A-meh-rica Rising: Lost Perspective, Willful Ignorance
Can we fight the fall or will be the "Generation That Lost It All"?
Is James Otis, a man once seen as a vanguard of liberty, now so utterly forgotten as to be absolutely useless? I can’t help but think that his essay Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved still has meaning in a world where despots crack down on men and women who dare to believe they are entitled to self-government.
The form of government is by nature and by right so far left to the individuals of each society that they may alter it from a simple democracy or government of all over all to any other form they please. Such alteration may and ought to be made by express compact. But how seldom this right has been asserted, history will abundantly show. For once that it has been fairly settled by compact; fraud, force, or accident have determined it an hundred times. As the people have gained upon tyrants, these have been obliged to relax only till a fairer opportunity has put it in their power to encroach again.
Those who believe that the past, that our past has nothing to teach us, aren’t just woefully ignorant. They’re willfully ignorant, choosing to remain blissfully unaware of the sacrifices that their ancestors and countrymen have made in order to make this nation stronger with each passing generation. The United States of America has earned its place in history not through the efforts of reality television stars and Hollywood celebrities, but through the grinding perseverance of soldiers at Yorktown, Gettysburg, Okinawa, and Omaha Beach. Through the innovation and entrepreneurship of Eliza Pickney and Eli Whitney, Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, and Henry Ford. And by the scores of men, women, and children whose names are lost to history, but who toiled daily to make this country a beacon of light to the rest of the world.
If that America is truly no longer relevant, then let us at least spend this Independence Day mourning its death. Weep when you hear the “Star Spangled Banner,” because the broad stripes and bright stars are now tattered and torn. If it still breathes, however, then let us mend it back to strength. Let us be bold in our endeavors, firm in our beliefs, steadfast in our resolve. Let us remember the words of Thomas Paine, who exhorted a people not to revolt, nor to wage war, but to act. The pamphlet urged independence, it’s true. But independence was a means to an end, the last resort of a people whose government wouldn’t listen. The problem wasn’t the crown or parliament, but how the two managed the affairs of the colonies.
The good news is that we don’t need independence from a parent country. The bad news is that we need something that may prove to be more difficult to achieve. We need the perspective that comes with maturity. We need, quite frankly, to grow up. We can no longer afford to indulge ourselves as children would, blithely assuming that if anything bad happens, someone will come along to fix it. We cannot continue to spend money we do not have. We cannot allow one or two foreign nations to grow more powerful by buying up our property and financing our debt.
The wars our fathers and grandfathers fought to secure the greatness of this nation have long since passed. Our more recent wars have not required the sacrifice and resolve of the entire people, and so they have not imbued in us the same fierce loyalty and dedication that was common just a few decades ago. Since the end of the cold war, most of us have allowed ourselves to think that we have no strong enemies. It has been nearly eight years since the attacks of September 11, and many of us have convinced ourselves that terrorism shouldn’t be one of our primary concerns. It is a lovely thought, but one that is not borne out by reality.
Perspective has been replaced, in both foreign and domestic policy, by mere desire. Public opinion means far more than practical benefit. The dangers of this kind of thinking are clear. We are perfectly capable, as our countrymen from California have shown, of voting ourselves into oblivion. Yet even in California they would still rather mourn the death of the King of Pop than the decline of their state.
I know it isn’t going to be easy to change Amehrica. Success is certainly not guaranteed. In fact, to be honest, I think it’s a nearly impossible task. Still, our other option is to quietly acquiesce to our downfall, to be known not as the heirs of the Greatest Generation, but the Generation That Lost It All. Reclaiming our nation starts locally, as others like Jim Geraghty and Glenn Reynolds have noted, but it takes more than just attending your city council or county commission meeting. All politics is local after all, and the same 300 people who rally at a tea party protest and attend their city council meetings can have great influence in their political party at the local level as well.
We must no longer cede our urban centers to our opposition. Detroit, Buffalo, Chicago, St. Louis, New Orleans, Oakland, and San Francisco are just a few of our major cities that have gone more than forty years without a Republican mayor. Can new ideas flourish in a system where one party exercises its power through the political machine? These towns have been run for generations by so-called progressives. Let me ask you, does Detroit look like it’s progressed much since 1962?
We are in desperate need of leaders, but we need ideas even more. We live in extraordinary times, and we should not be afraid of bold thoughts honestly and intelligently debated. We need not fear new ideas, as long as they are based on timeless principles. It’s not like the idea of independence was a slightly new twist on an old policy, after all.
This is not the work of a single political party, ideology, ethnicity, or pedigree. It is, quite simply, the work of a generation. This Independence Day, will you pledge your life, your fortune, and your sacred honor to the restoration of American liberty, the resurgence of American prosperity, and our duty to our American posterity?
