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 Here
in the cradle of liberty we like to think of ourselves as early adopters,
of things like independence, democracy, abolition,
women’s suffrage, public education, private education, professional
sports, microbreweries, indoor plumbing and massively corrupt and mismanaged
public works projects. For nigh on 300 years, where we led, the
rest of the nation followed.
And we continue to lead, courageously championing the latest advances
in science, in technology, in social progress and in multiculturalism.
However, it
has
become obvious
that
the rest
of the country doesn’t want
to go
where
we are
leading.
It’s not that they don’t understand, or are unfamiliar with the territory
we are exploring. They see it every night on their TV’s, double
on weekends and holidays; Janet Jackson’s bared breast, rap videos whose
wanton denigration of women and glorification of violence rivals Al
Qaeda, a dysfunctional and drug-addled Ozzie Osbourne making a millionaires’
mockery of American family values, Howard Stern flipping the bird at
the FCC, Seinfeld’s smug cynicism. They’ve seen it all, and they
want no part of it. Who can blame them?
The true Lords of Globalization, the suits in the boardrooms, penthouses
and corner suites of the world’s multinational corporations, are trying
to sell a sophisticated, secular vision of world development to the
planet’s teeming masses. They see themselves as inheritors of a
tradition stretching back to Leonardo, Michelangelo and the Enlightenment,
shilling science, entertainment and consumerism as the solution to poverty,
pestilence and perverted political philosophies. Unfortunately, they aren’t even
buying that line back in the heartland.
If any homegrown political movement (and what other kind has ever been
successful in America?) wants to seriously challenge the looming Republican
Century it had better come to the table with a firm moral compass. It
needs to get square with God, and build itself on the REAL traditional
American values: rugged individualism, tolerance, protection of the weak
and defenseless, promoting healthy families,chivalry – take that you
neo-feminists – personal honor and responsibility, common sense and an
achievement-based economic system where hard work is rewarded and saving
rather than borrowing is the way to improve one’s status and standard
of living.
The betting in this corner is that the movement in question will not
have anything to do with the Democratic Party as presently constituted. It is more likely to begin
as a disillusioned splinter of the Republicans. Colin Powell’s resignation
today could be an auger of things to come. An admittedly ambitious man,
it has become clear he will not rise to the top job while the Republicans
are in the White House, not with an endless supply of Bushes and Bushoids
waiting in the wings.
The Democratic party, in our book, is basically cooked, run out of ideas
and tied to a declining base of ineffectual losers. They have demonstrated
in two straight elections that the are so deeply mortgaged to the existing
economic power centers that they are incapable of offering
a viable
alternative
to the present politburo. The Republicans put on the better show, threw
the bigger party, and who can blame the American people for wanting to
hang with the swaggering winner over the hesitant Hamlet?
The Dems will probably run poor Hillary in ’08, and she’ll get pulverized
on a scale not seen since George Mc Govern captured an incredible 17
electoral votes. She is doomed to living with an unrequited lust for
power and
the dubious honor of presiding over the dissolution of the Democratic
Party as a force in American politics.
She has made too many enemies during her years at the center of the
maelstrom, and she wasn’t that likeable to begin with. Republicans are
never going to vote for her, and she has already lost a large chunk of the
Democratic electorate with her self-serving and transparent political
positioning. In America today only a Republican woman could win the presidency outright. She
would get all of the Republican votes on principle, and enough of the
sisterhood to tip the balance.
In fact, Condi Rice may be making a run at the White House sooner than
any of us think. If she gets named Secretary of State she would
probably be accepted, popular and successful. And that chair, as we all
know, is only two seats from the head of the table.
Rice article from the
New York Times
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