The Amazingly Durable American Spirit

So, here we all are. The news is filled with new versions of the same story. The movement within our government driven by Progressive ideology is steaming full boar towards the cliff, and Americans are not happy at all about that. The latter part of that statement gives me great comfort and hope in the American dream and the American spirit.

The Progressive Movement has gained much traction over the past several decades, and this has been the lament of so many conservative Americans who have been desperately trying to expose the ideology for what it truly is to those center and center-right Americans willing to give it a try despite all the historical evidence of where it all leads. This traction would not have been possible without the systematic takeover of our governmental systems that has been in motion for nearly a century.

While we regularly deride the bias within our media and our educational system, we rarely ask how it became to be this way. In my opinion, I find these two specific instances to be interrelated, as our media is stocked with people that have been fully immersed in the ideology from the journalism programs in our educational system, which is run lock, stock and barrel by leftist ideologues. This is no coincidence, and we can note the influence throughout our history of allowing the Progressive ideology to become acceptable as American ideology.

Americans have regularly and historically rejected this ideology, with some exceptions, dating all the way back to the late 1700s when we officially shed our moniker of Colonist in favor of the recognition of our true American identity. In those days, the people considered themselves Americans but had yet truly declared it to the world. On July 4, 1776, the thirteen states of America unanimously united for autonomy and freedom against the very force in which Progressive ideology stands. As such, if your intent is to transform the American government into something which does not resemble the Republic which was founded, there must exist a systematic revision of ideals and values over the course of time.

In the 1930s, Americans desperately seeking “Change” elected their first and only king. FDR was an early American Progressive, who said in his acceptance speech:

“Throughout the nation men and women, forgotten in the political philosophy of the Government, look to us here for guidance and for more equitable opportunity to share in the distribution of national wealth... I pledge you, I pledge myself to a new deal for the American people... This is more than a political campaign. It is a call to arms.”

FDR kept his promise, installing socialism into our national existence. It is this very socialism which is now, among many other forces, dragging our nation into the depths of bankruptcy, insolvency, debt and unsustainable spending. You will be hard pressed to find any liberal, democrat or Progressive that has a bad thing to say about The American King. He retained office until death and long past precedent – a true indicator of Progressive ideology: spitting in the faces of our founders and their ideals. But, his policies were forever kept and praised by those who form the minds of the children living under this New Deal.

In the 1940s, President Truman was a strong supporter of the creation of the United Nations – the reinvention of the failed League of Nations. This was yet another Progressive move for America to relegate its autonomy to the whims of other nations in the world – something which our founders would have certainly opposed as the antithesis of America’s providence. Additionally, attempting to co-opt FDR’s New Deal momentum, Truman attempted to slam what was comically dubbed the “Fair Deal” through a new Republican majority. This so-called “Fair Deal” included pro-union, aggressive civil rights programs, and … wait for it … national health insurance. All that succeeded in Truman’s deal was The Housing Act of 1949. We’re all aware of how well Progressives have been handling this issue today. Yet again, please note the media and the lack of criticism when it comes to the abject failure in America, let alone history, with regards to entitlement programs.

In the 1950s, America experienced a rejection of the Progressive ideal. The nation had finally purged itself of the most powerful Progressive leadership it had ever encountered, lasting nearly two decades, from FDR’s election in 1932 until the end of the king’s era in 1952. Yet, while our new President Eisenhower was a five-star general and a Republican, he also found it politically convenient to expand the Progressive Social Security program and keep the people happy. They did not yet know the price their grandchildren would pay for such a Progressive government entitlement. The media was all too accommodating in the propagation of the myth that Social Security was secure and only needed to be expanded to ensure full effectiveness.

In the 1960s, Progressives pushed back against the societal norm. Certainly, Leave It To Beaver asks to be lambasted for its level of cheesiness, but this level of animosity towards family values took a life of its own during this decade. Enter a new and Progressive President who also shared a three-letter moniker such as his predecessor FDR did. Alas, JFK would have not been the household nomenclature had it not been for corrupt Progressive politics.

