sworn to protect all human life - except his.
The baby is thrown on a cold table and left to die in some hidden place.
The baby struggles to breathe because a human is born with the human will to survive. The baby cries and sobs for help that never comes.
The innocent baby tries to live with every breath yet dies alone, abandoned like a used Kleenex, never having experienced anything but pain, rejection and hatred.
When the baby finally dies a death of torture and the ultimate rejection any human can receive, it is deemed such a worthless human that it doesn't even have a 'Death Certificate' issued proving that it ever existed.
For a few minutes, hours or days, that baby WAS an American citizen who should have received all of the rights and protections under law, that any other American citizen is guaranteed.
Barack Obama, and most democrats, have done everything humanly possible, to make sure this baby does NOT even receive any pain medication ... let alone be afforded the right to life.
The argument that the Lord despises all evil is valid. But where does one draw the line in the ‘there are no degrees of evil’ argument?
If you are interviewing a prospective employee, you are told that you must hire one of two applicants, and one is discovered to have been recently arrested for shoplifting, and the other is discovered to be engaging in child pornography, do you sit at your desk and cogitate over which one to hire? Do you slap yourself on the wrist if your first instinct is to react in revulsion to the pornographer, and to simply react with a desire to ‘reform’ the shoplifter?
I know. I know. You would resign from your job if forced to choose between the two. My point is, even though the Lord decries all evil, there are indeed degrees of evil that we must consider in making choices as regards our republic’s future.
Where does one draw the line? Many of you place abortion at the top of your list of concerns. I cannot fault you for that. But, considering the number of crises that threaten to destroy our republic, basing one’s decision this November on one, or two or three, issues neglects to remember that many of the other issues you are ignoring are equally threatening, if not moreso, to every American, and every freedom-loving person on this globe.
Without a return to the foundations from which we germinated, not only the innocent unborn, or the innocent unwanted despite their birth, will have no future. None of us will. And then who will be left to fight for their rights?
Scripture advises us to avoid straining at a gnat while swallowing a camel. I am not equating fighting for the rights of the unborn with the insignificance of a gnat, but I am suggesting that there is much more to consider – much more that will affect us all – the unborn included -- in the long-term.
By refusing to support McCain-Palin, you are standing up for what you perceive is right, while, by default, enabling the incremental increase of most insidious evils imaginable.
And don’t tell me abortions, and legalized infanticide, will not increase dramatically under an Obama administration. That argument simply flies in the face of reality.
~ joanie
Eternal Vigilence writes: Sarah Palin, by advocating a position that puts state prerogatives ahead of the unalienable right to life, has proven not to be pro-life, in fact. Just exactly like John McCain, who, by the way, is the one running for President of the United States.
Jeepers, what’s this dispute all about? Both of you seem to think that the answer to our prayers regarding the abortion issue is to see the right to life as fundamentally guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment, which holds that “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” [bolds added]. [Or yet a new Constitutional Amendment premised on the logic of the Fourteenth.]
But oh my, that seems such a slender reed on which to base the sanctity of human life.
For one thing, it doesn’t answer the fundamental question: Who is a “person?” Only a person can be a citizen and thus come under the protection of the United States; and by virtue of the citizenship relation alone cannot be deprived of life with impunity.
But the Left argues that there is no person until there is a born-alive child. (Some Leftists, such as Peter Singer of Princeton, think a child is not a “person” until it attains the age of 1. Only then does the child have any civil rights.)
Thus “logically,” the Left argues that abortion is not the taking of a human life (because it’s not yet a person, you see — Q.E.D.). Thus the Fourteenth Amendment is not triggered if an abortion is performed, up to and including partial birth abortion.
To me, the life issue is not, nor can it ever be, simply a “legal issue,” with legal remedies. For “personhood” is not something that can be stipulated or defined by law. It is already a given (as we find in the Declaration of Independence), from the moment of conception (“creation”). Thus fundamentally we are dealing with a “moral issue.”
Yet one cannot legislate morality.
The legislature can ban all kinds of things all day long by writing suitable laws. But if it is banning something for which there is public demand, all they will succeed in doing would be to create a black market for that “desired good.” You can make abortion illegal; but you cannot make it go away — unless there is a spirit of moral regeneration in the culture that becomes effective in the hearts and souls and minds of the public.
It is interesting to note that, back in the pre-Roe v. Wade days — back in the day when abortion was regulated by the states — abortionists could be, and were, routinely arrested and prosecuted. Post-Roe v. Wade, this never happens.
The dirty little secret the political/cultural Left doesn’t want you to know is: The reason they wanted to “nationalize” the abortion issue in the first place (i.e., via the federal, not state courts) was because most states were so hostile to it. With a stroke of the pen, Roe v. Wade rendered the laws of all the 50 states unconstitutional; and imposed a federal regime of protection for abortion that is destroying about a million pre-born children every year.
