By lotpBiden's debate behavior last Thursday and the reception it received is just one more example of hate and disdain expressed by the left towards anyone who disagrees with them. It stands in a long line of behaviors like "hating Bush", Occupy Wall Street and recent Tweets/Youtube of people pissing and sh*tting on Romney/Ryan signs.
But for me it was the proverbial straw on the camel's back. And it has motivated me in ways the Veep never intended. It's time for me to take action. It's time for you to do so, too.
BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT
Let's get to the bottom line right at the beginning. The hate coming from the left is no aberration. Biden's refusal to allow a real debate isn't an accident. The left has no intention to allow policy discussion or debate by the citizenry. They have embraced the heckler's veto on a key activity of a constitutional republic.
And they have done so because they do not share the core values or presuppositions on which this country was built.
Our public institutions have been eroded by a Gramscian program of slow takeover. Public schools were intended first and foremost to prepare immigrants to assimilate into this culture and this civic society, and secondarily to prepare them to contribute economically. Our schools stopped filling this role by the 1970s. Art, entertainment, literature and political discourse constantly send the message that there are no core values worth defending, no authority worth yielding to, no first principles that have a claim on us.
And we have allowed this to happen.
For all the right reasons -- including a commitment to a government representative of free men and women -- we continue to justify positions, argue policies, attempt to engage the left in dialogue despite their behavior.
And maybe we've allowed the left to take over our society and to engage in heckler's veto for some wrong reasons too -- we're busy, we have job/business/family commitments, we don't want to rock the boat with relatives and friends.
Whatever the mix of reasons we each had, the reality is that Gramsces has won this round. We have allowed the core principles on which this country was built to be dangerously eroded, hollowed out, disparaged and replaced across the public spectrum.
Does that seem overstated to you? Then consider this: On September 29, 2003 Jonathan Chait published an article in The New Republic subtitled "The Case for Bush Hatred". Read or re-read it now. Observe and absorb the basis on which he justifies his hatred.
This article opened a floodgate. Not long afterward writers and TV shows openly fantasized about assassinating a sitting President. And the left openly applauded, while the right and libertarians either kept quiet or muttered about how events in Iraq were unfolding.
Chait was not denounced, fined, fired, ostracized. Nor were his fellows in hatred. TNR did not lose subscribers. Jon Stewart did not lose viewers nor were his advertisers put on notice.
Over the last 4 years the current POTUS has openly refused to enforce immigration law and has flouted other laws with no consequences from the left and few from the right. We gather at places like the Burg to tut-tut, but not a hell of a lot more.
We have failed to act as if we really believe what we say we believe about this country. We have failed to ensure that this country lives up to its purpose and calling.
It's time for that to change.
DIAGNOSIS
We all know the figures -- nearly half of American adult citizens pay no net income tax and have little stake in an efficient, effective government so long as their entitlements continue. Voter fraud is tacitly tolerated. There is far more corruption at local, state and federal levels than would ever have been accepted half a century ago.
And maybe you see some of the more subtle signs of social collapse that deeply concern me. Open acceptance of public, falling down, puking drunkenness among our young adults, at levels that are starting to approach those of the demoralized members of the British welfare state. Widespread cheating in universities -- among faculty members who plagiarize papers and fake research results. I could go on and you probably have your own list.
This society is deeply hollowed out, corroded, crumbling. We will not fix things politically unless and until we also rebuild our society and reweave the social contract on which it was once built.
You and I will probably differ on a variety of social issues. That's as it should be. But I hope we can agree on some key things:
(1) At the heart of the Founding is a deep commitment to individual dignity, responsibility and accountability. Everything -- everything -- in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution proceeds from this basis.
(2) In order to protect the inalienable rights with which we are endowed "among them life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness", we establish governments which we are free to hold accountable and even to dissolve as need be.
(3) Political and economic freedoms therefore demand an ongoing negotiation among ourselves, at the polls, in legislature and courts, and in the marketplace. Neither chaos nor usurped power may be tolerated, for both destroy day to day opportunities for freedom to flourish. There is no perfect outcome, only sustained and appropriate balancing of competing interests and insights over time.
