We seem to be in an age where "feel-good-ism" rules the day.
Yes, we are in the advanced stages of transition to pure demogoguery, bread-and-circuses mob rule. It's been building for a long time. Increasing the percentage of the voter pool that pays no taxes (or even gets reverse-taxes, earned-income-credit handouts) to whatever the percentage is now (30%?? higher?) inevitably will lead to oligarchy and demagoguery. The Dhimmicrats have done nothing but demagogue for 30 years now--since Watergate. They have taken no initiative in any substantive policy matters over this time. Just look at the two or three big policy items coming out of Clinton's years (welfare reform, NAFTA)--they were Republican policy initiatives that he coopted when he saw he couldn't stop them. On other looming huge policy matters (Medicare reform, Social Security Reform etc.) the Dhimmis have actually blocked any policies that might solve problems because they'd rather have the problem to use for demagoguing purposes.
Obama is dangerous in this light. He is the ultimate demagogue, full of vacuuous platitudes, Oprah-come-home-to-roost.
It works negatively as well--intelligent, tough-love kinds of policy initiatives by grown ups who see what needs to be done and offer realistic but bite-the-bullet solutions (e.g., fighting Al Quaida overseas rather than here) cannot get their message across. Yes, the Bushies made some really horrendous mistakes in the aftermath of the 2003 Iraq invasion and yes, GWB may not try as hard as he should to get his message out. That's probably true. But we have to realize that when a culture shifts from responsible adults making critical, intelligent assessments of political choices to a culture of bread-and-circuses demagoguery, it becomes next to impossible to persuade with a message that requires tough, intelligent analysis to receive.
We started down this road more than 150 years ago by extending the franchise to non-property holders (the Jacksonian phase probably was sustainable, but universal male franchise in the later 1800s was probably foolish--they should have extended it to married women property owners before extending it to non property owners of either sex). Then the direct election of senators turned what was supposed to have been an adult, wise brake on mob-rule into a beauty contest that participates even more in the demagogic campaigning than do House elections today. And one could list a host of other changes to the original vision for the republic that have brought us to where we are.
But since none of these alterations are likely ever to be reversed, we are stuck on this road to mob-rule and demagoguery. At what point does one shift to the strategy of trying to find a benevolent Judaeo-Christian demagogue as the last hope to staunch the rising tide of death-dealing Leftist-Materialist-Technocrat demagogues and give up on the strategy of appealing to intelligent, analytical, critical voters?
Excellent summary of particular events. Don’t forget the Clintons’ waffling and pretend-machoism in their approach to the terrorists. They were all rhetoric and a media creation.
Any conservative must fight the same forces who created the Clinton mirage.