The 1950s enraged the Progressive and they demanded action, whether the American people wanted it or not. This is why JFK defeated Nixon in a hotly debated and truly stolen election – much more controversial than Bush’s defeat of Algore. Inasmuch as the pushback from the obvious voter fraud in Chicago besmirched this election, the media embraced their new, young and charismatic leader. Failures like the Bay of Pigs and near-misses like the Cuban Missile Crisis were heralded as proof-in-the-pudding that Dear Kennedy was the answer to our prayers instead of the ideologue forced to go against his beliefs to complete the job. When JFK was assassinated, the media took to the street – confirming that the consensus was that it must have been a right-wing zealot who would do such a dastardly deed. When reality set in that it was not the brutality of a conservative (the fancied notion of the devout and the media) but rather an avowed Marxist Communist, conspiracy theories followed and persists to this day.

JKF stands as a glaring example of how academia and media both work to rewrite history and attempt to dictate our beliefs. Try it yourself: stop ten strangers on the street and ask them to tell you what they know of the 35th President of the United States. Once you inform nine of them who that is, you will probably hear nine to ten conspiracy theories surrounding his death, yet not a single conspiracy theory surrounding his election. Furthermore, ask them about the details of the conspiracy to kill JFK and you will hear a resoundingly similar set of nonsense from the Oliver Stone movie. This is how Progressives rewrite history in our time: they make a star-studded movie with gripping storyline notions that hold absolutely no water in reality. Alas, I digress.

In the 1970s, the media took great pride in the destruction and removal of President Nixon. Nixon was the Progressive’s Great Satan. Americans were already milling around with nonsense conspiracy theories about the greatest democrat president since FDR and confused about the miserable failure of his predecessor Lyndon Johnson and his continuation of the Progressive ideal. Johnson’s Great Society left much to be desired, initiating such dramatic success stories as Public Broadcasting, the War on Poverty and the escalation of the Viet Nam war. Knowing he faced annihilation in his re-election bid, Johnson opted out, which Progressives saw as handing the election over to Nixon. Tricky Dick was destined for ruin by hook or by crook – pardon the pun.

It is at this point that I must stop and take a moment. Up until this point, everything I am discussing is history to me. I was born in 1972, two years before Nixon resigned. I recently watched the movie Frost/Nixon expecting the usual demonization of the man, and was pleasantly surprised to see him portrayed as the man I understand that he was versus the devil in tailor-made suits that he was made to be by so many over the years. Certainly, I make no excuses for his downfall – but I wonder how history will remember “the meaning of the word ‘is’” President who was ultimately guilty of the same thing which brought down Nixon: bold-faced lying to the American people.

Yes, I digress yet again.

The downfall of Nixon and following marginalization of his predecessor Gerald Ford (does anyone know anything about this President besides Chevy Chase falling down?) sets the stage for the new Progressive movement in America. Looking back on history in this century, we can see a tumultuous set of circumstances. Two World Wars, a Great Depression, a four-term President (followed by a Constitutional Amendment to keep that from ever happening again), a stolen election followed by assassination, an incumbent President not seeking another term followed by a President forced to resign to avoid impeachment. Politics alone, let alone everything else affecting American life, was bringing about a disenfranchisement of the American people.

Enter Jimmy Carter. Following in the footsteps of his democrat predecessors, Carter completely bungles all things foreign-relations and completely tanks the economy with oppressive taxation. Carter’s biggest mistake was to enact too much “Change” too soon. Regardless of the fawning media coverage – this I do recall as a young boy – the American people rejected the politics and ideology of Progressivism a la Carter.

In the 1980s, conservative was king – sort of. Ronald Reagan, originally a Hollywood democrat who thankfully came to his senses early enough in life to make a difference, took hold of the American spirit at a time when Americans were in despair. The 1980s were a time of American renewal. Gone were the politics of old and innovation was exploding all around us. Ronnie Ray-Gun was at the helm and his brand of Cowboy politics was bringing the Commie Reds to their knees. The President went to the Berlin Wall and demanded it be torn down. The Reds complied, and the bells of freedom rang.

