Stop Elitism
Regarding the post-election editorial “Red State Blues” (issue of Nov. 10-16), be thankful — you could live in the Ukraine and have participated in its recent election.
Many of the post-election pundits reflect a view today that’s all too prevalent: the absence of moderation. Moderate leaders are leaving office, term limits are pushing skilled legislators out of office and bringing to prominence those who are interested only in short-term results and obstructionist and doctrinaire politics on both sides are far too common. In some ways, it’s generational: “I want it all, I want it my way and I want it now … and, by the way, if you don’t agree with me you’re an idiot.”
Incidentally, for additional insights, don’t look only at the state red/blue maps — look at the same maps by county.
The media and the Democrats in general still don’t appear to get it. They sometimes act, write and speak as if those who voted for the president would readily change their minds if they would but Read the Truth as they express it. There seems to be a hysteria that the president might actually seek to deliver on his platform. Horrors! A politician who actually might seek to do what he said he would do and what the majority of the electorate knew he might do if he were elected?
Horrors!
Remember that this was a president who has difficulty communicating and who faced among other things an economy battered by serious economic issues, a war that was messy and increasingly unpopular, a war that was started on erroneous information and a well-financed, organized and fine opponent. Yet President Bush won and expanded his base of governance.
The repeal of Article 12 was great news. One can only hope that the debate on the gay-marriage issue will moderate and become less strident. There is no question but that, with time, gay marriages will become a legal reality.
So move to Canada, the Ukraine, the Netherlands or some other perceived “garden spot” where they all think like me? Be my guest. As for me, I’ll stay here, enjoy the freedom to think, to write letters like this and to look for signs that compromise, moderation and sensibility have returned and that attitudes of elitism disappear.
Democracy Defeats Terrorism
Regarding the UC student’s Letter to the Editor (“I Thought I Knew America,” issue of Nov. 17-23), her naíve sentiments are heartwarming but as ignorant of political and historical realities as the day is long. There are three old sayings that apply here.
One, if you’re not a socialist when you’re young there’s something wrong with your heart, but if you’re still a socialist when you’re old there’s something wrong with your head. Take it from an old man who knows his history — Theresa Ryan’s heart is in the right place, but her head is the wrong place.
Two, those who are ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it. “Beliefs written 2,000-plus years ago in a world so entirely different from the one we live in today” can and do hold valuable lessons for today. I would suggest starting with the Greeks, including the Christian Bible, the Koran and other spiritual texts and moving up through the centuries, stopping to consider the Renaissance political texts written by Machiavelli; then for WWI see The Guns of August by Barb Tuchman and for WWII a good accurate account of Nazi expansion; and finally at least one medical text describing abortion procedures and how many beats per minute the average fetal heart beats. By the way, political machines are by defintion corrupt — how else would they get anything accomplished without old-fashioned graft and behind-the-scenes back-scratching and stabbing?
And lastly, when you’re up to your ass in alligators, the first thing you do is drain the swamp. This one isn’t as clear as the first two, but after a moment it will become clear that radical Islam — distinguished from Islam itself — is stuck somewhere in the 10th century and wants to kill everyone who isn’t just like they are, starting with the Jews and ending with liberated women like Ryan herself.
Radical Islam won’t just throw you in jail for worshipping differently — they’ll kill you. Radical Islam is barbaric and bloody and needs to be erased as the last sad chapter in human history after the fall of Communism. Fortunately, free and educated people don’t become barbaric and blood-thirsty religious zealots. Democracy breeds free and educated citizens draining the swamps where radical Islam thrives.
It’s not about WMD or oil. Well, maybe a little about oil. It’s about democracy in the Middle East, because free and educated countries don’t breed children who grow up to be terrorists — they breed ideology-addled shoolgirls like Ryan who hates war and loves trustworthy men who are dangerous only to those who are already dangerous to themselves.
This article appears in Dec 1-7, 2004.
