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Wishing I was wrong about the "Occupiers"
Townhall.com ^ | October 12, 2011 | Marybeth Hicks

Posted on 10/12/2011 6:47:58 AM PDT by Kaslin

I hate to say it, but watching the various YouTube videos of the Occupy Wall Street protests and reading accounts of protesters' goals and "demands," prompts me to shake my head with a resigned, "I told you so."

I've been warning this was coming.

Recently, Regnery Publishing released my new book, "Don't Let the Kids Drink the Kool-Aid." In it, I claim that, thanks to the left's unchecked influence on our young people through our education system, entertainment media and pop culture, our children are being molded into the first generation of American socialists.

Now, almost with the timing of a well-written script, the "Occupiers" have emerged, chanting anti-capitalist slogans and demanding "democracy" in exactly the manner I forecast.

Interviews with young protesters illustrate what my research revealed: They are patently uneducated about our system of government and generally ignorant of political theory and economics. Instead of American civics, they've been fed a steady diet of liberal Kool-Aid that has resulted in a well-formed leftist belief system.

As former speaker of the House and current Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich summarized, "I regard the Wall Street protest as a natural outcome of a bad education system, teaching them really dumb ideas."

But it's more than that. The left appears to have successfully altered the very character of our youngest generation, such that it's unlikely we can sustain our republic for want of a citizenry that understands and values it.

In short, we won't have an America like the one established for us without Americans who exhibit the same character and virtues exemplified by our founders.

Unlike our founders, the Occupiers aren't demonstrating for their rights as individuals to engage in their personal pursuits of happiness, or for religious freedom or for the liberty to make the most good of their talents and treasure.

Instead, they're demanding the opposite: equality of outcomes irrespective of effort, "economic justice" and the "security" of a bigger, more powerful government fueled by a misguided belief in the inherent virtue of democracy (with a small "d").

Worse, because of their ignorance of history, they ironically have been convinced that collectivism is the moral response to corporate and political corruption, as if there won't be ambition or avarice, apathy or abuse when "the people" are the ones with unbridled power.

Now, after nearly a month of pointless protests, the Occupy Wall Street movement predictably is attracting the unfortunate and the unmotivated: homeless folks looking for free food and young people looking for a rager and an excuse to have exhibitionist sex in a public park (in the spirit of responsibility, organizers are giving out condoms at supply tents); not to mention unionists and political opportunists from every radical leftist interest group with poster board and a marker.

Who's surprised? A directionless mob that can't articulate a concrete purpose virtually screams, "Lead me!" As the saying goes, since they don't know what they stand for, they'll fall for anything.

Perhaps there is some earnest yearning fanning the flames of outrage among the Occupiers. It's possible this generation is so in need of a moral compass that it's simply searching for true north.

Sadly, having been left for so long to the devices of liberals, this generation of would-be revolutionaries mistakes emotion and placards for ideas and ideology.

Caught up in their civic circus, they're fighting to give up the only thing that really matters: their legacy of American liberty.

Surely convincing a generation of young Americans that their very freedom is worth the guarantee of a predetermined "living" wage, forgiveness of a student loan and a lifetime of inferior health insurance must be at least as immoral as buying votes in Congress.

Isn't it?


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
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1 posted on 10/12/2011 6:48:00 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

...thanks to the left’s unchecked influence on our young people through our education system, entertainment media and pop culture, our children are being molded into the first generation of American socialists.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

yes.

i always wondered why our schools and churches abdicated to the irs and the federal government so easily in the early 20th c.


2 posted on 10/12/2011 6:53:29 AM PDT by ken21
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To: Kaslin

Did you see the vdeo in Atlanta where the “protesters” repeated back to the speaker each instruction as a chorus? It was completely bizarre and indicated no one could think for themselves.


3 posted on 10/12/2011 6:56:21 AM PDT by yldstrk (My heroes have always been cowboys)
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To: Kaslin

in other words....as soon as enough of us move on to that great Tea Party in the sky, this country is DOOOOOOOMED!


4 posted on 10/12/2011 6:56:51 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: yldstrk
Did you see the vdeo in Atlanta where the “protesters” repeated back to the speaker each instruction as a chorus? It was completely bizarre and indicated no one could think for themselves.

