I keep hearing and seeing the “divided America” language in the press and on airwaves. Is it just me, or is it all coming out of the left? It is as if they are trying to “talk down” the stock market of our common good. Those of us whose IQ’s are north of our shoe-sizes and whose media reach extends beyond CBS know that the division is negligible. But, there is a real danger in the continued bombardment of the American psyche that this notion will enter the vernacular under “commonly held beliefs” which include “Bush is a stupid draft dodger” and “Christians hate homosexuals.” These are statements that are patently false, but repeated often enough that they roll unchallenged off the tongues of Peter Jennings and his ilk.
On its own, the divided America belief is not harmful. The concern I have is with the vitriol with which the “red” half of the divide is characterized. A particularly nasty comparison is making the circles of the liberal chatologists. It is that W and the GOP in their “seizure” of power are “just like the Nazis” in the 1930’s. It’s pretty easy to ignore when the great political scientist, Linda Ronstadt compares the Bush administration to a “bunch of Hitlers,” but when the charge gets repeated and sent out over the airwaves by the likes of liberal talk radio hosts like Leslie Marshall out of Los Angeles, it gets a bit worrisome. On Hannity and Colmes the other night, Ms. Marshall made the accusation that the Nazis took away people’s freedoms just like the Patriot Act is doing. Even Alan Colmes, the show’s liberal, was horrified by her statements and went out of his way to distance himself. The country singer, Darryl Worley has a song, “Have you Forgotten,” that reminds us of the horror visited upon us by 9/11. With the degradation of the school system, I worry that we might forget the real horror of the Nazis. For Marshall to put the Patriot Act anywhere near the actions of the sick bunch of thugs that ruled Germany and brought the horror of World War II and the “Final Solution” to the world is repulsive and inexcusable.
If you need a reminder, and as a Rumblings reader I doubt you do, there was a superlative show on PBS last night (have you ever noticed that the really good shows are on either really late or when they are doing fundraisers!) titled “Hitler’s Search for the Holy Grail” hosted by Michael Wood. It explores the creation of the mythology that supported the SS. These were truly sick, sick people. No democratically elected American administration should EVER be compared to this depravity.
Unfortunately, this level of hyperbole is not new. Redstater himself challenged then candidate General Wesley Clark in the Noshville Restaurant the day of the Tennessee Democratic Primary to distance himself from Michael Moore and the accusation that the President has been AWOL. “You and I are former officers, you know you don’t get an Honorable Discharge if you’ve been AWOL, General,” said your humble scribbler. “I don’t know the facts, do you?” was his response. This unwillingness to run away from the outrageous is at the root of Democratic losses. The little General (I consider myself “average” in height, but I stood a good head taller) withdrew from the restaurant with his staff pushing him past me. He withdrew from the race the next morning.
As I write this, my position is evolving. Don’t worry, I’m not doing that thing liberals love conservatives to do: “growing.” We are divided. There I’ve said it. I was looking at this morning’s breakfast coffee cake. About 3/4ths of the cake is on one side of the plate…a small sliver, barely enough for ½ a serving is on the other side. That is the kind of “divided” we are. The irony is that sliver keeps yelling at the rest of the cake demanding that they be included. These are the folks W is supposed to “reach out to,” and if he doesn’t it only confirms that he’s in the grip of the “right wing religious zealots.”
But this sliver has pushed us to a dangerous verbal abyss. There were some on the left that had the honesty the weekend before the election to ponder how it was that their rhetoric was closer to Osama Bin Laden than mainstream America…but that honesty is in short supply on the western side of the aisle. It is incumbent on those of us that truly are “mainstream” (look under “normal”) to call the merchants of ludicrous on their outrages. Maybe then more on the left will have the courage of Alan Colmes to distance themselves from this insanity and we can all step back from the abyss.