To conservatives it seems inconceivable that Americans bought into the Democrat/Obama narrative, but is it really that much of a surprise? The power of the culture is the simple and obvious explanation.
Think about it. Over 50 million children every day go to schools whose curriculum, most teachers and administrators are secularist modern liberals. Those who don’t have strong counter-culture (yep, we’re the counter-culture now) parents are indoctrinated to become little Democrat lemmings. Over 20 million young people attend American colleges and universities totally dominated by professors and administrators that are more or less hostile to traditional especially religious and America’s Founding values. Wonder why under-30s voted overwhelmingly for Obama? I don’t.
A large majority of apolitical Americans get their news and information from the increasingly corrupt mainstream media. They never listen to talk radio, watch Fox news or visit conservative websites or blogs. As we all know, this media is dominated by left-wing, progressive, liberals, all the very same thing! And we wonder why these people buy into Obama’s class warfare welfare state obfuscations. We shouldn’t.
These same Americans are entertained and informed by industries (Hollywood, publishing, Madison Ave., etc.) that are as hostile as academia is to traditional American values. We are surprised these people give a failing president four more years? We shouldn’t be.
If we don’t fight for the culture within these professions in some way, politics alone will always come up against the secular welfare state worldview that underlies the cultural air we all breathe; and that eventually determines the direction and health of our society.
Yes, I’ve been saying the same thing for years: http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/articles/0503/0503artsfunding.htm
Great stuff, Thomas. Why don’t you join us Liberty21 and let’s do something about it: http://www.facebook.com/Liberty21Institute.
Is Liberty 21 solely a Facebook thing?
I’m not on Facebook, nor Twitter. I don’t even own a cell phone. I’m a happy Luddite,
So I must pass on anything requiring a Facebook connection.
Congratulations, Thomas! We need Luddites!
No it’s definitely not. I only do the FB thing because one has to nowadays. But we’re working on an website and a number of other things. I have your e-mail, so I’ll connect with you that way. I’m heading out of town for a couple days shortly, so my connection with the non-Luddite world will be a little spotty, but I’ll touch base soon. Thanks!
Lets see if I’ve got this right, we are wrong to listen to teachers and professors (educated people). Instead, we should be listening to talk radio and Fox news (uneducated bigots). Wow I’m so glad we got that sorted out…
Prustage: yes, statistics show that the values an individual holds are more important for a productive and successful life than is the number of academic degrees one has. This is especially true if one’s degree is in the notoriously undemanding field of Education, which has the lowest average admission scores of any field of academia, by a good measure. The worst college students go into Education.
Although there are good teachers and conscientious professors in the world, most simply are not well educated at all (see above), and their opinions should not be given any credibility. However, that is true of all people: one should judge every claim by testing its facts and logic, not the credentials of the person who offers it. The latter is a logical fallacy called argumentum ad verecundiam.
Applying that test, it is indeed clear that one learns much more that is true and valuable to know from talk radio and Fox news than from the average (or even well above average) Education degree holder or graduate of another non-scientific college program. But all claims should be judged on the basis of facts and logic, not the individual making the claim.
Better late than never I guess. That it has taken this long for conservatives to get the lightning flash of awareness that it is indeed the culture that is driving the politics really shows just how remote we’ve become. I think of it as the Mayberry Syndrome.
Our sphere of influence has been shrinking dramatically over the years as we have lived from one election cycle to another oblivious to the major cultural changes our country has undergone. Our so-called leaders are still riding around in their antique Gipper-Mobile under the delusion that it is forever 1980.
Hopefully this failed election will be the hard kick in the pants we need to get us into the culture games big time. We’ll see.