The Fence Sitters

I am amused by a group of self-proclaimed intellectuals, who consider themselves above and slightly detached from the fray of the current cultural war. This is mostly composed of centrists, center right, and libertarians. The progressives are pretty clear on where they stand...get George Bush out of office or they are leaving the country (As I've heard some say). Hmmm...a hidden incentive to assure George Bush gains reelection.

While I consider myself a conservative libertarian, having a discussion with a dyed-in-the-wool libertarian is enlightening at best and totally frustrating at worst. As far as I am concerned, libertarians, as a group, would do great in Siberia or Alaska with at least one mile between family groups. I subscribe strongly to the libertarian ideal of minimal government. I do not subscribe at all strongly to the distorted live-and-let-live mantra they govern their actions by. As long as you are not doing anything that would harm me, I won't bother you and I expect the same from you. Goodness, this is as utopian a view of human nature as you can get and does not take one ounce of consideration for the unintended consequences from the actions of persons or groups of persons that cannot be seen immediately. In short, they are bloody naive.

These are very strange times we live in. Every particular party or group has some extreme view of the future and the moderates or centrists have no clue what to do but to be seduced into following one of these radical groups, be they left, right, up, or down.

30-40-30

30%, 40%, 30%

This is a very unscientific representation of the current cultural war and the percentage of combatants in three significant areas. Both 30%'s represent very, very different world views. The 40% represents the battlefield of ideas with the spun, the sheeple, the uninvolved, the too-busy ones. What about that "silent majority" we heard about in the '80's and 90's? I don't know. I do know that this "40%" now has unprecidented power to shape the future of our country...in fact, the future of the world. Unfortunately, they are mostly disenfranchised, either by battle fatigue or ignorance.

Now is the time to make a choice for:

The good feelings group

or

The logical and grounded group

There is no middle ground anymore.

Forbidden Words

Most of us had heard of George Carlin's Seven Forbidden Words (not necessarily the words themselves), although they don't seem so forbidden in the media these days. When I was trying to look up the reference to such matters, I was surprised at the number of web sites that talked about "forbidden words". Usually, my forbidden words are the trite words of the year or month. The word "scenario" nearly drove me nuts in the early seventies. The word of today is "space" to describe a marketing segment or any particular grouping with common elements. Every year we are faced with a new fashionable word or phrase that all the up and comers use with reckless abandon.

Friends, there is a much more insidious group of words, however, that is undermining our civilization, and I would respectfully request that they be taken out of the daily lexicon for a period of no less than five years. This is a preliminary list and subject to revision and suggestion (with their brief equivalents):

ACLU = A Catastrophic Legal Undermining
ADD = Another Dumb Disease and generator of pharmaceutical revenue and doctor fees
ADD (2) = Adult Discipline Deficiency
affirmative action = lower standards, quotas, discrimination, racism...oops
compassion = wealth redistribution or ideas crammed down my throat
diversity = quotas, victimization, racism...oops again
fairness = let the minority call the shots
GMO = Inadequately tested genetically modified organism foisted into our food supply
inclusive = lower standards
International A.N.S.W.E.R. = Accumulation of Nonsensical Scum Which Evades Reason, aka neo-communists
MoveOn.org = Don't we wish they would?
racist or racism = prejudice at worst, high standards at best
self-esteem = emphasis on feelings rather than personal growth
social justice = balance the scales to my world view or I take that which is not mine to take
starvation = wealth redistribution with no reduction of starvation
termination = uninformed choice supporting multibillion dollar industry
tolerance = tolerate everything in line with my world view
undocumented worker = illegal alien
UN = UnNatural way to resolve international conflict

Religion is the opium of the masses...

Karl Marx would roll over in his grave if he knew his theories, which are supported by the radical left, would yield the a revised version of this slogan to be: Liberalism is the opium of the masses...

I think Lenin already knew that when he described Western communist apologist leftists as "useful idiots".

I just had an epiphany of sorts a few minutes ago on how all this is tied together. For you Baby Boomers with specks of gray in your hair, remember the saying, "If it feels good, do it?"

Connect the dots...opium...good feeling...do what ever your heart desires...

I made a decision about a month ago to avoid association with anyone even close to the radical left's mindset. Frankly, it is not very intellectually stimulating. To talk to them is like talking to a tape recorder. They all say the same thing. There is no other truth except their truth and they, at all costs must maintain their loving and compassionate stupor AND most importantly, hate Bush.

As Mr. Stossel would say, "GIVE ME A BREAK!"

Clarity

If the Internet is good for one thing, it's got to be the most efficient distribution tool for the latest joke and retreads of old jokes. But, more than that, it has become a tool for fighting the cultural war that we have found ourselves immersed in. A friend from New Zealand sent me a link to a columnist named Dennis Prager. What I admire about his writing is the moral and cause/effect clarity that he brings and records on a weekly basis. His site (http:www.dennisprager.com) seems to be down these last few days, however, here is an archive of his recent pieces: http://www.townhall.com/columnists/dennisprager/archive.shtml

Curiously, when I first started reading his work, my first impression was that he was a conservative Christian. However, it was soon revealed that he was a liberal Jew who had become a conservative Jew. He goes into that a bit.

Dennis pulls no punches about his view of the destructive force modern day liberalism is having on our society. I am certainly interested in your impressions, so let me know.