A CALL TO ACTION
There are 23 days until the election. Get up, get out and help elect Romney/Ryan and a republican Congress. There's too much at stake to stay home or let Obama, Pelosi, Reid win.
If you're in a swing state, your time, donations, energy are needed. Find a local campaign center, make calls from home, knock on doors, do something. Do it with urgency. You might get to know some new people who think like you along the way.
If you're in a hopelessly blue state, well, that's what God made cheap long distance calling plans, online donations and promising local candidates for.
If you're in a 'safe' red state, well, ditto.
If you can, drive voters to the polls on election day. Volunteer to poll watch - and for all our sakes, be sure to vote yourself. And as Trailing Wife notes, double-check your voter registration at your county board of elections, then vote early in the day - calls are now going out that suggest a variety info gathering to facilitate voter fraud on election day.
Do it. Do it NOW.
This election is only the first step, however, critical though it be.
It's hopeless for us to nation build in Afghanistan. It had damned well better not be hopeless for us to rebuild our nation here at home. We need to pursue the military strategy of Take, Hold and Build in our own home territory -- politically, societally -- or we are lost.
Take: We need to take back the narrative about our country. We need to be prepared to actively explain the principles on which this country was founded -- including economic principles. We need to demand that the significant successes of our society be acknowledged even while noting areas that could use improvement.
We need to be vocal against ads that present men as infantile, against sexualization of young girls, against usurpation of parental responsibility by schools and government officials or whatever other issues we each feel strongly about. We will disagree on some of these. That's okay. But let's try to focus on the key issues of freedom, accountability, responsibility.
Above all, we need to make our voices very clearly heard by our elected officials.
We need to speak up, even when it is uncomfortable to do so, in family and other situations. And we need to have something thoughtful, focused and unapologetic to say when we do.
If we are not willing to advance and defend our principles, the game is already ceded to the enemy.
Hold: It's not enough to have a message or even to speak out. We have to follow through. We must hold the terrain through control of our institutions at all levels of government and society. That means making time and energy to participate in political campaign activities. It means donating, knocking on doors, phoning people, talking to neighbors and friends and family. It means continually holding the media accountable for accurate reporting. It means going to local school board meetings and reviewing text books. It means letting universities, charities, candidates know what they must do and represent to get your donations and support. For some of us it means holding religious institutions accountable as well.
And it means doing this against signficant resistence from entrenched people, power and ideology. Just because your patrol takes a town doesn't mean it's yours: you have to be prepared to fight to hold it.
So it is probably a good idea to band together with other people who share your values and concerns. They're there to be found, if you look. You can start with local campaign volunteer groups, among other places. But find like minded people and go work together, or be prepared to be defeated.
Build: Our country and our society are in shambles. They need rebuilding. Building takes time, effort, and vision.
Rebuilding means raising kids and influencing friends to live by the principles we value. It means volunteering for after-school or weekend activities that teach a younger generation how to take responsibility, discover talents, risk and earn rewards in life. It means looking around and deciding whether and how to build ties to neighbors.
Rebuilding means taking advantage of new technologies and opportunities to build economic value by offering goods and services for profit.
And rebuilding means articulating and sharing a new vision for a new time. Digital technologies are already revolutionizing education. How can that support responsive home and community schooling of children? How should we live when self-driving cars and local manufacturing make industrial models obsolete?
Take. Hold. Build.
We are at the very edge of a precipice: politically, socially, economically. The decision is upon us. We are at war, whether we like it or not.
Wresting this country back from the infiltrated left won't come easily, quickly or without sacrifice. You're busy, you're burdened already and maybe you're demoralized about the state of things too.
But if you and I don't get involved now, if we fail to articulate our principles, take back our culture and rebuild towards a vision of the future, we will have surrendered ourselves and future generations to an ideology that tends always and everywhere to authoritarian and totalitarian tyranny. We will have handed victory to those who delight in the destruction of beauty and meaning, to those who sh*t on the symbols of our joint civic life and who revel in hatred.
Our choice.