Posted on 10/30/2009 1:42:42 AM PDT by Nobel_1
The new economic statistics put growth at a healthy 3.5% for the third quarter. We should be dancing in the streets. No one is, because no one has any faith in these numbers. ... No one thinks we're entering a new age of abundance. No one thinks it will ever be the same as before 2008.
* * *
The biggest threat to America right now is not government spending, huge deficits, foreign ownership of our debt, world terrorism, two wars, potential epidemics or nuts with nukes. The biggest long-term threat is that people are becoming and have become disheartened, that this condition is reaching critical mass, and that it afflicts most broadly and deeply those members of the American leadership class who are not in Washington, most especially those in business.
* * *
I think I know part of the answer. It is that they've never seen things go dark. They came of age during the great abundance, circa 1980-2008 (or 1950-2008, take your pick), and they don't have the habit of worry.
* * *
They don't feel anxious, because they never had anything to be anxious about. They grew up in an America surrounded by phrases—"strongest nation in the world," "indispensable nation," "unipolar power," "highest standard of living"—and are not bright enough, or serious enough, to imagine that they can damage that, hurt it, even fatally.
We are governed at all levels by America's luckiest children, sons and daughters of the abundance, and they call themselves optimists but they're not optimists—they're unimaginative. They don't have faith, they've just never been foreclosed on. They are stupid and they are callous, and they don't mind it when people become disheartened. They don't even notice.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Best thing Noonan has written in ages.
Yes, well said. But I can’t help but look back at the role of the Washipundits like Peggy and George Will who decided during the primary season and in the run-up to the election that it was the hayseed grassroots that were the problem in the Republican party and if only they could get rid of those damned Evangelicals and the right-wing nuts like Sarah Palin then everything would be alright. They split the party elites from their base, we lost the election, and we are all suffering the consequences. Peggy and her beltway pals need to own up to their role in the coming misery.
Noonan can write an article without blaming Palin?
LOL. I had the same thought. She is bemoaning the fact that leadership doesn’t have people like Sarah Palin and she doesn’t even realize it. No rubes from Alaska for her, thank you very much.
bookmark
True. There is plenty of blame to go around.
You’ve got to love the Reagan speech re-runs by the Heritage Foundation. I heard one yesterday, and his words were soooo applicable to the moment!
We need more Reagan Repubs ... Palin is onboard.
I may not be a Professional Erudite Wordsmith, Peggy, but by my count those are four threats.
Good article. I’ve had a somewhat similar conversation with some of the older members of my family.
I don’t care what Noonan has to say. The grass root conservative movement is real and substantial. We have been diligent and committed to the conservative cause and Noonan
the pious
dismissed us as being obnoxious rubes.
Noonan has been swept off the stage. WSJ should dump
her column.
She nailed this, but doesn't go quite far enough. The grandchildren of the wealthy of whom she speaks are not simply complacent, they are absolute idiots.
Without family connections or affirmative action, most of today's political and business "leaders" would be unemployable. They have nearly destroyed the country as the intelligent and competent people out in the cheap seats look on in horror.
What are we supposed to do? They have millions of dollars to buy their seats at the table, supported by millions in additional PAC money from their equally worthless compatriots.
Meanwhile, we business owners work 100 hours per week or more, and the better we are...the more they take!
They are dragging us all backwards into the abyss. I know that the popular notion on this forum is that it is some grand conspiracy...and some of the players are no doubt of that mind....but most of them are just flat-out morons.
and does she take responsibility? nooooooo.....the very people who recognized how this country could be destroyed were the ones they made fun of, mocked. They continue to look down on us from their perches of superiority, and now wring their hands, oh woe is us, not admitting their guilt.
They should all eat dirt.
Peggy writes well, but she is misreading this. The liberal Obama supporters are not disheartened; they are still euphoric over their messiah's marvelous potential. They still drool over the joy of the Nobel Peace Prize that he deserves on potential alone. They still grin as they think of the historical inevitability of Obama's coming socialist victory over the obsolete Constitution. Disheartened? Nope. They have never felt closer to victory over American values.
As for real Americans, the conservatives who despise Obama and his socialist policies, we are no more disheartened than the enemies of our values and of our children. We are disgusted with Obama and with our government, but we as a group are still optimistic. We expect the younger, more energetic conservatives including Palin, Hoffman, Thompson, Army, and Bachmann to save our freedom (with our help) from the destructive efforts of a government that is no longer of the people, by the people, and for the people. We still see America as great, and we see our country's best days ahead of us, not in the past.
Peggy is making a fundamental mistake. America's strength is not in Washington DC but in the people, and Peggy is mistaking the prevalent attitude toward the liar in our White House for an overall perspective on our country. America will survive Obama, the biggest threat to freedom in our history. Freedom will survive. Only America's enemies have reason to feel disheartened, and they are too clueless to realize the emptiness of their philosophy so early in Obama's reign.
The piece is very good. Ms Noonan only missed two points. First, the people at the top of our executive branch, those people who will only respond even to the congress when and as they choose, know that their actions won’t “succeed” as any normal person would define success. For them, success will mean the dollar destroyed, inalienable constitutional liberties regrettably “suspended” (forever) because of (permanent or sequential) emergencies, and all power “necessarily” migrating into the White House.
The WH gang didn’t care what Nanzi and Hairy put into the Stimulus Bill, only that it was big enough to need capitals. Their only concern about funding for the last part of this fiscal year was that it be plentiful (i.e. $400B). They are trying to buy votes at home and “love” abroad with obscene giveaways, knowing full well that “redistributing wealth” to people who haven’t earned it achieves only the destruction of wealth. Perfect!
And the other, perhaps lesser, point Ms Noonan missed: that some of us are not disheartened, but are instead angry enough to kill until we die, or all the traitors in our nation die — along with everyone who looks, sounds, or smells like a traitor. The only thing worse than a blood bath would be an Obama success. Please note tagline.
Peggy helped with bring us Obama with her writing before the election. Thanks for nothing Peggy.
Forget it Peggy you two timing whore. Go back to your stud yobama and stop pretending to be “concerned” about America ... you might not get invited to the next party at the White House.
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