So I just wonder, nmh, why you think abortion should be a federal issue? Do you really believe that a Constitutional Amendment would stamp it out?
In Article IV, Section 4, the Constitution says: “The United States shall guarantee to every State in the Union a Republican Form of government….” This form of government recognizes the sovereignty of the individual States with respect to their own self-government, in association with a federal government of strictly limited powers (by my count, there are only 27 direct grants of power to the federal government under the Constitution, and none of them deal directly with life issues, e.g., murder, abortion, probate, etc., which under the federal Constitution historically, traditionally have been left to the states).
Implicit in our constitutional political order is the principle of subsidiarity, which states that public decisions ought to be made at the lowest possible level of competence, where people are directly involved in the issue and most knowledgeable about it.
You and Eternal Vigilence seem to be arguing that nothing is any good unless the federal government is doing it. Seems pretty naïve to me. [But then so is EV’s impending vanity vote for Alan Keyes….]
My own view is: Overturn Roe v. Wade and give the authority on the abortion issue back to the states. They have by far the better record on this issue, historically speaking.
The more abortion becomes a “local” and “state” issue, the more it comes under the direct influence of local, highly motivated and politically active defenders of human life.
The radical Left is well aware of this. They deplore it; for it “devolves” power away from “the federal authority,” which is now largely in the hands of ideological elites, back to the people. Which entails greater human liberty and personal responsibility. And that sort of thing cuts against the very grain of the entire radical Left agenda.
You need to be aware of this, too — if you’re gonna fight the good fight!
Thank you so much for the interesting discussion!
Agreed. Kool-Aid is Kool-Aid no matter who is serving it.
Elections are reality. Your ‘garbage’ is the real world. You may think yourself ‘too pure’ for that reality but that doesn’t change what happens. We can choose Obama or McCain. Any other vote is meaningless. That is reality.
Obama Doesn’t Want His Daughters Punished with a Baby
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNzmly28Bmg
CNN on Obama’s Infant Born Alive Act Rejection
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPZCXcTwZPY
Jill Stanek on Obama and Born Alive Infant Protection Act (MUST SEE)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIdbYjmbFzo
Obama Cover-up Revealed On Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Bill
http://www.nrlc.org/ObamaBAIPA/ObamaCoverup.html
Explosive Audio Found Obama arguing against BAIPA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypDwNpgIUQc
Babies left to die!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIdbYjmbFzo
joanie,
Excellent article.
hosepipe,
Using conservative standards, McCain just didn’t measure up but compared to Obama, he looks good. The more that is known about Obama, the better McCain looks. Obama is an insult to everything that made America great.
Add Palin, who really looks great, and McCain becomes acceptable to many.
I have to wonder, if we get McCain now because of Obama, who or what do we get from the GOP down the road when the left puts up an even scarier Marxist? At what point does the ‘lesser evil’ cross the line into just plain evil? Will we continue to accept a lower standard as the Dems lower theirs?
Would the Republic survive if Obama wins because conservatives withhold their votes from McCain?
Would it survive if conservatives compromised their principles yet again?
I don’t know enough to answer but I think that I know enough that we must think about the questions before we cast our votes.
I know. I know. You would resign from your job if forced to choose between the two. My point is, even though the Lord decries all evil, there are indeed degrees of evil that we must consider in making choices as regards our republic’s future.
*********************
Yes. Quite so.
Suppose he did resign his job, and his employer replaced him with someone who then decided that the pornographer is the one who should be hired?
If we allow our country to "hire" Obama, the result will be that many more babies will die than if we "hire" McCain.
Wrong. If you cannot differentiate between McCain/Palin and Obama/Biden then you are wilfully blind. Sad. Very sad.
Bingo, well said.
McCain is a backstabbing, lying schmuck. That is also reality.
Obama: “If they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.”
I do not see one good thing about John McCain. He is for amnesty. Enough said. He and Cindy are so creepy.
I know all about 0bama. Your cut and pastes aren’t telling me anything new.
“I do not see one good thing about John McCain.”
He is a veteran, he is pro-life, he is strong on the second amendment and he is NOT zerObama. Plus he picked Sarah.
“I know all about 0bama.”
And yet you attack the only rational alternative. Sad. Very sad.
Obama Doesn’t Want His Daughters Punished with a Baby
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNzmly28Bmg
CNN on Obama’s Infant Born Alive Act Rejection
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPZCXcTwZPY
Jill Stanek on Obama and Born Alive Infant Protection Act (MUST SEE)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIdbYjmbFzo
Obama Cover-up Revealed On Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Bill
http://www.nrlc.org/ObamaBAIPA/ObamaCoverup.html
Explosive Audio Found Obama arguing against BAIPA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypDwNpgIUQc
Babies left to die!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIdbYjmbFzo
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