Okay, I admit it. I’m a grump.
These days, it’s very difficult to see the glass as anything except half empty when it comes to looking toward America’s future.
We are beset by critics all over the world who seek to undermine our interests and, more importantly, our safety. Under the guise of “Internationalism,” countries like France, Germany, China, Russia, and a host of others seek to advance their own interests by claiming that when we look out for our welfare instead of theirs, we are being “arrogant” or “unilateral.” In short, because we refuse to do what these enlightened leaders of the international community say, we are ignorant and backward.
We are beset by critics at home who, quite simply, have lost it. While the left in America has always been unbalanced, they were tolerated because their fantasies and idiocies weren’t really a threat to our safety – kind of like a crazy uncle who visits every Christmas and is okay as long as you keep him away from the liquor cabinet. All this changed following 9/11. At a time when we can least afford the unserious and intellectually vapid pronouncements and activities of the moonbats, we are treated to the most astonishing disconnect from reality imaginable. Blind to the dangers posed by our murderous and implacable enemies, the left is attempting to speed us toward annihilation like a lunatic with a match running toward a gasoline dump.
We are afflicted with a judiciary at all levels that slowly and surely undercuts our traditions, our history, and even the constitution itself in an ever expanding effort to take decisions away from the people’s representatives and place it in their own, unelected hands.
We have are cursed with an epidemic of ignorant politicians – both right and left – whose outrageous statements on politics, religion, foreign policy, the war, and each other has polarized the entire body politic to the point where civil discourse is impossible.
We are besieged by a media whose bias, obvious to everyone but themselves, has made the President of the United States and the Iraq War the target of one-sided, slanted coverage so profoundly misleading that their standing with the American people has dropped to an all time low.
We are infested with denizens of a “New Media” – both right and left – many of whom march in lockstep like obedient little drones echoing the rumors, lies, and spin of the ideological lickspittles who are beholden to one party or another.
We are cursed with a culture whose toxicity and nauseating noxiousness has become the bane of western civilization.
Other than this, things are just peachy.
On this 4th of July, when there is an organized effort to burn as many American flags as possible, when there are American citizens openly cheering on the Iraqi insurgents who are killing our soldiers on the field of battle, when the rhetoric of the left soars to ever more fantastic heights of unreality and fantasy, it’s very difficult to be optimistic about the future.
And the President, now burdened with the coming fight over his nominee for the Supreme Court, will be unable to devote the time and effort necessary to get the American people behind him and his war polices that as I write this, are being undermined by both the MSM and his political opponents to the point where it may become impossible to sustain them.
Am I overstating our problems? Not by much, I think.
So this 4th of July, I’m not even going to think about the present. I’m going to enjoy a couple of the very few patriotic programs on TV (one would think it was Easter Sunday so barren of holiday programming is the schedule) – most notably the PBS series Liberty! The American Revolution and the movie starring James Cagney as George M. Cohan entitled Yankee Doodle Dandy and then top off the day with burgers, brats, and dogs on the grill with potato salad.
As long as I don’t read the news or visit the Democratic Underground, I’ll be able to enjoy my traditional 4th of July repast without getting indigestion. And maybe by watching how that extraordinary group of men defied the most fantastic odds to defeat the most powerful nation on earth to win their independence, I’ll feel a little more optimistic about the future.
Anyway, it couldn’t hurt.
11:58 am
Enjoy your Fourth, anyway, Rick. We are up against “fantastic odds” today, but it’s nothing we can’t overcome. Keep pluggin’ away.
12:45 pm
Rick, how very, er, crummudgeony of you.
We can’t allow ourselves to permanently slip into the national indegestion funk you’ve so perfectly described, though. Not when the future of America, the future of our children, is at stake.
That’s sure as heck why I’m blogging. Depresses me sometimes… often, lately. BUT…
If even one mind is given pause by what we write about. If even just one more dollar is raised to help thwart the cancerious powers from within that mean to undermine everything on which our country was founded (read: ACLU). If even just one vote in congress is changed by the pressure we help put on our elected representatives.
What little dent we can make, let’s go for it. (OK, grumpingly if we must.)
Cheer up! Eat a brat! Happy Fourth!
PS I’m going to a Memphis Red Birds minor league game with my extended in-law family today… After some great BBQ on Beale St. Can’t wait! Minor league is the best for family fun and patriotism. (And, it hurts less when your team loses.)
2:11 pm
So It’s The Fourth Of July
The Fourth of July means a lot of things to a lot of people. Traditionally it has meant baseball, and lots of it. For many it means backyard grilling with family and friends. For still others, especially the children, it’s
10:51 pm
Great piece, and spot on!
The battle for liberty and freedom marches on. I’m guessing the moonbats you mention have always been around. Keep up the good fight!
10:54 pm
Hello! That was all so beautifully expressed. It says it all. Thank you so much. Your clarity gives me hope. Sincerely, Bonnie
10:09 am
Bonfire of Vanities 105
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