The Ordeal of Post-Obama Change

American Thinker ^ | Tue, July 22, 2014 | Christopher Chantrill

[upchuck]

Want to get a new angle on Obama's Hope and Change mantra? Longshoreman philosopher Eric Hoffer wrote the book about it before Obama was even born: The Ordeal of Change.

[E]very radical adjustment is a crisis in self-esteem... It needs inordinate self-confidence to face drastic change without inner trembling.

“Action,” wrote Hoffer, “is the most obvious way by which to gain confidence and prove our worth... [but] there must be an abundance of opportunities, and there must be a tradition of self-reliance” for a program of action to work. And back in the 19th century when the first great wave of immigration hit the U.S., there was.

But Obama offered the U.S. change without ordeal, gain without pain: don't worry, be hopey, he told us. It worked for a while, until people woke up and discovered that the reality of Obamaworld was no hope and no change.

Obama's change could never work anyway, because he forgot to provide Hopper's secret ingredient for successful change: “abundance of opportunities...  and self-reliance.” Obama doesn't believe in opportunity and self-reliance: you didn't build that.

What happens to a time of drastic change without abundant opportunities?  It's not good. People grab for substitutes, like the Germans did in the 1930s.

When a population undergoing drastic change is without abundant opportunities for individual action and self-advancement, it develops a hunger for faith, pride, and unity... it creates a proclivity for fanatical attitudes, united action, and spectacular manifestations of flouting and defiance; it creates an atmosphere of revolution.

Hello liberals in 2014! All the noise, the faith in climate change, the pride in “marriage equality” and the unity over the “war on women:” These are cheap substitutes that your leaders are cynically feeding you.

But we are conservatives; we accept no substitutes for abundant opportunity.

[upchuck]

Assuming Conservatives can take the Senate this November and assuming we can elect a Conservative as president in 2016, I think Mr. Chantrill ideas have a chance. But we will have to work very, very hard to achieve this. We must minimize the GOP^e as much as possible. It can be done if the grassroots are willing to work overtime in overdrive.

I look forward to making these goals and enjoying being completely exhausted.

Go read the rest of the article. It really is quite good.

[Secret Agent Man]

all i know is every president after reagan, this coutry just gets worse and worse. i’d like to see the trend reverse for awhile.

[Fungi]

Great article. Sorry to say it, but your handle is just not there to put it lightly.

[upchuck]

all i know is every president after reagan, this coutry just gets worse and worse

I firmly believe that is because we haven't had a true Conservative in the White House since then. The Bushes were better than Democrats. But they were too moderate.

We need someone who will devote their time and energy to achive the goals mentioned in the exceperted part of the article.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Republicans might take the Senate and the White House, but conservatives? Highly unlikely.

[upchuck]

Unfortunately, most Republicans I know don’t have the drive and desire to get it done. They are way, way too interested in maintaining and growing their power base and padding their pockets.

That’s why it will take true Conservatives to reverse the trend.

I’ve never claimed it will be easy. In fact, it will be incredibly difficult.