A Troubled Thanksgiving 2009
tj
A Troubled Thanksgiving 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Dennis Prager
I have always loved Thanksgiving. It is my favorite national holiday.
It reminds Americans how fortunate we are to be Americans. And it
unites Americans around gratitude, the greatest human trait. Gratitude
is the mother of both goodness and happiness. The ungrateful cannot be
either happy or good.
So, it is with a heavy heart that I write that my mood on this
Thanksgiving will not be the same as on any other I have ever
experienced.
My gratitude will be marred by a dark cloud.
Going Rogue by Sarah Palin FREE
Not the cloud of economic crisis; Americans have lived through worse
economic crises.
Not the cloud of war. America is at war in Afghanistan, and troops
remain in Iraq in the war against Islamic terror; but Americans have
fought far more bloody wars.
Not the cloud of politics; whatever an American's political
persuasion, every American has lived through political battles and
political losses.
No, this is a new cloud. This is the cloud of "transformation." This
is what candidate Barack Obama promised; this is what President Barack
Obama seeks to achieve -- nothing less than the transformation of
America.
But those of us who love America and its unique value system don't
want either America or its value system transformed. The former can
always be improved, but should never be transformed. And the latter
should always remain what it has been for centuries: the American
Trinity -- E Pluribus Unum, In God We Trust and Liberty -- as well as
limited government and individualism. It also includes an abiding
belief in American exceptionalism, meaning that America has usually
known better what is good for the world than any world body, that
America's moral compass is generally more accurate than that of other
nations, let alone the United Nations. This is not because Americans
are born better or any such nonsense, but because American values have
produced a particularly uncynical, idealistic nation, more willing to
die for others than any nation in recorded history.
Every element of this is being transformed, perhaps permanently. The
American economy and/or its health system may be fatally damaged if
either the House or Senate health care bill is passed. America will
descend under a mountain of debt that may permanently undermine the
power of the dollar. If this happens, America will no longer be the
preeminent economic power of the world. The terrible political and
human consequences of this will be felt around the globe.
The abandonment of American exceptionalism -- President Obama said
recently that he believes in American exceptionalism just as Brits
believe in British exceptionalism and Greeks believe in Greek
exceptionalism -- will lead to America becoming just another nation.
When you no longer consider yourself special, you cease doing much
that is special.
Here is the bottom line: I take nothing good for granted. That
includes the future of the blessed country in which I live. A country
as good as America is an aberration. There is no reason to believe
that it will always remain an aberration; and those in power on
Thanksgiving 2009 loathe the idea of America being different from all
other nations.
Every great civilization has declined. There is nothing that
guarantees America will be any different. And those in power on
Thanksgiving 2009 see America more as a pompous civilization than a
great one. So its decline from its self-perceived greatness is not
only not a tragedy, but it's a welcome respite from arrogance.
The idea that people should first take care of themselves, then their
family, then their neighbors and then other nations is also an
American aberration. The norm, advocated by those in power on
Thanksgiving 2009, is to want to be taken care of by the state, have
the state take care of everyone else and abandon other countries (such
as Afghanistan) to their fate, just as other nations are willing to
do.
As it happens, I am in Africa this Thanksgiving, volunteering with my
son to distribute mosquito nets and other lifesaving necessities to
the poorest of the poor in Zambia and Zimbabwe. Not coincidentally, it
is an American charity (Rock of Africa) that has organized this trip.
While half a world away, my heart is in America this Thanksgiving. But
for the first time, it is a worried and unsettled American heart.
Nevertheless, though my mood is dark, it is not pessimistic. The very
narrow victories in the House and Senate on health care reform,
despite Democrats' overwhelming majorities in both Houses, tell me
that Americans are not ready to abandon the values that make our
country unique. And that is something to be thankful for on this
troubled Thanksgiving 2009.
thomas p.
"tj" <timjo...@hushmail.com> skrev i meddelelsen
news:42f904d4-4ebc-4f0f...@l13g2000yqb.googlegroups.com...
I would truly like to believe that the above is meant to be funny; surely
nobody can be so arrogant or so unaware of reality. Unfortunately I
know better. What is worse is that people will read this and admire it.
snip
Stratum101
> A Troubled Thanksgiving 2009
>
> Tuesday, November 24, 2009
>
> Dennis Prager
>
> I have always loved Thanksgiving. It is my favorite national holiday.
Only one week to the Army-Navy game. "U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!"
Hey, what's in this turkey?
> [Prager is in a dark mood as he goes off to Africa.]
Bwana, would you like your dinner with white or dark meat?
> [He says that America like all civilizations will inevitably decline.]
I saw "2012". Post-cataclysmic civilization will make
procreation mandatory... like six or seven times daily if one
is up to it, and you'll see a real decine in Internet.
PS - Prager's at home in L.A. when it slides into
Santa Monica Bay.
MarkA
>
> A Troubled Thanksgiving 2009
>
> Tuesday, November 24, 2009
>
> Dennis Prager
>
>
> But those of us who love America and its unique value system don't want
> either America or its value system transformed. The former can always be
> improved, but should never be transformed.
This is an interesting point. Would it be a bad thing for America to be
"transformed"? Transformed into what? Is it good to have an economic
system whereby the top executives of Enron, already making millions of
dollars a year, can rob their wage-earning employees of their entire
life's savings just to make their own nest eggs fatter? I'm all
in favor of business success and entrepreneurship, but history shows that
the less restrictions and regulations there are on business, the more the
rich eat the poor. Perhaps instead of putting so much emphasis on "free
enterprise", we might put a little more on protecting the working class
from the excesses of the ruling class. I think most former Enron
employees would agree.
>
> Every element of this is being transformed, perhaps permanently. The
> American economy and/or its health system may be fatally damaged if
> either the House or Senate health care bill is passed. America will
> descend under a mountain of debt that may permanently undermine the
> power of the dollar.
The health care system is already fatally damaged. Anyone who believes
that it can continue to grow in the directions it is already is nuts. It
would be nice to have a comprehensive rethinking of the entire system from
the ground up, but this is America, and the best we can realistically hope
for is more bandaids and duct tape.
>
> The idea that people should first take care of themselves, then their
> family, then their neighbors and then other nations is also an American
> aberration. The norm, advocated by those in power on Thanksgiving 2009,
> is to want to be taken care of by the state, have the state take care of
> everyone else and abandon other countries (such as Afghanistan) to their
> fate, just as other nations are willing to do.
>
There is a difference between providing a "safety net", and having people
"taken care of by the state". There is no denying that some will abuse
the safety net, but that is a poor argument for not having a strong one.
--
MarkA
Keeper of Things Put There Only Just The Night Before
About eight o'clock
anonymous
Each country must strive the make themselves the country they want to be
- and each country does. Here in Canada Canadians take health care very
seriously. We believe that it is important that Canadians everywhere be
given equal access to health care. It means that many people in this
country live where in other countries they die. For example, drugs for
cancer can cost $600 a day for a year - who has that kind of money?
What insurance company is prepare to cover an average joe's 1 million
dollar drug expensive for chemo drugs? How much would his premiums be
to have that kind of insurance. A guy I know needed a special drug
that cost $5000.00 a month and the guy just retired with a $4000.00 a
month pension. That is why I like living in my country for the same
reason you like living in yours. The values you cherish as a citizen of
your country have been maintained in the same way that the values of my
country have been maintained. That makes planet earth awesome becaues
we can have it all - except eternal life.