Destruction of a cultural consensus can occur in many ways. It begins with a devolution of language, as commonly understood words acquire shades of gray. The need to parse simple declarative sentences to discern possible secondary or even tertiary interpretations has been elevated into a Clintonian art form that only the NEA could love.
Evil and duplicity masquerading as fairness and compassion now dominate our political discourse, and sometimes the Newspeakian camouflage succeeds in its goal of suppressing reason and supplanting it with “well-meaning” policies and actions that promote cultural suicide.
Removing segments of the population from the tax rolls is a prime example of this. The Left LIKES the symbolic egalitarianism and LOVES the malevolent promise of an ever-growing class of non-taxpaying voters. These folks need never again factor in the tax implications of their incessant clamor for an ever-larger piece of the economic pie that they no longer help to create. And the Demonrats [not a typo] know that cloaking reality in the linguistic smog of vague “entitlement” rhetoric frees this underclass from any potential mini-twinge of guilt that prior generations of the non-producing and/or non-participatory might have felt.
Meanwhile, bereft of articulable principle and rendered mute by the relentless class warfare being waged by the socialist media, Republicans cannot make the case for the merits of maintaining even a minimal level of tax liability for ALL citizens. The Right is unable to push for the abolition of income taxes, or for a minimal flat tax, or for a consumption tax to replace the Federal income tax —- because its spokesmen cannot (or will not) explain to our poorly-educated (and largely indifferent) population the most basic economic tenets.
In addition, sometimes what is NOT said is just as important as what is. Those who would accelerate our national loss of cultural consensus know — but do not say — that once voters are removed from the tax rolls, it is political suicide to try to put them back on. Only the Right is deluded enough to harbor the notion that such political “compassion” is reversible, and foolish enough to acquiesce to this trend while in majoritarian status in all three branches of the Federal government.
So many other contentious issues that swirl around us seem to be unrelated, but clearly fall into the overall societal upheaval that inevitably accompanies a deliberate, protracted, and tortuous effort to demolish long-standing standards of decency and behavior. The inversion of language has left us with “free speech” that is anything but free, and “political correctness” that couldn’t be more erroneous.
Biblically-forbidden “lifestyles” and “choices” are mainstreamed and exalted on TV and in print, while the Boy Scouts are attacked as a “hate group.” The United Way unhesitatingly risks alienating contributors by siding with the Boy Scout bashers. The delightful gentlemen of NAMBLA are unafraid of societal stigmatization and abhorrence, and the KKK can “adopt-a-highway” in an American state. Jim Bakker is destroyed, Jesse Jackson does 48 hours of penance, and the media sees no moral, intellectual, or cultural inconsistencies in any of this —- and denounces anyone who disagrees as intolerant, sexist, a racist, a homophobe, a right-wing extremist, a religious fanatic, a gun nut, or any other slur that they think might cower the opposition into silence. A dissolute Ted Kennedy interrogates an honorable John Ashcroft on matters of integrity and the rule of law. It would be comical were it not so tragic.
We are all aware of the Left’s treachery and breathtaking hypocrisy, profound innumeracy (that’s mathematical illiteracy), blind loyalty to party affiliation (that may change when the FDR/JFK Democrats pass on to that Great Commune in the sky), and devotion to the manipulation of those subgroups even less enlightened and more malleable than themselves. So it is painful to concede that we on the Right have lost The Debate. Government WILL grow, albeit slower under the Republicans. There will be more programs, greater entitlements, fewer taxpayers (each paying more than any conceivable “fair share”), more Balkanization and group animosities, and less cultural consensus.
The addicted populace will not withdraw from governmental subsidies without being dragged into national rehab. Unfortunately, that will probably occur only AFTER violent internal upheaval. With the Chinese vultures patiently circling overhead to seize such an opportunity, it should be kept in mind that there are even worse outcomes than national and cultural suicide.