Thursday, May 03, 2007

 

A Parting Shot

My work here is done.

That's what I've increasingly come to realize. After 107 posts of varying substance and quality, I think the time has come to put an end to this little endeavor. Mainly, I'm just too busy. On top of my regular teaching job, I'm taking six hours of graduate classes and keeping busy in my church. It doesn't look like my schedule is going to change soon, either.

Also, I've come to realize that lacking the time to write well-thought-out, well-researched, well-reasoned posts, I've increasingly resorted to hastily scrawled, sometimes-flimsy entries. At times recently, I think I've bordered on the shrill and strident, something I never intended. As angry as I am about the current state of affairs in America - and I'm pretty damned angry - I always hoped to present a more thoughtful approach. Pointed and blunt, yes. But never loud and obnoxious. The talk radio guys on the Right are so much better at loud and obnoxious that I could never even hope to compete.

Besides, I think I've said what I intended to say. I think you get the point. In case you didn't, let me pound it into you one more time, in a not-so-subtle fashion:

1) Conservatism has been a destructive force in America. Not completely without merit, the conservative movement is destroying (perhaps unintentionally, perhaps not) any notion of the common good, fair play, justice and equity.
2) The champions of the conservative movement - the Limbaughs and Hannitys - have cheapened public discourse into an ugly, hateful quagmire of deceit and lies and riven a huge divide across America.
3) George W. Bush will quite possibly go down as the worst president in American history. He got us into this nasty, unwinnable war, and damaged our nation's global esteem. He zealously pursued tax cuts for the wealthiest while ignoring the rest of us. He took us in a matter of four years from a budget surplus to our largest defecit ever. He consistently turns a blind eye to the environment. Never before has a president so actively pursued such a malignant agenda to America. And he and his administration are a bunch of nasty, arrogant bullies, to boot.
4) The middle-class and poor are in big trouble. While the Dow reaches record highs, wages remain stagnant and such necessities as housing, college tuition and healthcare spiral into inaccessibility for so many. Meanwhile, income inequality widens to gaps not seen since the Hoover administration. Yet, the Republicans can only wax gleeful about the booming economy. And to what end? That maybe we middle-class folks won't get laid off this week?
5) Corporate America is out of control. No accountability. No responsibility. CEOs make eight figures while average workers are let go for earning too much money. Customers and consumers are often shortchanged and mistreated. Jobs are shipped overseas. Again, how does this benefit the vast majority of us?
6) The almighty dollar is turning our democracy into an oligarchy. Government increasingly exists only to serve the interest and whim of those with the big contribution checks.
7) The Christian church, the one organization that should give us hope above all others, has largely sold itself out as a cheap political movement. The teachings of Jesus Christ have been mowed down by the rhetoric of Jerry Falwell.
8) The average America is fat, lazy and stupid, uninformed, apathetic and interested in little beyond material goods and pleasure. There's virtually no empathy for others, too little concern over maturity and responsibility, too much focus on having fun and being cool.
9) We're destroying our planet, paving it over and heating it up. And as usual, it's all about making money and pursuing lifestyle.
10) We're engaged in the worst, most-unjust war in our nation's history. President Bush lied to get us into it, bungled it from the beginning and hasn't a clue how to get us out of it. Our nation's esteem has collapsed around the world and we're probably at even greater danger from terrorists.

Pretty dour, I admit. But I won't condescend to you with some crap about morning in America. No, I think we're in some pretty tough times. Our nation has been highjacked by ideological bullies who think the majority of us should bend to their will. And their will is pretty frightening.

But I do have hope. Last November's elections show us that the spell has been broken, that the conservative revolution is dead. To folks on the Right, time stood still in 1968, with Jane Fonda and hippies burning draft cards. The rest of us have moved on and wish to pursue something more constructive than the Nixonian wedge of us vs. them. Maybe, just maybe, Americans are ready to talk about real issues constructively, matters like healthcare and education. Finally there's a fair shot that we can repair this damage wrought over the past six years (and really the past 26 years) and move ahead to better times.

