Taking the Long View
I attended the RightOnline conference on the New Media last weekend and was encouraged by what I saw there. People were giddy over the outpouring of populist activity in the town hall meetings.
Finally there seemed to be a growing awareness of Obama’s radical, leftist agenda and a corresponding lack of support at the grassroots level.
Well, at the risk of being called a killjoy, I have to say that I am not yet ready to break out the champagne.
Don’t kid yourselves. The left will not give up without a fight. And as others have pointed out, an animal is most dangerous when cornered.
I have a feeling that that the fight will get down and dirty from here on in. Just look at what is happening with the boycott of Glenn Beck. It is no coincidence that this boycott started at this moment in time. Fox News has already started toning down their programming, I believe, in response to the boycott of Glenn Beck advertisers by Color of Change.
And Color of Change, a group with the announced agenda of “changing the color of democracy” was started by Van Jones, an Obama associate who is now the Green Jobs Czar for the Obama administration. Sean Hannity had prepared a show for Sunday night on the radical, extremist backgrounds of several of Pres. Obama associates going back to his college days. But Hannity’s show never aired.
Grover Norquist, noted conservative writer and activist, had some very interesting things to say at the RightOnline conference. He talked about how conservatives generally want nothing more than to be left alone. They want to go to work, take care of their families, socialize with their friends, and have as little interference as possible from the government. But, the government will not let them alone unless they become activists. And there’s the paradox: In order to be left alone they have to become involved.
Some at the RightOnline conference talked gleefully about taking back the Congress in 2010 and even the White House in 2012. But we conservatives have to be mindful that the Congress and the White House are only the tip of the iceberg where the American left is concerned.
The contemporary American left has its roots in the progressive movement of the early 20th century. Beginning in the first decades of the 1900’s, the left began to insinuate itself into 3 centers of power, namely, the media, the judiciary, and the schools and universities. And that’s where their power remains to this day, not with Congressmen or the President who, in some ways, are just figureheads.
When Reagan was elected in 1980 conservatives breathed a sigh of relief, drank a glass of bubbly, and then happily went back to their lives hoping for nothing more, as Grover Norquist said, than to be left alone. But now, 30 years later, we are in even more danger of being at the mercy of an all-powerful federal government.
And why is that? I believe it is because conservatives never looked seriously at dismantling the left’s hold on their 3 power centers starting with the grassroots and working up. For the most part it has always been about winning the next national election so that we could go home and be left alone.
It took a century for the American progressives of 1900 to achieve their goals of insinuating themselves into the media, the courts, and the schools and universities.
It may take that long for conservatives to take them back. And it has to happen at a local level, not in Washington DC or even in Trenton. It will take patience, persistence, and careful planning. But now is the time for us to start.
Gayle Kesselman, a physician, is co-chairperson of the New Jersey Citizens for Immigration Control.
Excellent article, Gayle.
It will take an intellectual revolution in order to take back our country. And I believe the most important battle line is in our schools.
Government schools kidnap our children and indoctrinate them with statist propoganda from a very early age. Once the statists have their clutches on a child, it is very difficult for that child to escape with his mind intact. We put warning labels on cigarettes and prohibit sales of alcohol to anyone under 21, but we allow the statists to pour poison into our children’s minds from the pre-K age of 3 until they are of voting age. No wonder there is so much support (yes, support) for statism in America today.
This is why I say that public schools cannot be reformed or redeemed. They must be abolished. If we could only pursue one reform, it should be to completely separate the government from the indoctrination of our children. If we could do that, it would take no more than a generation to achieve real and lasting change.
August 17th, 2009 at 9:27 amGayle, welcome aboard!
With respect to the triumvirate of the media, judiciary and universities, I would argue that the left is already losing their hold on the former. The nightly news programs are a joke and all but on life support. CNN and MSNBC consistently lose out to FOX. Then we have talk radio and the Internet.
