Posted on 11/17/2009 6:06:43 AM PST by Kaslin
There may be a major silver lining for conservatives and for America's future thanks to the foreign and domestic policies of President Obama and the Democrat-controlled House and Senate: For the first time in their lives, millions of Americans are coming to understand the left.
It is difficult to overstate how important this is. For decades, the left has largely controlled the news media, the arts, the universities and the entertainment media. And vast numbers of Americans have imbibed these leftist messages and the leftist critiques of conservatives. What these Americans have never been able to do is to see what the left would actually do if in power.
Of course, all one had to do was look at California and see how a left-wing legislature brought the country's largest state economy to near insolvency and bankruptcy, chased away many of its most productive citizens, and wasted tens of billions of dollars thanks in large measure to union domination of the state's politics.
But most Americans do not observe other states. Most Americans are preoccupied with their lives and, unfortunately, with what is on television.
Now, this has all changed. Americans are watching California enacted on the national stage.
And it is scaring all but the ideologically committed left -- a rather small, if profoundly influential and powerful, minority. This is why last week, Gallup reported an extraordinarily dramatic and quick shift of independent voters' electoral preferences. In the Gallup Poll's words: "Over the course of the year, independents' preference for the Republican candidate in their districts has grown, from a 1-point advantage in July to the current 22-point gap."
In half a year, there has been a 23 percent shift from Democrats to Republicans among independent voters. And nothing particularly bad had occurred -- no further economic meltdown, no terrorist attack from abroad (the Poll preceded the Fort Hood attack).
Now Americans see the left's policies for what they are:
1. The left wants America to abandon its defining commitment to individualism and replace it with a European-style nanny, or welfare, state. At most Americans' core is an abiding belief that we are supposed to take care of ourselves, our families and our neighbors, and not rely on the state to do so.
2. The left is naive about evil. Most Americans deemed Communism evil; the left ridiculed President Ronald Reagan for calling the Soviet Union an "evil empire" and often undermined the fight against the Communist world. So, too, the left is naive about Islamic terror and undermines the fight against it.
The smoking gun was the nearly universal denial by the left that his Islamic beliefs had anything to do with Maj. Nidal Hasan's mass murder of fellow servicemen at Fort Hood. One of many examples was this reaction to the shootings by Evan Thomas, Editor at Large at Newsweek: "I think he's probably just a nut case. But with that label (Muslim) attached to him, it will get the right wing going..."
3. The left is more interested in redistributing wealth than in creating it. This should have been as obvious to Americans as the brightness of the sun. Finally, Americans are coming to realize that the left's goal is now, as it always has been, equality, not prosperity.
4. The left is far more interested in power than the right is. This, too, should have been self-evident, but finally, people are realizing that those who are preoccupied with creating an ever-expanding state are obviously far more interested in amassing power than those who want a smaller state.
5. The left is preoccupied with America being loved, and in pursuit of that end, compromises some of America's core values. Examples abound here, too. To cite a few: the Obama administration's neglect of those in Iran risking their lives for freedom in that tyranny; the administration's refusal to meet with the Dalai Lama when the Tibetan leader visited Washington, lest the president annoy China's dictators; the American government siding with Hugo Chavez against the Honduran government, which had legally removed a Chavez clone from the Honduran presidency; and the president's obsequious apologies for America wherever he goes.
A motto of my radio show and of my life is "Clarity is our friend." It is certainly so here. Clarity about the left will be a blessing to America.
the 1970’s....been there, done that.
Why do we have to keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again?
Great article.....now if MORE of the American people will take the blinders off and realize what deep doo-doo we as a country are in, then there IS hope.
Because each new generation has to live under socialism for a while to rediscover how awful it is?
I hardly see it as a “silver lining”. Undoing what these socialist nutjobs are doing will take years, if not decades, and the general populace has the attention span of the average mentally challenged titmouse. Combine that with a liberal-infested, America-hating MSM, and you have little chance of righting the multitude of wrongs that are only NOW being recognized and acknowledged. Following 9/11 we were “unified as a country”... how long did that last? Two weeks?
****Most Americans are preoccupied with their lives and, unfortunately, with what is on television***
Indeed. Ignorance is bliss. Knowledge is NOT power until awareness kicks in.
Our survival instincts are about to get a royal kick in the arse. We can find our survival skills....first, pray that we remember where we put them.
