Posted on 01/30/2005 9:56:06 AM PST by Mr. Silverback
Has your dog been acting funny lately? They say dogs can smell fear. Perhaps your pooch is detecting the panic wafting from your morning newspaper.
In its unhinged post-election state, the American Left has delved to new depths of fear. Granted, fearful predictions of fascism and collapse have been their stock in trade for decades. Each election, we see some new examples of overheated fear mongering. Still, a new trend is emerging as the objects of the fear are no longer the men and women in the halls of power, but the couple down the street and the owner of the corner store.
Take the reason most liberals will cite as John Kerry's downfall: Values voters. The story is that Bush would have lost except for a tsunami of voters who came out to express raging homophobia and opposition to abortion. True, some exit polls showed many voters cited "moral values" for their choice, but that category could cover anything. Ask any voter, and they'll tell you they support "moral values."
One exit pollster, Andrew Kohut of the Pew Research Center, got the election results exactly right, and after examining Kohut's data and actual vote counts, David Brooks of the New York Times found the following:
As Brooks put it, "The fact is that if you think we are safer now, you probably voted for Bush. If you think we are less safe, you probably voted for Kerry. That's policy, not fundamentalism."
But fundamentalist hatred as the primary force in American politics fits the Left's template of prejudice. As Brooks points out, it serves "to reassure liberals that they are morally superior to the people who just defeated them." If you have concluded the president's very belief in the concept "Jesus Saves" automatically means he wants to force Christianity on every human, why not believe his supporters have similar goals? If you wake up every day believing we live in a Bible-thumping theocracy run by the evil-but-stupid Chimpus Khan, then you really can't conclude the majority of Americans don't also see such an obvious truth. You must instead conclude they support it. When you fear your nation, it is a small step to begin fearing your fellow citizens.
In 2004, I wrote some Leftists find Osama bin Laden and his terror network far less worrisome than a president with a Bible on his nightstand. In 2005, I predict we'll see more of what we've seen in the last two months on The Journal-Standard's letter page and on the national stage: More people expressing their belief that voters with a Bible on the nightstand are the foremost threat to American democracy. They will portray themselves as martyrs for liberty as they call for rampant paranoia, asking you to believe the goal of your neighbors is to make you worship and live as they choose.
Yet I would be guilty of an equal prejudice if I believed that all, or even most of the 48 percent of Americans who voted for Sen. Kerry think this way. That is why I have hope for the future of American discourse. There are those who stand with the Democrats who know paranoia is not patriotism. It is time for you to have your day. It is time for you to take back what has been hijacked. A segment of your movement is horrified that anyone who thinks "What would Jesus do" has ever gotten near the reins of power and, admittedly, a segment of our movement is smugly convinced they won this election for the president and deserve some sort of political kickback. It's time for all of us to ask "What would Truman do" and rein them in. It is time to put away fear, and work together (or at least have more civil debate) with sound minds.
So true about the greatest fears of some on the Left. Remember the "West Wing" episode where Bartlett was sworn in for his second term and no one could find a Bible in the White House? I couldn't believe that the producers and writers of the show were so honest.
Our President will never have the same problem.
If you want paranoia; you will get Hillary.
I have tried to get that across to some Christians as well as the liberals.
Moral values? Honesty, courage, love of country, loyalty, perseverance all of these are moral values. George W. Bush has these moral values and this adds up not to a perfect man but one that you can trust to do the best he can to lead the country and lead it well.
With Kerry you got the impression of a little hollow man. One that would run for the hills the first time things got bumpy. You knew his moral values, they all boiled down to save his own skin. You had seen that face before. If you were very unlucky you at one point were married to it. Some times you have worked for it. If push ever came to shove it was going to let you down.
You bet. As I noted, he can look right on his nightstand!
You have hit on it: The only "moral value" Kerry lost on was his own belief that what's good for John F. Kerry is what's truly right and good.
Thank you all for your kind compliments.
That's a wonderful article ... great job, Mr. Silverback.
I've been forming an opinion, mostly since 9/11, that much of the opposition within this country is rooted in cowardice. Euphamisms such as fear, concern, and peaceful, are all clues to the real timber of many who oppose this righteous war. Cowards.
bttt
Oops...forgot to ping you to this.
Very well done.
Regards, Ivan
Thank you.
can't do more then agree.
republicans are misunderstood to a high degree - thats true for the country I live in.
Greatings from Germany
Thank you for your comments, and greetings back form the Land of Lincoln.
Paranoia is not patriotismAhem, there is also a segment of the uber-right, the Alex Jones uber-patriot type who fits into a category here somewhere too ...Has your dog been acting funny lately? They say dogs can smell fear. Perhaps your pooch is detecting the panic wafting from your morning newspaper.
In its unhinged post-election state, the American Left has delved to new depths of fear.
I appreciate your comment, but this column was written primarily for a local audience in Northwest Illinois, and I haven't met a member of the "uber-Right" (unless I'm misunderstanding your definition of uber-Right) since I've lived here, but I've met plenty of vocal and extremely paranoiac Leftists who love to spread anti-Christian hate speech. And some of the people I'm referring to in this column sit on the boards of churches, community organizations and the county committees of the Democratic party; they are people who affect what life will be like in my area, and they believe the President is evil and bent on theocratic world conquest, and that most of us who voted for him are similarly evil.
and I haven't met a member of the "uber-Right"This group *also* "believe[s] the President is evil and bent on
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