I have to admit I was surprised by the turnout for the 9/12 rallies. I’m not often surprised, expecting the worst as I do, most of the time.
I read a biography of Jefferson (way over my head; I didn’t understand half of it) back when I was in Elementary School. One thing I took away, though, was that Jefferson cherished a basic belief in the wisdom of the people. Let discussion be unfettered; let every party have its say, and the people (he believed) would choose the right argument most of the time.
Lincoln, coming along later, at a time when public debate was the most violent it’s ever been in this country, seemed a little less sanguine, but still generally confident in common sense of the people, when he said (reportedly), “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time. But you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.”
Me, I’ve grown cynical, living in a day when truth has ceased to be even a matter of interest for many of the most respected thinkers in the world. I remember C. S. Lewis’ line from That Hideous Strength—“They have an engine called the Press whereby the people are deceived.” I’ve never used the word “sheeple,” but I’d begun to fear that was what we’d become.
But I read about all those people in Washington D.C. on Saturday, and suddenly I have a little hope. There are (it appears) limits to the amount of nonsense the American people can be force-fed before they react.
Maybe that’s why Minnesota’s so liberal. Maybe we’re just too polite up here to tell our jailers, “You gave us gruel yesterday, and gruel today, and we’re sick of gruel! Especially when you’re billing us for it.”
Unfortunately, Lars, I will have to disagree with you on this one. I don’t believe, ultimately, there is any limit to the amount of nonsense Americans can be force-fed. The only problem our liberal overlords are experiencing right now is trying to force-feed too much at one time. If we look back over the last 100+ years, it is clear that the amount of nonsense the American people are willing to ingest is limitless so long as the individual dose is small enough.
The response of the feds to the crowds in Washington was to appeal to “the new silent majority.” They couldn’t care less what those of us on the right think. They are smarter than us and we should be falling in line with they benevolent rule.
I don’t disagree. I guess I was just surprised that there was any limit at all, even one of mere quantity. It still leaves the situation brighter than I’d judged it to be.
The people who fight the loudest for the right to abort their embryos tend not to have as many children. I could be wrong, but I think we’re starting to see the effects.
I believe that Obama will be the peak of the wave.