Adios, folks. It's been fun.

Comments:
This is a sad day. Dude, you have such an ability to put together a wonderful defense of the liberal viewpoint. You should have been in debate team competition. I've really enjoyed reading your blog. Keep fighting the good fight against the moronic conservative cause. Your last blog was a left hook to all Ditto-heads. You have left this site not with a whimper, but with a collosal bang !!!
 
Audios Mouth. I couldn't disagree with throat deep more, except for his implied comment that you are an excellent writer.

I'm a Ditto-head. In fact, I used to be president of a local group of Limbaugh fans. I didn't feel hooked at all, because you didn't hit me with the truth, you just called me names.

Here's a short final refute of your final parting shot, point by point:

1.) It is in fact, LIBERALISM that is destroying America. Liberalism is killing our children (abortion), liberalism is increasing crime (acceptance of drugs and illegal immigration), liberalism is destroying our churches (by bringing relativism to distort and water down the gospel and the law. Look at Europe to see the dead churches that liberalism created/destroyed), liberalism is destroying our national security (illegal aliens, reduced defense), liberalism is destroying our moral fabric (support of homosexual practice, abortion, and the separation of God from anything an everything), and liberalism is destroying our families.

2. It is, in fact, the champions of the LIBERAL movement that have brought anger, lying, and name calling to the public discourse, while Shawn Hannity and Rush Limbaugh continue to be civil, kind, and positive on their shows.

3. George Bush will definitely go down as the worst President in U.S. history..in the eyes of liberals. However, history will paint a different picture. I will agree that President Bush will go down as one of the most unpopular Presidents in U.S. history. Why? Because he satisfied neither the liberals or the conservatives. George Bush will be remembered by many, many objective people as a President who was intent on doing the right thing, no matter the political consequences. Pres. Bush took terrorism head on, brought us an incredible economy despite 9/11, made it possible to stop partial birth abortion, etc. The "tax cuts to the wealthy" are decreasing our national debt at a rapid rate as the rich pay more taxes than ever, while the poor and middle class are riding the rising tide. Finally, let me address you comment that "he and his administration are a bunch of nasty, arrogant bullies, to boot." To that I say "am not, you are."

4. O.k., lets say wages are stagnant (I don't have the late night energy to look it up). Might you mention that the poor and middle class have a better standard of living than they EVER have in history? Thanks to all of those corporate fat cats you hate and corporations like Wal-Mart, even the poor have t.v.'s, cable, and designer hand bags from Sam Moon.

5. Were you asleep during the Enron trials? Did you miss the Worldcomm guys going to jail? Perhaps you forgot about President Bush leading the way in corporate accounting reform. And, yes, CEO's make a lot more than factory workers - get over it.

6. Oh, please. Enough of the conspiracy theories. If money ran the country George Soros would be in charge.

7. Far from "selling itself out as a cheap political movement" some of todays Christian church have taken Christ's commands to be salt and light in the world seriously. A statesman once said that all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. Many Christian men have stood up and taken their Christian values into the public arena and America has been blessed by it.

8. I can see how you'd say this - it does explain Democrat manipulation and lies succeeding.

9. Talk about the almighty dollar - extreme environmentalism has become the God of the left, and is all about money and power.

10. Saying that Pres. Bush "lied to get us into" the war is a lie in itself. You've never been able to bring any substance to this comment, and you can't. The war hasn't been handled perfectly, and no war ever has. If we lose the war, it will be the fault of the left, who enable and support our enemies. Its no wonder that terrorist worldwide rejoiced when the Democrats won power in 2006.
 
B from D,

A partisan ideologue couldn't have made other partisan ideologues any prouder than you have just now. Did you think that up yourself, or did you copy it out of the RNC handbook?
 
Are you kidding? The RNC copies me! :-)

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