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
Bah. Ron Paul is a Libertarian, not a moral conservative.
You are exactly right, B4Ranch. I don't think of us as fools but we may be. Like you I couldn't just hide in the back woods to save my own skin while the Great Experiment was bulldozed into oblivion. Like joanie-f I rejoice in finding like-minded patriots and I'm excited by the idea that Sarah Palin may have real substance in that area. Even more so I like that she has re-infused enthusiasm in conservatives. Like Eternal Vigilance I am not happy with half-stepping consolations to the conservative view and I remain wary and unconvinced that the Republican Party will do any more than pander to it. Like hosepipe and Quix I have to keep checking myself to see if I'm succumbing to a personal desire and swallowing some tasty looking bait. Like Noumenon I see the march of history repeating itself in years of actions and inactions that set up certain inevitable consequences.
I think all of us see and feel all of those things and process and express them as our individual personalities and experiences lead us to. Are we fools railing against the prevailing wind who ought to hunker down and let it pass? I don't think so. The wind in that analogy is created by men so we are not helpless creatures merely subject to its coming and going. If other men created this ill left wind then we are equally endowed to create and direct political winds of our own. We can weigh the odds of success and let that determine whether to participate or not. Had our founding fathers done that there never would have been an America. Either the cause is worthy of risk and effort or it isn't. That is a decision of conscience. Beyond that; how to accomplish our aims will always draw many opinions until a clear path rises above the many. But if we all withdraw from the fight, whether from fear, disgust or impenetrable confusion, there will be no one offering an idea of what to do. No lieutenants left to raise the banner and lead the charge against the black tide of tyranny that IS advancing on us. Even those tucked "safely" in their off-grid hideaways.
Big talk but that's the only thing I can think of in response to the views expressed here. Views that were all well expressed and heartfelt IMO.
I agree. McCain/Palin should take the high road and not roll in the mud with Obama. (Sorry to continue the pig theme.)
The eye of the tiger is always watching.. and taking names..
I know they’ve got my name but do they have my number? ;^)
One would think, indeed!
And indeed, your list of impending crises couldn't be more complete.
But the fact is the news media no longer considers that it is in the business of fairly informing the public WRT the news and critical issues of our day. The fact is, these "elite intellectuals" believe that the rest of us are deluded rubes who can't understand anything anyway; so you might as well do "bread and circuses" instead — and elect a "bread and circuses" kind of guy to the presidency of the United States. Which seems to be MSM's main focus these days.
In short, your list of impending crises will never be touched by the MSM. And the reason why is: Barack Obama doesn't see these as crises. (He has "other fish to fry.") Which just goes to show how a radical Left progressive lives in a completely different world than the rest of us.
And the MSM seems almost universally to be giving him cover for his absolute flight from reality. One gathers the MSM just approve of his ideology — which makes them just as crazy and deluded as he is.
Ideologues don't ever deal with the "real." They're trying to "change the world," you see.... To a "better" world — they promise us. (But who's actually to pay for this magical trip to Fantasyland??? And after the wreck of our Republic that a successful Obama candidacy would bring about, what of "normal" American life would be left standing?)
And honestly, I think the reason why the MSM gives Obama cover is, if Obama were really, frankly to tell us what his plans are for the United States (putatively achievable with a complaisant, Democrat-controlled Congress), NOBODY would vote for him! Hence, the distractions of the "bread and circuses," this total charade of what he calls a presidential campaign.
Actually joanie, I rather liked that McCain ad re: lipstick on a pig. To me it reveals Obama's basic character, plus the sort of tactics he is using. Not that the "bread-and-circuses types" out there would see it that way.
Obama's entire appeal to citizens boils down to "what's in it for me?" Which to me suggests his appeal is limited: Not every voter out there votes for personal benefits; many still see that there is such a thing as the national interest. And many such folks clearly recognize that, at this point in time, what is desperately needed is to put the federal checkbook under lock and seal.
Meanwhile, Obama is proposing new spending in the trillions of dollars.... Some of us realize that this is tantamount to a complete government takeover of our national life (political, economic, and cultural) that can only go forward by trashing our constitutional order, and thus our God-given liberties. Which would thenceforth be whatever Obama says they are — no more, no less.
I have noticed that some of the noises that Obama has uttered lately have to do with co-opting certain profound cultural understandings of the American people. For instance, there is a cultural and moral consensus in the mainstream of American life which states that the very definition of a human person is someone who has
"a sense of life beyond the physical and material, beyond mere personal existence. It is the sense of a common world that stretches before and beyond the self, of belonging to something greater than the self, that gives strength not only to community but to the individual as well." — Natan Sharanski, Defending Identity: Its Indispensable Role in Protecting Democracy, 2008.Obama is absolutely seizing on this theme; it all sounds so very, very good and desirable. But what the people don't know — yet — is that HE would be the one who gets to define this "belonging to something greater than self"; and he would define it in such a way that it would not be OPTIONAL: It would be a case of "get on board, or else." With federal power to back it up.
So much for personal liberty.
Indeed, his constant theme of "community service" is a harbinger of his future plans. Now as I understand it, what Obama's idea of "community service" really boils down to is: training individuals to be effective in making demands on taxpayers. This is hardly the same thing as what Sharansky is talking about....
Just a bunch of stray thoughts, joanie. Hopefully they are coherent.
Thank you ever so much for your beautiful, trenchant essay/post dear sister in Christ!
