Posted by
fiddler on Friday, May 01, 2009 3:24:19 PM
Maybe I'm just getting cynical in my old age, jaded by too many years of too many broken promises of "change," tired of the same-old, same-old from the same-old faces with the same-old mouths. Maybe it's just a mid-life crisis. I dunno. But even with the apparent success recent tax-day tea parties, I just can't get that excited. It's not that I don't think they have an ice cube's chance in Hades of actually bringing about "change" in the way government does business (I don't). I just that I've seen too many movements fall by the wayside over the 40 years I've been watching the political scene, movements that started out with all the vigor of fresh-faced innocence and enthusiasm, only to fade away after the initial thrill wore off and the reality of human nature became apparent. The youth movement of the 1960's? Aside from some aging radicals (some of whom are now at the highest levels of governmental power), most of them are mainstream, "establishment" cogs in the machine. The women's movement? Yeah, they accomplished some good, but most people I know don't take them very seriously anymore, since they've expended so much of their political capital on extreme positions regarding abortion and gay rights. Speaking of abortion, what about the prolife movement? The prolife movement still seems to have some steam, but even its most ardent supporters recognize that we probably are not going to see the end of 1,000,000 abortions a year any time soon.
I wonder whether conservatives recognize that, despite the clear truth of the conservative point of view, the ideas and assumptions fostered by the progressives of 100 years ago have become so deeply entrenched in our cutural zeitgeist that they will be reflected in the way people vote for a long time to come? I desperately want to believe that the recent tea parties will make a difference, that public discontent with the way business is done in Washington will result in real change, not the kind of Hope-N-Change that we've seen from the Obama administration so far, but genuine change that honestly reflects the will of the people rather than the agenda of a bunch of politicians. But in order for that to happen, the voting public will actually have to become knowledgeable about political philosophies and their consequences, and about human nature. And people will have to stop voting for the politicians who have been in office since the birth of Jesus. I don't know if one can realistically look for such an awakening, or whether it's even possible. It's not that I don't have faith in human nature. It's that I have plenty.