If not for these alternative outlets, you would not have seen the dissent at these town halls over the past few weeks. Information is getting out there. The left doesn’t control it anymore.
August 17th, 2009 at 12:15 pmHi Ed,
August 17th, 2009 at 5:25 pmThanks for the kind words. What bothers me more than anything is that I can remember a time, not all that long ago, when public education was actually pretty good. So much has changed in just a few decades. The key is the parents who have to complain when they see their children being indoctrinated. And the parents have to be very persistent. That’s the only way we will see any real change.
Gayle
Hi MIke,
August 17th, 2009 at 5:29 pmI agree that the left is not as dominant in the media as it once was. But they still have a presence in the media far out of proportion to the degree to which they accurately reflect te views of the public at large. Many people still watch ABC, NBC, and CBS News at 11:00 and think they are getting something like the truth and they are not. We still have a lot of catching up to do.
Gayle
Gayle,
Excellent article. Don’t forget the thousands of non-profits that the left has established with the help of billionaire George Soros. They have weaved a web of leftist propaganda based policy making and have hidden under the guise of “community organizing” and “faith based organizations” to carry out their agenda behind closed doors with local community leaders.
Many if not most of them distort the purpose of a 501(c) designation and stretch the rules if not outright break them. There is a plethora of politicking from churches in their “faith based” initiatives. It seems every leftist has the prefix “Reverend” now but this is just a wolf in sheep’s clothing in the worst kind of way. They are manipulating the people who trust in religious institutions to organize against their own country. They are feeding them radical ideas and creating a generation that hates its own country and feels it has done them wrong. This is very dangerous.
An area where this can be seen is in the area of “metropolitics” and “urban renewal” groups. Their goal is to blame the white suburbs for the ills of the cities because of white flight out of the cities. Seems they miss having all the tax income from their former parasitic hosts and now they want to reach out to the suburbs to get some of that back.
We must be on guard and alert even at our local township level and school boards. The Obamabot community organizers are mobilizing and fanning out to all of our small communities and trying to “reshape” America in an image of multicultural paradises that just don’t exist in reality.
August 17th, 2009 at 6:31 pmI liked the article. The thing is we can’t just abolish public schools or any of the other crazy schems the left has imposed upon us and our children because they do have control of our government. No vote would ever pass. But we can do just as the Autor said. PLAN. We can go to schoold board meetings in enough force often enough and demand that the liberals and worse be fired. We have to launch campagns against every one of the intities that speel the demise of our freedoms and liberties with greater planning greater force and greater frequency then the left. We can not give up and and when we have our enemy down we must deliver the coup de grace. Then we need to insist that liberty constitution and freedom minded people replace those we remove. Isn’t that what the left does? We need to fight them at thier own game viciously. We need not appologize or be graceful. They count on these things from us. It shows weekness and it is! There needs to be some concerted conservative action to put in place an actual plan of attack for just this type of action to include list of persons who will take on responsibilities for such actions on a local basis and reporting back on our strengths and results so we can do what in essence is an after action reveiw and address weakness so we can correct them in a timely manner. Otherwise all we are doing is talking.
August 17th, 2009 at 6:52 pmThank you.
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Gayle,
August 17th, 2009 at 6:57 pmIt seems as if the tide is turning. Americans have finally woken up from their deep sleep called “complacency,” only because they had to.
The Left slowly crept in, not tearing down the walls in one fell swoop. But we can take our country back.
Lefty print media is failing miserably and who in their right mind really cares what people, dressed up as “newscasters” with buckteeth have to say? The president isn’t doing so well in the American public’s eye either.
I believe the 2010 elections are important but more so in that conservatives must be elected – The kind that would actually adopt the Republican Party Platform and not just hide behind their boss. (And he covers A LOT of ground!!!)
As long as we stick together, we’ll build that fortress and shield our country.
Good luck to us all. We need it but can do it!