Ask yourself what percentage of today's voters were of voting age in 1980 and you will have your answer.
Each generation must learn history's lessons anew.
Ronald Reagan said it very well:
“Freedom is never more than one
generation away from extinction. We
didn’t pass it to our children in the
bloodstream. It must be fought for,
protected, and handed on for them to
do the same, or one day we will spend
our sunset years telling our children
and our children’s children what it was
once like in the United States where
men were free.”
BUMP for clarity.
Excellent question, but there are always some who will never learn.
How true, How true.
It doesn't happen. Social Security is still with us. So is MediCare. Iran is still a disaster, as are Zimbabwe and South Africa. We gained a respite in Nicaragua, but look at Venezuela, Brazil, Mexico, and Peru. China and Russia still threaten a peaceable world. The EPA and the Department of Education continue to rampage against private property in the name of enriching wealthy stockholders. Gun rights, despite the spread of RKBA, are more tenuous than ever.
Yeah, just look at Detroit, Cleveland, Baltimore, etc, etc
When the left came to full power and destroyed all industry there, the good citizens of those cities rose up and threw out all the LIberals and now all have Conservative governments.
Oh wait
CS101 says: "I hardly see it as a 'silver lining'."
In the context of Dennis' piece? It certainly can be interpreted as a 'silver lining' insofar as the very dark storm cloud enveloping the USA, today.
"Undoing what these socialist nutjobs are doing will take years, if not decades..."
Precisely why it's so critically important we have solid bonifide Conservatives representing us as opposed to the "Sears" versions, who once elected go immediately into the business as usual mode. My main beef with Bush II was while he did have a national emergency to deal with, he neglected advancing the Conservative cause. To me advancing a CC translates to reversing decades of Liberal-Socialist bullcocka. He didn't. ;^)
"...and the general populace has the attention span of the average mentally challenged titmouse."
A mentally challenged titmouse??
BBWWWHHHHHAAAAA!!
Probably a *tad* less, truth be known. LOL
"Combine that with a liberal-infested, America-hating MSM, and you have little chance of righting the multitude of wrongs that are only NOW being recognized and acknowledged."
You really need to follow the forum's #1 watchdog of all quisling media & their mediots. Namely forum citizen "abb"s Dinosaur Media DeathWatch threads.
You'd understand the Lamestream media are as we correspond in the process of being detoothed, and this coming from the most unlikely sources/forces, too. ;^)
Your comment is very valid, no doubt; but, it's changing and that's the salient point.
"Following 9/11 we were 'unified as a country'... how long did that last? Two weeks?"
Ever research the public mood before Pearl Harbor and after? Many similarities. Meaning, some things never change; moreover, reinforces the import of having a strong, solid leader making the critical decisions. Unlike the buffoon we have now?
Bottom line: People needed to be awakened, and awakened they are.
Watch. 2010. LOL
No, this is not the left, it is the Democrat Party.
There are too many people willing to forgive the “moderates” or “Blue Dogs” in the party as not liberal.,
Hogwash.
These people vote an insane lib like Pelosi into power and vote on radical agendas like Global Warming and Healthcare.
If you support the leadership, you are complicit.
Because those ignore history are doomed to repeat it. Look at the majority of voters these days: what do they know about history or the 70’s?
Dont’ misunderstand... I agree with Prager, but reversing the liberal idiocy of the last few years will take time, and I’m just saying that the general public (aided by the lamestream media) will be clamoring for “changes” and improvements in minutes or days, versus years and decades.
The majority of the populace either didn’t care or wasn’t concerned about the 50 years of liberal incrementalism, but once it begins to adversely effect them, they will want it eliminated “tomorrow”. The ability to blame Pres__ent Zero for the obvious damage he has brough upon the country, will soon result in a call for yet another “change”... enter the libtard, “smarter and better” crowd once again, and the cycle repeats itself in perpetuity.
The choir already clearly believes. How about ginning up some controversy and talking about Article II eligibility, Dennis?
There's an issue that could use a little clarity! As far as the majority of voters coming to their senses ... we now all know that the Republicans will stage a comeback of some sort in 2010. Let's talk about which Republicans.
Now THAT’s an opening paragraph.
All you wanna-be bloggers out there, look at Prager’s writing. Stop beating around the bush, and get to your point. Then support your point, show the consequences, and recommend changes.
But start with the THESIS so we don’t all get bored looking for what you mean, and quit reading before we get to it.
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