Now, if you were to go through the media reports from the time; and if you were to filter through all of the tripe from Hollywood during this period; and if you were to break down the network television programming in his day; and if you were to review the comics of the period – you would find a much different narrative. Progressives despised Reagan more than Nixon, and rightfully so. Nixon was paranoid and not terribly camera friendly. Reagan was charismatic, likeable, excellent with off-the-cuff and on-the-fly responses, and most importantly carried a message which was anti-Progressive. Reagan believed in less government involvement in American life. As such, Reagan was subject to endless bashing from the media, Hollywood, and at-large Progressives who would gladly have us return to the days of gasoline rationing and capitulation to Iran holding American civilians hostage.

Movies of the time would prominently feature activists protesting the environmentally destructive forces of nuclear power, and would convince us that Reagan’s policies would take us to the brink of nuclear war. I remember watching The Day After – I was 11 years old – and getting the living daylights scared out of me. As much as liberal screamed that a surge in Iraq would fail, so did they scream that an arms race with the Soviet Union would also fail. If we can give it to Progressive liberals, it is that they can talk a good scare and they are consistently wrong about it all.

In the 1990s, the Clintonistas told us we were stupid. They were right. Progressives had managed to convince the center and center-right to either vote for The Hand-Grenade-With-A-Crewcut or the Dope-Smoking-Draft-Dodging-Womanizer. 1000 points of light didn’t carry well against rich characters such as these, and Americans were again looking for charisma. We were still carried away by Reagan – a man who won re-election by landslide despite a Progressive media complex running a record-setting 92% negative storyline about him in the month prior to Election Day. As such, America elected the dope smoker by a plurality – 43%. Needless to say, Americans rejected … shocker … national health care and Clinton went on to be (a) impeached and (b) widely loved by liberals and Progressives as the first democrat to win re-election since FDR. THAT is how popular Progressive ideology had been, despite media reports to the contrary, since FDR first mainlined it in the 1930s.

In the 2000s, Progressives found their ultimate weapon. If I close my eyes, I can hear Kevin Spacey in my head whining that, beyond anything else he simply wants to know what the vote count really was. Somehow, the filmmakers of Recount failed to note that every honest and crooked rumination of the Florida recount still showed that Bush won. This doesn’t matter. Al Gore in his arrogance and subservience to the Progressive cause threw his decorum to the wind and stopped just short of a concession speech.

So, here we all are again. In a bold Republican attempt at obscurity, an ancient and unpopular man was run against a younger and much more polished democrat. Apparently looking to draw from the experience of Bob Dole, Republicans rolled over and played dead to Hope and Change. But perhaps their strategy was smarter than I first imagined. Perhaps, they had more faith than I did in the amazingly durable American spirit.

George W. Bush had become the media whipping boy. While Reagan endured the same treatment, Bush was not the charismatic leader Reagan was, and his coattails were too dirty to ride. As such, it seems that conservatives were truly best suited to give those with the whips the full reigns of leadership. While I, among many I know, screamed bloody murder at the implications of such power in the hands of power-grabbers, the American spirit remained strong.

The idea of Progressive Change is simple: collapse the economic system from within and solidify seat of power by providing government entitlement to the people affected by the economic collapse. What the Progressives did not expect – and admittedly I was not confident of – was that even in these times, Americans would ultimately rise up against those Progressive ideals. Why? Perhaps we’ve learned from our history and the devastation we now are forced to handle with FDR’s New Deal. Perhaps we’ve refreshed ourselves with world history and the brutality which always follows statist government.

Perhaps we are simply different than any other model in which Progressive ideology has overtaken in the history of the world. I am renewed by the overwhelming rejection of national healthcare; the rejection of union stranglehold on the workforce; the rejection of oppressive taxation of job creators; and the rejection of the media’s White Knight narrative of the current Progressive attempt of solving the very problems they have created. Regardless of the media continuing to lay cover-fire for these ideologues, there is a resounding message from America to our would-be overlords:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”