On the brink
rayk...@rnsmte.com
December 17, 2009
On the brink
By Victor Volsky
After Richard Nixon defused the 1960s student revolt by abolishing the
draft, the brain trust of the revolutionary left shifted its strategic focus
to Antonio Gramsci's teachings, realizing that it is the intelligentsia, not
the proletariat, that is the true revolutionary force in society; that
cultural dominance, not violent revolt, is the true path to power. A project
known as the Great March through the Institutions was launched. Nearly four
decades later, in November 2008, it triumphed in a historic electoral
victory; the revolutionary wave crested and deposited in the White House
Barack Obama, the most radical president in the history of the republic.
It is a favorite parlor game on the right to speculate whether Obama is a
free agent or a puppet. Actually it is beside the point whether he is the
leader of the "progressive" movement or merely its hood ornament. The point
is that the radical left came to power eager to grasp the rare moment when
all the stars were aligned in its favor, offering the revolutionaries a
realistic chance of achieving their long-cherished goal of turning the U.S.
into a European-style welfare state. It was now or never. Full speed ahead,
and damn the torpedoes!
And so Barack Obama sallied forth to usher in the Age of Aquarius. No one
should have been surprised that the man whose entire previous life
recommended him as a fervent far-left radical would turn out to be exactly
that (after all, the past is prologue). What did come as a surprise to many
was his zeal, his devil-take-the-hindmost approach. President Obama threw
caution to the wind and at breakneck speed set about remaking America in the
socialist mold.
In fact, he had little choice. Obama came to power in no small measure
thanks to an economic collapse. But it is this very recession that makes his
window of opportunity extremely narrow, at most �til the beginning of the
2010 election campaign. Off-year elections nearly always deal a blow to the
ruling party, most certainly during economic downturns. Come election time,
Obama's honeymoon will be long since over and the electorate will be sure to
take out its frustration and anger on his party, further undermining the
president's clout. Just ask Bill Clinton after the 1994 electoral debacle
of the Democrats.
Given the political landscape the left decided on a drastic approach:
President Obama and his Congressional allies would take advantage of their
temporary preponderance and go all in on their program to take control of
three major sectors: health care, education and energy. Speed was of the
essence; while the Republicans are in post-electoral disarray, attack,
attack, attack, overwhelm the enemy's defenses, give him no time to regroup,
and push through the coveted legislation. All the chips were placed on a
blitzkrieg. Using a football analogy, the Democrats threw a Hail Mary pass
into the enemy's end-zone, pinning all their hopes on one daring toss.
In short order, a 787-billion "stimulus" (actually, little more than a slush
fund for the Democratic Party and its allies) was passed, a cap-and-trade
bill began its march through Congress, and the White House opened a massive
campaign advancing the centerpiece of Obama's program: the health care
reform. If the revolutionaries succeed in pushing through their radical
environmental program and socializing the public health sector making up
one-sixth of the national economy, America will be transformed beyond
recognition. The destiny of the free, capitalist society is hanging in the
balance.
However, Newton's Third Law of Motion states for every action there is an
equal and opposite reaction. Extending the football analogy, when the
offense floods the zone, so too does the defense, and both sides have a
chance to come down with the ball. The all-out assault on the American
capitalist system launched by the Democrats with Obama as the battering ram
has run up against stiff resistance. The unwashed masses have woken up and
growled in anger.
The fly-over country, as liberals contemptuously call Middle America, has
sensed a real threat to its freedom and rose to defend the American way of
life. And for the first time in memory, the stranglehold of the left on the
media market has been broken down by the emergence of talk radio, the
conservative blogosphere and Fox News TV. The liberals found themselves in
unchartered waters. Unaccustomed to resistance, they thrashed helplessly
about. Goaded by the so-called "mainstream" press, which is to mainstream
as Cambridge, Massachusetts is to Peoria, Illinois, they lashed out at the
opposition as "troglodytes," "Nazis, "KKK," and of course "racists." But
this time it didn't work. The situation was too dire for the old reliable
standbys to have the desired intimidating effect.
The enormous public debt endangering the future of the country; the sky-high
unemployment numbers showing no signs of coming down any time soon; the
serial blunders of the Obama administration, showing its ineptitude and
confusion; the arrogance of the Congressional Democrats who are apparently
intent on shoving the extremely unpopular reform on a reluctant citizenry --
all feed discontent and cement the opposition. Obama's plummeting
popularity and the rebellion of the previously loyal segment of the
Democratic electorate, the seniors, coupled with the devastating defeats in
the gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia, are a grim warning
to the Democrats, a harbinger of the disaster to come.
The only hope of Obama and his allies is that the American people,
unaccustomed as they are to prolonged activism, will soon get bored and go
back to slumber. Will the enraged electorate have the stamina, the staying
power to continue the fight to the bitter end, until the internal aggression
is beaten back? If it does and the socialist conspiracy is decisively
defeated, the radical left will be dealt a crushing blow from which it might
take decades to recover. If not, America as we know it, in all likelihood
will be finished.