The Conservative Bulwark

I got a great email today from a teacher, that sums up the voting base of today's United States. The story goes something like this...

CIVICS 101 3rd GRADE

(From a teacher in the Nashville area)


We are worried about "the cow" when it is all about the "Ice Cream"

The most eye-opening civics lesson I ever had was while teaching third grade this year.
The Presidential election was heating up, and some of the children showed an interest.
I decided we would have an election for a class president.
We would choose our nominees. They would make a campaign speech and the class would vote.
To simplify the process, candidates were nominated by other class members.
We discussed what kinds of characteristics these students should have.
We got many nominations and from those, Jamie and Olivia were picked to run for the top spot. The class had done a great job in their selections. Both candidates were good kids.

I thought Jamie might have an advantage because he got lots of parental support. I had never seen Olivia's mother.

The day arrived when they were to make their speeches. Jamie went first. He had specific ideas about how to make our class a better place. He ended by promising to do his very best. Everyone applauded. He sat down and Olivia came to the podium.

Her speech was concise. She said, "If you will vote for me, I will give you ice cream."
She sat down. The class went wild. "Yes! Yes! We want ice cream."
She surely would say more... She did not have to.

A discussion followed. How did she plan to pay for the ice cream? She wasn't sure. Would her parents buy it or would the class pay for it. She didn't know.
The class really didn't care. All they were thinking about was ice cream.
Jamie was forgotten. Olivia won by a landslide.

Every time Barack Obama opens his mouth, he offers ice cream, fifty two percent of the people react like nine year olds.

They want ice cream. The other forty eight percent know they're going to have to feed the cow AND clean up the mess.

The current malaise of the American people can only be attributed to our country's overwhelming success and relatively quick rise to power. Everything from global politics to technology evolves at a much quicker pace than it once did. As recently as a hundred years ago, progression came every decade or so. Before that, progression came every century. Today progression comes every year or so. Just remember that less than 20 years ago, the Internet was a pipe dream. Now, we can't live without it. But I digress...

Even with all the advancements in modern technology, impacting every facet of our lives, Americans live in a bubble...or a vacuum. Our open and free society has allowed any subject to be breached and every imaginable line to be crossed. Even catastrophes such as major terrorist attacks only shake our will for a few months, then its right back to the same old, same old. The rest of the world may as well not exist. Our current standing in humanity is our greatest achievement AND our greatest flaw and weakness.

The primary building block of our status (our wealth), however, is not infinite. It is not infallible. It is not impervious. For almost a century now, it has allowed us, as a people, to become predictably pampered, selfish, and completely unprepared to handle anything more serious than a bounced check.

Little Olivia, in the story above, recognizes this weakness and exploits it flawlessly. She's the perfect politician. The point here to is to illustrate how our globally envious position of power has a nasty side effect. Our rules, our culture, how we think...all of it...has secretly embedded another right in all of us...the right not to care.

The vast majority of Americans couldn't name one of their states' two U.S. Senators. Even more couldn't name the Vice President. Yet, every four years, the litany of ads for "get out the vote" campaigns flood our air waves, doing the exact opposite of what they should be doing. I personally don't want these people casting a vote that helps to determine who our leaders are going to be. These people should never, EVER have access to a voting booth. The people who run around all day wearing tin foil hats, screaming of UN conspiracies, should also be locked up on voting day.

These people are constantly told that they have a "right to vote" and that their opinion matters...they are also told that with enough hard work and dedication, they can be anything they want to be. Both statements are patently wrong...and if any progress is to be made in turning this country around, the very non-politically correct notion that not everyone can succeed has to take hold in our conciousness.

Wait a minute...

No right to vote?? Everyone can't get ahead??

More on that later...