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Clarendon is a concerned American living on the outskirts of Washington, D.C. He blogs at thenewpamphleteers.blogspot.com
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18 Comments
1. "progressive"watch:The Thomas Paine quote couldn’t be better chosen. Well,the other quote,too. In the article itself,could there be a more dead on observation than–”How can we survive in a world where we view ourselves,our allies,and our enemies as occupying the same moral ground?” This is an inditement of multiculturalism and Barack Obama.
Still,Clarendon says “even our president scoffed..” This is where a lot of pundits aren’t getting it. The president is the leading scoffer; he is president of the scoffers; he is the One of the scoffers.
What “we” must do is recognize tyranny when we see it and have the courage to say,”This is tyranny!” and then have the greater courage to oppose it at all cost. Otherwise “we” lose.
Jul 4, 2009 - 6:45 am 2. Oldguy:When the Italians grew tired of getting their asses kicked during WW2, they hung Mussolini upside down.
Jul 4, 2009 - 6:57 am 3. Saltherring:“Yet even in California they would still rather mourn the death of the King of Pop than the decline of their state.”
A sad indictment indeed when people mourn the death of a pedophile while their nation crumbles into financial and moral ruin. Party hardy, indolent unbanites, for the “swindle-us” cash will run out soon and you’ll be back in line at the food bank, grumbling about not getting your “fair share”. This time, however, they may just decide to come and get it. Might be a good time to lock the gate and head out for the summer cottage, urban elitists, because they’ll start with you…and they won’t care if you’ve been a “faithful Democrat”, or that you “gave at the office”. You created the dependant underclass, and milked their votes while tossing them subsistence crumbs. The tables will turn and you will become the victims, as thugs smash the windows of your businesses and kick the doors in on your opulent homes. Hope you enjoy it, urban elitists, as you’ve certainly earned it.
Jul 4, 2009 - 7:54 am 4. venividivici:It has become fashionable, in these cynical times, to think that America was never really good, much less great. How could this nation be great, it is argued, when it was founded by men who spoke of freedom, and yet kept other men in chains? How can this nation hold itself above others, when our own history is replete with sinful behavior? Indeed, we are told that to believe in American exceptionalism is to dwell in a state of ignorance. Only the truly “enlightened” know the truth; it is arrogance that Americans excel at, not greatness.
The charge of “hypocrisy” is nearly always leveled by those who imagine that there is some perfect world in which the need for compromise between ideals and reality doesn’t exist. This is a hallmark of intellectual immaturity. The very concept of “utopia” is, in Ancient Greek, a play on words (most educated people will know what I mean by this).
It may be hard to put ourselves in their shoes. After all, these were people who would make the most ardent Obama supporter seem woefully apathetic in comparison. They were engaged in a political revolution, a civil war, and a philosophical battle in which alliances could not be so easily divided into two parties. In fact, I’ve had friends say to me recently that there’s simply no comparison that can be drawn between that era and our own, that time and technology have made attempts at drawing parallels between the two utterly useless.
Human beings and their interactions are not merely the extension of technologies extant at any given time. “Technological determinism” is no more tenable than other types of determinism. One of my favorite Presidential speeches addressed just this topic, in the context of the original “Progressive” era and its demands for governmental reform:
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Calvin_Coolidge%27s_Speech_on_the_Occasion_of_the_150th_Anniversary_of_the_Declaration_of_Independence
“About the Declaration there is a finality that is exceedingly restful. It is often asserted that the world has made a great deal of progress since 1776, that we have had new thoughts and new experiences which have given us a great advance over the people of that day, and that we may therefore very well discard their conclusions for something more modern. But that reasoning can not be applied to this great charter. If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction can not lay claim to progress. They are reactionary. Their ideas are not more modern, but more ancient, than those of the Revolutionary fathers.”
Most “progressives” (like our resident trolls) lack the understanding of these basic truths and are used as “useful idiots” by the “progressive” leaders who do understand exactly what Coolidge was saying but don’t care because their lust for power enables them to work toward pulling humanity back down into the Dark Ages with a clear conscience.
Jul 4, 2009 - 8:19 am 5. scott connor:Spot on. Celebrity worship, spoon-fed to the masses by a corrupt media won’t cushion the fall of the lemmings over the ledge.
Jul 4, 2009 - 8:49 am 6. Jake Was Here:America isn’t at war. AMERICA IS AT THE MALL. THE MILITARY IS AT WAR.
This Independence Day, will you pledge your life, your fortune, and your sacred honor to the restoration of American liberty, the resurgence of American prosperity, and our duty to our American posterity?
No. At this point it’s like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
So lovely to see you all, but the party’s over.
Jul 4, 2009 - 9:14 am 7. Strawman:Less loftily, it’s one of Alinsky’s cynical tactics.
Jul 4, 2009 - 9:40 am 8. Tolbert:One step on the road to sanity will be to repeal the twenty-sixth admendment.
Whoever thought that it would be a good idea to give juveniles the right to vote when they don’t have the mental capacity to do anything but comment on pop culture.
Jul 4, 2009 - 10:33 am 9. venividivici:Less loftily, it’s one of Alinsky’s cynical tactics.
