Sunday, October 16, 2005

Amerigance, Ha!

***

When I was growing up, my parents were fairly representative of Democrats at the time. They approved of LBJ, in no small part because Walter Cronkite suggested they should approve of Lyndon. They disliked and mistrusted Barry Goldwater, because in addition to being a Conservative and supporting things like the Constitution as originally written, he was from California, which in the 1960s was not unlike being from Texas today. And of course, Walter Cronkite implied you could not trust Goldwater, and so it was ordained. Anyway, among other things my parents despaired of, was Americans ever being fully respected in the other nations, especially the ones which think of themselves as the wpitome of culture, and don’t you forget it. The “Ugly American” legend was in full swing; we were too powerful, but the Soviets were somehow restraining themselves. We were too rich, but somehow nations with higher per-capita wealth were never mentioned. And worst of all, we were cruelly imposing our culture, our morals, and our products on every nation unable to defend itself, never mind that the Communists were doing worse and using violence, and the Socialists were doing worse and using the monolith of oligarcic bureacrcacy (as if anyone remembers why, precisely, the Beatles moved to the United States, or why they wrote “The Tax Man”, but I digress). Nope, Uncle Walter solemnly assured us, that whatever was wrong with the world, it came from America.

Fast forward to 2005. Communism is dead in most of the world, and even worse, is not not fashionable. T-shirts of Che only sell when he is sold as a generic rebel; there just doesn’t seem to be the same cachet for sociopathic Communists anymore. Socialism is largely discredited, except in Europe where a losing plan always gets another look, especially where rich hypocrites make themselves feel better by insulting anyone who has accomplished something of merit. Even the newest model of anti-American strategy and grand politics, Global Terrorism, is failing to catch on. Seems the people most affected by Terrorism would prefer to run their own governments, and worst of all, are speaking with American Marines for the most part, instead of parroting the hate slogans from mullahs of questionable sanity. And the fact that countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, and Lebanon are either holding or demanding free elections shows the trend is only moving against the bombers, the Jihadists and the thugs.

Liberals continue to pretend George W. Bush is a failed President. Because pretense is all they have left in the bag.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Excellent analyis. I would, however, quibble with the conclusion.

Liberals continue to pretend George W. Bush is a failed President. Because pretense is all they have left in the bag.

Liberal ideology, comtemporary American style, requires that Bush fail.

Because his policies represent an uncomfortable challenge to the root requirement of all things idealistic: the "willing suspension of disbelief."

Call it the unwilling reversal of disbelief bliss.