Still Clueless after all These Years

(with apologies to Simon & Garfunkel)

With the exception of the 1992-1996 Presidential election, the Democratic Party has been in steady decline since the presidency of Jimmy Carter. That's very close now to 24 years. Yet reading what they say on the Internet, hearing what they say in the mainstream media, and watching them on television, shows that the average Democrat is still as clueless now as they were when Ronald Reagan entered the White House. Democrats: here are a few clues for you. Unless you're totally brain-dead, you'll take them to heart, and stop working against yourself and the American People:

Clue #1: Most Americans believe in a strong defense. They were not fooled by John Kerry's words. They were able to call up and verify (through Google, thomas.gov, and half a dozen other Internet sites) John Kerry's consistent penchant of voting against national defense, against funding intelligence, against military modernization. BTW, Hillary has an equally stained record on national defense, but go ahead and nominate her. I know you have to learn everything the hard way...

Clue #2: Most Americans think we're at war, and that it's critical to our continued existence to win that war. Most of us also believe it's best that the war be fought on the terrorist's home ground than on ours. We have a pretty darned good record of winning on other people's turf (Mexican war, Spanish-American war, World War I, World War II), and don't expect that to change now. We're disgusted with the political failure to allow our military to win the other two Twentieth-Century conflicts, Korea and Vietnam. The motto "never again" is very real to us...

Clue #3: Most Americans believe that safety and security are more important than their pocketbooks. Once they feel safe and secure, THEN the economy is in play. If you're not safe, if at any moment your life may be snuffed out by a terrorist's attack, a paycheck is not the main thing on your mind.

Clue #4: Speaking of the economy, most Americans are not stupid. They can read, they understand such arcane subjects as statistics and probability, and they can make their own decisions. Feeding them bullshit about the state of the economy when they can access the figures for themselves, or hear them on "alternative" media sources, only makes you look dumb, and shows your contempt for the "average Joe". It may make you feel superior, but it costs you elections.

Clue #5: Most Americans are people of strong moral conviction. They don't like liars, frauds, elitist snobs, and people that try to force an amoral agenda down our throats with massive misuse of judicial power. Most of us believe in "live and let live", but we get rather testy when "alternative lifestyles" are rubbed in our face with a "you don't have any choice" taunt. We have a tendency to go negative after that, and that could be rather nasty...

Clue #6: Most Americans have read the Constitution, something it seems our lawmakers are deficient in - especially Democratic lawmakers. They understand that the Constitution GUARANTEES rights from assault by the Government, not grants them. They understand that our rights are sacrosanct, and MUST be respected by government, or government loses its mandate to govern. That includes that dreaded Second Amendment you detest so much. More and more Americans are becoming disgusted with the assault on all our freedoms, and are willing to do something about it. At this point, what they're doing is limited to the ballot box. If that doesn't work, we may have to resort to why the Second Amendment was included in the first place. For an additional clue, read the ENTIRE second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence. There are some revealing words there. Remember, too, that 3/4 of the military is, and has been for a long time, conservative. You DO understand that the military are the folks that are trained and indoctrinated in the use of weapons, don't you? The membership of the National Rifle Association also heavily leans Republican, as well.

Clue #7: Most Americans don't really CARE what other people in the world think about us. We've had a good long look at the Twentieth Century, and find that most of the rest of the world is a total mess, and has been for quite some time. Most Americans are also Bible readers, and understand that there is both reason and comfort to be found there, and the answer to every question that we might ask. Matthew chapter 6, verses 4 & 5 most often come to mind when we think about foreign comment.

Clue #8: Most Americans also believe that the tradidional family unit is the most important model for success. Statistics back this up 100%. While a few people beat the odds, the majority of successful people come from two-parent homes with strong moral values. They also see the Republican party as not only representing those beliefs, but encouraging and supporting them. That's why George Bush is gaining commitment from the Black community from its traditional Democratic lock-step, but why he takes a significant portion of the Hispanic vote - a demographic that's fast becoming more important than Blacks.

We're going to quit there. That's about all you can take at one sitting. Let me recommend that you on the far left, the not-quite-so-far left, and the left-of-center left get out into the real world more often. Look at what life is like outside your cities. Learn what it's like for people who earn their living "by the sweat of their brow". Get to know someone who owns a small business, and see his struggles to succeed. Most of all, for those of you in Academia, get out of your ivory towers and start learning what the rest of what this country already knows - that you are basically over-educated under-achievers, with little connection to the real world. Even worse, that's the way you LIKE it. That's ok, I guess, but it leaves you very limited.

The best time in my military career was when I worked at Wiesbaden Airbase in 1971-75, with some of the most interesting people in the world. There was no topic that was off-limits, and while we sometimes disagreed, the level of intellectual discussion was always high, and the ideas and beliefs expressed were far from shallow or insubstantial. Most of us had some college, and most of us were in the upper 10% of those tested by the military. ALL of us were junior or mid-level NCOs, and all of us were comfortable with who we were, and where we were going. We were from all over the country, but we had one thing in common: a desire to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States, and to bear true faith and allegience to the same".

That's what most of Middle America is all about.