Man, I’m tired. I’m tired of so many things political. I argue, I fight, I try to convince, I raise my blood pressure, my face turns red, I splutter, I spit, I yell, I cajole, I look skyward, I roll my eyes, I curse, I bang my fist on the table, I shake my head, I grit my teeth, and, after all that for so many years, what have I accomplished?
Nothing.
I did gain one thing though….I gained a reputation as someone that is passionate in his beliefs and in his defense of the American Constitution and in support of conservative principles. But the “passionate” label also carried with it a wink and a nod that I am TOO passionate. I have been told that I am a relentless, over-the-top radical; a nutcase right-winger that bullies political adversaries into submission, without my opponent actually gaining any rational insight into alternate ideas or the logicality of my arguments.
Then along came Andrew Breitbart and Mark Levin. And I realized that I didn’t have to foam at the mouth and get in the faces of those I disagreed with politically. The way to win an argument or deliver my point is with calm reason, allowing the other guy to go on the defensive and support HIS/HER arguments (which liberals seldom do). And so I found out the key to defeating liberalism: Rationality and reason!
So now I am still tired. The last three years under Barack Obama has seemed like three decades. And I can argue no longer. Arguing is a losing battle, since the adversaries, far-left radicals (notice I am differentiating between hard left and traditional Democrats…if there are any left?), have now gained an invaluable ally, the American Main Stream Media that spends 24/7 backstopping the entire liberal agenda. Not just backstopping, but PROMOTING it.
The battle is no longer over my parents issues of liberal vs. conservative, Democrat vs. Republican. Tip O’Neil was able to work with Ronald Reagan because there was always the common ground of being Americans first. Now, most Republicans politicians have become liberal-lites, RINOs with the (R) next to their names as the only identifying mark that they are Republicans. Democrats, on the other hand are so unrecognizable, that I honestly believe their party has been hijacked by Socialists and Marxists. And what amazes me is how all the Democrats march in lockstep with the President and the far left leadership of the Senate, oblivious to the obvious agenda of this administration.
Never before have I seen a politician telegraph his punches as Obama has, and the public has just closed its eyes to that announced agenda, of course with the soft lullaby of the MSM lolling them into ignorant unconsciousness. He TOLD us that he intends to “fundamentally change” this country. Now I ask you, what does “fundamentally change” mean? A patch, a tweak, a slight adjustment? No, it means a complete makeover. “What’s so bad about that?” you may ask. This country needs a facelift, we’re getting away from the original intent of the founding fathers. Maybe we need some basic, fundamental change. We have been sending too many jobs overseas, our kids are killing each other over clothing, our culture is saturated with sex and violence, Hollywood and Madison avenue have taken everything they produce to the very vulgar edge of social acceptance. But these aren’t the constructive changes Obama meant. Oh yes, he pays hypocritical lip service to these obvious maladies of our culture, yet it is he and his cronies that are inspiring and fueling this destructive bent to our nation.
Because like any good student of Saul Alinsky, the Obama regime has correctly figured that the way to fool and control the masses is to first make them sheep…ignorant, stupid, apathetic, naive and trusting in the almighty government. And with the aid of the complicit and obliging mainstream media, he has succeeded. People in this country have lost the ability to think for themselves. It is now easier to just follow Dancing with the Stars or American Idol or the latest exploits of the diva of the month, the criminal athlete du jour, and just trust that the United States of America will just “always be”. As the Constitution is shredded incrementally and with growing audacity under this administration, the sheep stay blissfully satisfied with their lot in the world order. Most kids fresh out of high school are lucky if they have learned to recite the ABCs and write their names. History of the United States? Not important.
True story. I once asked a twenty year girl who the Speaker of the House was (it was Nancy Pelosi at the time) and her response, without hesitation or embarrassment, and stated with such pride in the surety and political correctness of her answer was, “it can be either the father OR the mother!”, thinking I had asked who the traditional head of a household is. When I apologized for not being clear enough in my question (didn’t matter we had been in the midst of a political discussion, so I hadn’t exactly gone out of context), I asked her who the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives was. Again, with no hesitation whatsoever, she quickly answered, “oh come on, how should I know that? I’m not political!” I said, “OK, here’s an easy one. Who is the Vice President of the United States?” Honestly, her answer was, “that evil old guy with the bad heart that shot his friend.” Again, that’s a true story.
Which brings me full circle as to why I resolved to start this blog called “The Original Intent”. The name refers to our nation’s founding fathers’ original intent as they wrote that incredible document called the Constitution. That amazing paper that is the foundation on which this great and special country was built, and from whose principles we are veering dangerously away.
My intention is to post more pieces on the fallacies and misinterpretations people make about the constitution, the rights they claim and erroneously attribute to that document, the inconsistencies and “a la carte” choices with which people uphold and defend the Bill of Rights.
Some friends have told me that the conservative movement needs all the rational voices it can get in the battle to keep this country strong and exceptional, a beacon to the world. So I am enlisting in this fight. The other day, at my work, we had a casual “team building” get together with coffee, cakes and talk. There were about twelve employees and management in attendance, and one of them asked me about a good movie to watch on the weekend (I am also a rapid movie buff). I thought for a moment, but before I could answer, he said, “how about that movie about that woman you like so much?”
Well, needless to say, that was a pretty open ended question as there are quite a few women that I like “so much”. Then he clarified with, “you know, that woman from Alaska”.
Ah, I said to myself, that’s where we’re going with this. “Sarah Palin?” I asked.
“Yeah, that one!”
Well, and I am not exaggerating here, every head in that room jerked in my direction, and in a unified, incredulous tone, said “Ewww, you like HER??” Kind of like a second grader shocked to find that his friend actually likes spinach.
And the funniest thing was that most of the people in that room were either not eligible to vote or just had never bothered to vote. And when I said proudly that I did indeed like Sarah Palin and that she has many good ideas and beliefs, you would have thought that I had said that Hitler wasn’t really a bad guy. And I bet not one person in that room could have told me WHY they disliked her, they just knew that the media had drummed into their heads misconceptions that I had neither the time, nor the patience to dispel.
Yet that incident steeled me to begin this blog, to join the battle, to RATIONALLY rebut the wrong headed policies that I fear are railroading my country into the abyss. The direction we are headed has been tried before in many times and places. We fought against these ideas with our nation’s best, some of them even earning the title, The Greatest Generation. We, in our short history, have always been the model, the mentor nation, the shining city on a hill. Even with our blemishes, we have stood head and shoulders over all other nations, past and present. And if we don’t alter the course we are following, we will indeed end up asleep as we drive off a very high cliff.
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“Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
—George Santayana