That's part of a deliberate tactic. Ordinances in NY and other cities prohibit them from using loudspeakers or bullhorns. So having a large crowd chant each line the speaker is saying gets around that. They call it their "peoples' bullhorn".
5 posted on 10/12/2011 6:58:53 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: ken21

I think this was the plan of our UNION MONOPOLY of education, all along. Responsibility for teachers’ professionalism and accountability in the process was removed altogether. ‘Responsibility’ has become a dirty word....when it was traditionally THE indicator of maturity!!

As I said earlier:

These kids are having the time of their lives criticizing the establishment and especially Capitalism. It’s what young people do.

It’s laughably easy AND fun to criticize when you are responsible for NOTHING.

Adults (and Conservatives) know better...so SHOULD the MSM!!!


6 posted on 10/12/2011 6:59:19 AM PDT by SMARTY ("Socialism means slavery." Lord Acton)
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To: Kaslin

I’m stealing this from another FReeper.......

Republican Tax Plan-——9-9-9
Democrat Tax Plan———Mine-Mine-Mine


7 posted on 10/12/2011 7:01:21 AM PDT by Erik Latranyi (Cain for President - Because I like the content of his character)
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To: Buckeye McFrog

Oh


8 posted on 10/12/2011 7:01:31 AM PDT by yldstrk (My heroes have always been cowboys)
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To: Kaslin

Margarat Thatcher once said that the problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money (OPM). These kids would have been dangerous if they had not been so late to the party. The reason we (and the world) are in the shape we are in is because we HAVE run out of OPM. We are seeing a collapse of the socialist policies.

And these kids are woefully ignorant. And many of them have made the leap from ignorance, to willful ignorance to stupidity. It will not go well for them.


9 posted on 10/12/2011 7:02:23 AM PDT by cuban leaf (Were doomed! Details at eleven.)
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To: yldstrk

“Mic check”

“MIKE CHECK!”


10 posted on 10/12/2011 7:02:54 AM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter knows whom he's working for)
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To: Kaslin

We are going through a period where every political pundit, op-ed writer, and radio talker thinks it’s some sort of great revelation to notice the inroads the socialists have made on our society in the last four decades. You’re late to the party Marybeth. Just grab a brew and mingle.


11 posted on 10/12/2011 7:03:18 AM PDT by SpaceBar
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To: Buckeye McFrog

Yes,America is doomed and along with it, all of humanity.


12 posted on 10/12/2011 7:03:53 AM PDT by BenLurkin (This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both)
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To: Buckeye McFrog

—in other words....as soon as enough of us move on to that great Tea Party in the sky, this country is DOOOOOOOMED!—

Not to sound too fatalistic, but that is what eventually always happens. I think we are seeing the collapse before our very eyes though. Most baby boomers will live to see it. I suspect I will. I’m only 58.


13 posted on 10/12/2011 7:04:01 AM PDT by cuban leaf (Were doomed! Details at eleven.)
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To: cuban leaf

Civil War II is coming.


14 posted on 10/12/2011 7:04:30 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Kaslin

I’m stealing this from another FReeper.......

Republican Tax Plan-——9-9-9
Democrat Tax Plan———Mine-Mine-Mine


15 posted on 10/12/2011 7:04:38 AM PDT by Erik Latranyi (Cain for President - Because I like the content of his character)
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To: yldstrk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cxnp2_KV-48

Cracks me up.

16 posted on 10/12/2011 7:05:47 AM PDT by skeeter
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To: MrB

I still think it’s stupid


17 posted on 10/12/2011 7:06:29 AM PDT by yldstrk (My heroes have always been cowboys)
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To: dfwgator
Civil War II is coming.

And it will make the first one look like a garden party.

18 posted on 10/12/2011 7:06:38 AM PDT by kosciusko51
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To: Kaslin

I’m sorry to say it, but, maybe it’s time to split the country up. Let the libtards have their socialist utopian sh!@hole and leave the rest of us alone to pursue happiness.


19 posted on 10/12/2011 7:08:24 AM PDT by hdbc (1/20/13 End of an Error.)
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To: Erik Latranyi

That is how it looks, especially the rat’s plan


20 posted on 10/12/2011 7:15:37 AM PDT by Kaslin (Acronym for OBAMA: One Big Ass Mistake America)
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