True, and what I said following that is my estimation of Alinsky’s intellect, i.e. it was immature.
Jul 4, 2009 - 10:51 am 10. Thomas:@2. Oldguy:
“When the Italians grew tired of getting their asses kicked during WW2, they hung Mussolini upside down.”
The kind of generation you allude that launched and took part in the uprising against Fascism, Oppression and Bolshevism like the Italians, Hungarians, Poles, Czechs etc. died in America along with George Washington and the new generation has not born yet.
Jul 4, 2009 - 11:56 am 11. Marc Malone:Events must run its full course and this century will be the end of Historical America and the assent of Marxism-Leninism. Turning the flag upside down will offer no help.
#4 venividivici – Nice quote from my favorite President.
You needs be careful, however. The tyrants come for the intellectuals first. There’s a tattoo waiting with your number on it. (softly, sonorously spoken, with ominous music playing in the background)
Jul 4, 2009 - 12:24 pm 12. Kipling:The USA of 1776, of 1865 and of 1945 is all but gone – except for a few glimmers here and there. Too many of us have benefited from the discipline, commitment, and sacrifice of previous generations but have not responded in kind. Instead our society has grown lazy and apathetic. Our time is consumed not with personal improvement or the improvement of our society with the lowest common denominator that has now become our pop culture.
If we want to survive and to rebuild our great nation along the lines of the Founding Father, then we have to go back to the ancient paths. We have to rediscover the principles and values that made us great. Ad Fonte – back to the source – was the cry of the Reformation and it should now be the cry of the conservative movement. We should go back to the founding documents and the founding philosophies that worked rather than embracing the progressive experimentation that has never worked.
Mr. Obama and anyone who promotes government as the solution to all of our problems is promoting nothing but a false messiah. Their goal is not the liberation of the individual but the enslavement. Let us not go gentle into the darkness but rage against the dying of the light by rekindling the flames of liberty from the spark and fodder of 1776.
Jul 4, 2009 - 1:21 pm 13. Strawman:You just put your finger on precisely what’s so pernicious about academic brain boys like Alinsky – they’re diabolically manipulative savants without having the wisdom to put that to good use.
They remind me of the Star Trek episode where there was an adolescent boy with telepathic powers, able to take over the enterprise, and a war of wills with Kirk ensued.
As I recall, Kirk eventually overcame him by distracting him with too many tasks. I think our current CIC is currently going through a similar trial.
Jul 4, 2009 - 2:10 pm 14. Strawman:That’s a fascinating statement, because it captures the sentiment of the left, while completely inverting the truth. Let me shift a few words around:
Jul 4, 2009 - 2:16 pm 15. middleagedpatriot:Jake was here,
You are right and you are wrong , both at the same time.
What must be realized is that the sweetest joy of living is to have set your heart upon that which is the most virtuous. Knowing that when you have breathed your last and you step through that final gate and into the presence of God, He will look upon you and say “well done!”. This despite the fact that we all have tried and failed in the pursuit of virtue. That is the reason why
Jul 4, 2009 - 8:22 pm 16. Jason S:no tyrant or trouble can ever really subdue an honorable man.
That is why we take up the fight even though it appears there is no hope of success. It is the pinnacle of freedom and it is the essence of the Founders’ Dream.
We are still and have always been an exceptional nation regrdless of what the relativists say. Name one nation in history or present day that has sacrificed as much as we have defending freedom and offering aid to those in need of it. I would wager my next paycheck that we have done more than the rest of the world combined on these fronts, and I am sick and tired of hearing spoiled brats in this country, who haven’t even a clue how good they have it here, denigrate her with such recklessness and disregard for factual history.
In a world where true evil has singled out America as the “Great Satan”, our president is eroding our patriotism to a point where we will no longer be able to defend ourselves. After all, you have to believe in what you are fighting for – radical Islam certainly does. And they will continue in this manner regardless of how far backwards our president bends over to accomodate them. Does he honestly believe that he can smooth-talk men who are willing to spend years training to fly an airplane into a building of innocent civilians?
Jul 5, 2009 - 7:04 am 17. Joshua:middleagedpatriot: What must be realized is that the sweetest joy of living is to have set your heart upon that which is the most virtuous. Knowing that when you have breathed your last and you step through that final gate and into the presence of God, He will look upon you and say “well done!”. This despite the fact that we all have tried and failed in the pursuit of virtue. That is the reason why
no tyrant or trouble can ever really subdue an honorable man.
That is why we take up the fight even though it appears there is no hope of success. It is the pinnacle of freedom and it is the essence of the Founders’ Dream.
Of course, this isn’t much motivation to take up the fight if you don’t believe God exists in the first place. It’s one thing to say “Give me liberty or give me death” when the latter means an eternal reward in heaven, quite another when it means utter oblivion.
Jul 6, 2009 - 4:06 pm 18. jackie:Not only uninformed/misinformed 18 year old voters…but the perpetual welfare suckers…
Jul 7, 2009 - 7:33 am