Mark,
August 17th, 2009 at 7:00 pmI couldn’t agree with you more. I wouldn’t be surprised if a large number of readers of this blog have school age children who are being fed a load of nonsense in the public schools. But imagine what would happen if their parents went to the school principal and complained. This is what the left has been doing for years and, I agree, we have to beat them at their own game. We conservatives can’t keep lurching from election to election every 4 years in a panic mode only to return to our private lives after the election relieved that we have beaten the bullet for another term when the GOP wins. We have to rebuild the conservative movement from the bottom up and the schools are a perfect place to start.
Gayle
So I guess we need to do it right!? I’m willing to do my small part as best as I can. Anyone who knows Nila can get in contact with me. I’m willing to put everything on the line for my country and liberty.
August 17th, 2009 at 7:53 pmm
Very good analysis, Gayle, and I like the comments urging conservatives to become more active. We are now reaping the rotten fruit of nearly 100 years of stealth communism, promoted by Fabian and Gramsci. Does anyone know if there is a history of how this stealth communist movement progresed in our country, step by step? If it doesn’t exist yet, I hope someone writes it. When we understand exactly how socialism/communism undermined true American values, we will be in a better position to know how to use our energies and time in fighting back. One thing that comes to mind right away would be staging public debates about socialism/communism vs. American values. These debates have not taken place yet, by name. That’s what makes it a stealth campaign. Let people know the consequences of what they are mindlessly choosing.
August 17th, 2009 at 8:34 pmMark – You mean you don’t know the irreverent Nila?!?…
Madeline – Oh my gosh – Gramsci. I had all but forgotten that *&^%! name!!!
August 17th, 2009 at 9:37 pm“Stealth communism” shouldn’t be that difficult to locate. I usually do searches with a series of subjects in order to find what I’m looking for.
Example: Gramsci brainwashing books. Let me know how you make out.
p.s. Thank you for shaking up my memory.
p.p.s. Try this: http://www.crossroad.to/Quotes/communism/marx-gramsci.htm
Deciding to home educate in the 1980s was not only a blessed gift from my husband and me to our children, but it blessed us. It was a sacrifice worth all. Of course the majority of children will continue to be schooled in government institutions, but for those parents who truly want to make a difference, they must home educate rather than wasting precious time trying to convince Boards of Education, tenured teachers, and ensconced fat cat educrats.
In the past, it was generally believed that 10% of the population makes things happen; 10% know something is happening; and 80% don’t know anything is happening at all. That breakdown may be somewhat outdated with the recent activism at tea parties and town hall meetings, and hopefully on 9/11 in D. C. But I believe that the 10% who make a difference will become the norm again. Therefore, I have hopes that the burgeoning home educated, who are now adults, and still mostly conservative, will represent a larger positive portion of that 10% in the future. With more of them coming up in the ranks, we should be encouraging others to home educate whenever possible.
Further, as a founding member of a local financial review committee, we regularly attend Mayor and Council and School Board meetings. Our presence is known, respected, and, to date, we have been able to encourage a substantial reduction in our municipal budget while also recommending new sources of revenue. Some members of our committee are former CFOs and CEOs who understand finance and represent both major parties. In essence, we are taxpayers willing to work for what we believe in…and go beyond the talk.
I end with a mild caution. Without question, the great success social media rendered to share information regarding Obamacare that provoked recess rallies is a very positive turn of events. Yet, I wonder how long this hype can be sustained? Having home educated and now being part of this local financial ad hoc committee, I admit it’s grunt work and not nearly as sexy as blogs, e-mails, Facebook, and Twitter. But, this grunt work, accompanied by patience, persistence, and planning as Gayle wrote, is essential for the long haul. The caution is that we risk being counterproductive with too much social media talk that absorbs the time we should be walking.
To be able to both talk the talk and walk the walk is certainly possible as evidenced by some involved leaders who also regularly post on blogs. But, for the masses, who would normally choose between one or the other, it may be wise that they be guided to less talking and more doing. That is our challenge.
August 17th, 2009 at 11:15 pm