If that was anywhere close to true we would NOT have these two sorry assed candidates even running for office!
The "what's in it for me?" crowd has stepped to the forefront in every city hall meeting that I have listened to. Everybody wants there "fair share". I find this difficult to believe also because I don't think there should be a "fair share" for anyon who hasn't put forth some effort to bring it about.
Ask your friends and strangers if they are concerned with the end of freedom and sovereignty in America. You'll get the strangest looks you can imagine. What in the Sam Hell happened to you, Child? Have you lost your mind. Did you fall and hit your head. You can tell me, what's wrong? Is your husband beating you?
No, Betty, I have asked the question too many times to be surprised at the total disinterest by everyday Americans.
Everybody wants their (sp) “fair share”.
And so????
To me all that means is: Those of us who DO understand this problem have to stop bitching about it, DO something about it, and STAND UP AND BE COUNTED.
STAND UP AND BE COUNTED as one of the very few who actually care about such things. Most people don’t.
Yeah. But WE do!!!
So long as that spirit is in the world, then we are not defeated.
“The function of the press in society is to inform, but its role in society is to make money.”
- - A.J. Liebling
If Liebling has it right, the "Press" is a failure in both its function and its role. I think Liebling has it right.
Well put as usual.
However, I see Obumma as 100% globalist stooge with a fiercely Marxist flavor. He is their sold-out-to-the-tip-of-his-pointed-head puppet.
He even sounds like he believes the clap trap.
However, he’s also so hollow that maybe he doesn’t believe in anything but power-mongering and his own press releases.
He’s definitely exceedingly evil and exceedingly bad news for the U.S.A. and the world.
I have an Alaskan friend, who knows Gov Palin. He reports that she is the genuine article, but with just a bit of populist running through her otherwise conservative beliefs. That, with her rugged personality, explains her appeal (being drop-dead gorgeous doesn't hurt either).
But her appeal is limited to us ordinary schlubs. She has already told the Drivebys to stick it ("I'm not coming to Washington to please you"), and she can hardly be any more appealing to the rest of the Georgetown cocktail circuit, than a snake in their bed. That applies as much to most Republican politicos as to anyone else. Her attitude and her approach to governing is a deadly threat to them all.
Republicans will be pleased to use Gov Palin to aid them in their quest for electoral success. Once their offices are secured, Gov Palin will become a liability. They (DC) will eviscerate her and send her packing back to Alaska as soon as safety permits. You heard it first here.
I disagree with Leibling: He's got it back asswards. The role of the press in society is to inform, PERIOD; it has no other function.
Money has nothing to do with an honest press. Other than the fact that money is necessary to pay the day-to-day bills of an on-going news organization, it shouldn't matter at all.
Money is first of all a standard of quantification useful to any "system of account." What a lot of people seem to forget is that any system of account always entails the evaluation of some aspect of human activity which is not directly reducible to "quantification."
But I guess that must stand as a digression. We weren't exactly speaking of a "theory of money" here.
But all the same, God help us — were "money" to become the "gold standard" of human living....
"...I think that states should be able to decide that issue." - Sarah Palin
It's worse than I thought.
World News with Charles Gibson
September 12, 2008
CHARLES GIBSON: In the time I have left, I want to talk about some social issues.
SARAH PALIN: OK.
GIBSON: Roe V Wade. You think it should be reversed?
PALIN: I think it should, and I think that states should be able to decide that issue.
I am pro-life. I do respect other people’s opinion on this also. And I think that a culture of life is best for America. What I want to do when elected Vice President with John McCain, I want to be able to reach out and work with those who are on the other side of this issue, because I know that we can all agree on the need for and the desire for fewer abortions in America, and greater support for adoption, for other alternatives that women can and should be empowered to embrace, to allow that culture of life.
That’s my personal opinion on this, Charlie.
GIBSON: John McCain would allow abortion in the cases of rape and incest. You believe in it only in the case where the life of the mother is in danger?
PALIN: That is my personal opinion.
GIBSON: Would you change, and accept it in rape and incest?
PALIN: My personal opinion is that abortion allowed if the life of the mother is endangered. Please understand me on this. I do understand McCain’s position on this. I do understand others who are very passionate about this issue who have a differing view.
GIBSON: Embryonic stem cell research. John McCain has been supportive of it.
PALIN: You know, when you are running for office, your life is an open book, and you do owe it to Americans to talk about your personal opinion, which may end up being different than what the policy in an administration would be. My personal opinion is we should not create human life, create an embryo, and then destroy it for research if there are other options out there. And thankfully, again, not only are there other options, but we are getting closer and closer to finding a tremendous amount more of options, like, as I mentioned, the adult skin cell research.
GIBSON: Homosexuality: genetic or learned?
PALIN: Oh, I don’t know, but I am not one to judge. And, you know, I am from a family and from a community with many, many members of many diverse backgrounds—and, you know, I’m not gonna judge someone on whether they believe that homosexuality is a choice or genetic. I’m not going to judge them.
That is a troubling answer. Since she is under duress, though, and has had so much thrown at her over just the last few days, and with a son heading off to war on the day of and before the interview...
I do hope she corrects those statements.
Still, it would not be just to write her off as not being prolife. She is living a prolife life, and has made prolife choices when the easier road was well, in our culture, easy for many.
Many people have been brainwashed into that states’ rights lie.
Sorry. Not killing your own child is not a pro-life credential.
Well said.
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