I was thinking about this after yet another 7th inning stretch "God Bless America" rendition. Time after time lately I get these flashbacks to the Soviet times... be it after seeing yet another politician with a little american flag on his jacket, listening to a speech on patriotism at the time of war, or watching a rock concert at campaign events. Here are some main features of today's political climate in America -- though I'm quite sure that it's not that much worse than it has been for decades. -Propoganda instead of dialogue -- Dishonest talking points, misleading 30-second commercials, endless stump speeches in front of partisan audiences, armies of partisan talking heads flooding TV and radio shows, "Mission Accomplished" photo-ops, kissing babies, 9/11 imagery, etc. The leader of the Free World gives a press-conference once a year (!) answering PRE-APPROVED questions?! -Dissent is suppressed or ridiculed -- anti-war protests are only covered if some kind of violence breaks out. Even Vietnam-era activism is seen as unpatriotic and somehow shameful. Anyone questioning defense spending is immediately relegated to the fringes of "public discourse". Widespread, pervasive poverty in our society is another taboo subject, as the "welfare=bad" associations are ingrained in our brains after years of belief through repetition. -Corporate, nearly monopolized, control of the press -- 2-3 corporations control all of our TV and newspaper media. They are driven by corporate profits, thus easily abandoning serious reporting for ratings-driven programming. Apart from the high-brow premium cable History Channel, when was the last time you saw a real investigative documentary on any major channel, from Fox News/CNN to ABC? When was the last time a non-partisan-hackery opinion was aired on any of the news programs? They speak of the polls incessantly, or of how the candidates looked or sounded in this or that opinion, or of Mary Cheney's, Monica Lewinskys, or other nonsense. People got a bit of a wake-up call with this Swift Boat documentary scandal, but this is just the beginning. Of course Janet Jackson showing a nipple, ooh, that's another story altogether. -Orwellian program names (Patriot Act, No Child Left Behind) -- this is more amusing than anything else, but yea, surely nobody in their right mind can be against the PATRIOT act! I mean, that would be unpatriotic! What, are you against "No Child Left Behind"?! You must want to leave American children behind, you bastard. -Cult of the forefathers -- this is the weirdest one of all. The Constitution and the Forefathers are revered like the Bible and its prophets. Some people in the XVIII century wrote a document. Yay. It's a nice document, great, but it was not divinely inspired, it was written by some men 250 years ago! Like Christ's disciples, our courts and politicians try to infer the "true intent" of the Founding Fathers In Their Unlimited Wisdon. Just strange. This is a sham, not a democracy. Are "we the people" really THAT dumb that the politicians can't actually discuss issues with us and need to resort to round-the-clock propoganda? Shouldn't we be outraged? Or has the economic prosperity of the majority basically made us indifferent to any of this?
The best illustration of the genius of our founding fathers is, they crafted a system so resilient that it still works great despite all of the crackpots like you who are allowed to vote. People like you have been trying diligently to break the system since it started, and it has withstood the assaults for 200+ years. Yeah, those founding fathers were giants and wise people know that we are standing on their broad shoulders, and appreciate it. Why is it that the left reacts to songs like "God Bless America" and our flag the way that Linda Blair reacted to holy water in "The Exorcist?"
I've been trying to answer this question for almost a decade without result! The left is against almost all things American; rather than leave the United States alone the left wants to change the United States to their version of Communism or Socialism! Sing "God Bless America" in public and the left objects! The left wants to be able to burn the American flag! The left objects to Patriotism The left is clearly un-American; why can't they just leave this nation alone? IntheNet
If Americans thought the way you do back in the 1770's we would still be a part of the British empire.
You would make a wonderful local party chairman in a 1970s Moscow precinct. *shudders* Though part of me still believes that you've got your tongue IntheCheek when you make these kinds of posts.
remind me again of which of our founding fathers would be hellbent on outlawing buttsex marriages by constitutional amendment, or flagburning? Funny you should mention that right after your valiant defense of the constitution above. Because I always thought you could ward off republicans with a copy of the constitution and/or bill of rights. Key members of the republican party, when faced with the document, are wellknown to hiss, shudder, cower behind their capes, and slink away muttering "curses, foiled again!" Even John Ascroft. He was so bothered by the statue of justice behind him, that he covered it up. Yeah sure, he gave some lame explanation about boobies, but what grown man would do a thing like that? Nah, it was the eerie feeling he always got, the eyes of justice burning into him from behind, his conscience guilty because he knows he sold his soul for the chance to be part of the team that destroys america and its little dog too...
pathetic doesn't begin to describe it... ...but then again the English language does lend toward the dumbing-down of the already dumbed-down.
Jeez you liberals are bizarre. This exemplifies how astute our founding fathers were, however - it took over 200 years for things to degenerate to the point where there would be enough fools around to consider buttsex marriages to be a serious idea. That's a robust system. It will survive the worst that your ilk can contrive, too.
What's also interesting is a point I've been raising; how, in order to get the damn country, folks made a calculus that standing on principle, that FURTHERING principle, was more important than their own lives, was worth dying for, and how that commitment is wholly absent from the typical citizen who claims to be a full-fledged "American." Today - wouldn't Hobbes be proud - there's very little most of us are willing to die for in terms of principle; in fact, we push a Leviathan administration that says right to our face "well, means don't matter anymore, ends do," as if what the country faced in its founding, what folks stood for in the Civil War was somehow universally and prefectly bested by 9/11, as horrible for everyone (and for me, personally) as that was; an administration that ADOPTS the exact modus of those who wage terror, and tell us that the difference can only be found in the ends...and we - WE, who come from a tradition where the MEANS are paramount - accept that. And, again, right where you see the most important expansions of the nation's possibilities, you find folks willing to die, ro to be beat within an inch of their lives; women's suffrage/women's rights, labor rights, civil rights, gay/lesbian rights, antiwar movements...only when folks got into the street not ONLY to march, but to use marching as a tool demonstrative of the fact that people are waking up to the day and saying "Today, I'm willing to die/get hurt/do serious time for this thing I believe in" has eventhe POSSIBILITY of America been engaged. Today, the combination of the Straussians in power (who are willing to let YOUR kith and kin die for thier mission, but who will never/have never put themselves / their people on the line) and the lack of internalisation of citizenship/adulthood and what it really means (that is, knowing when you wake up and walk out fo the house for what you are willing to fight and die that day and everyday) among the general masses (who just want to get back to the soma, just want to be stimulated, tittilated, and spun off to the next newest-latest) ENSURE that republic/democracy will not fulfill any semblence of potential in our lifetime. Then again, things change. Who knows; that's my take on it right now given what I know, and from I where stand.
And men are imperfect even when they are great. http://www.jewwatch.com/jew-references-gentile-benjamin-franklin.html
Well done! Can you please give Mel Brennan some tips on how to be concise with half-baked anti-Americanism?
Ok, I was sloppy. Mel actually loves the America that could be if Angela Davis and Noam Chomsky were in charge. He just despises the America that exists now and will persist as long as there's enough of us slobs that stand in the way of his utopia.
Ok, let's play "try to understand Mel" I'll go first: He said that this America is lousy and will remain so as long as our leaders are evil and the stupid voters return them to power. Not very original, and you can say it in a fraction of the sentences that he requires. And, typical of liberals, it's insufferable in its self-flattery, because the evidence that the masses are stupid is that they don't buy his brand of BS. I much prefer good old English anti-americanism, at least they are fluent in the language.