Wonder how this would have played in 2020 Woke America?
I was 17 when I heard those words. I distinctly remember thinking that everyone was kind of shaken by his off hand comments. But I also knew I liked Reagan. I didn’t know why. I mean beyond the charisma and charm; he was a Hollywood actor after all. I certainly never had an entertainer, person of authority or teacher extoll his virtues. But I liked him all the same.
1984 was quite the year. For 10th grade English class we read 1984.
The Reagan landslide occurred. My father, a lifelong Democrat voted for Mondale. I remember watching the returns around 9-10pm. It was looking like a lopsided blowout. Nothing sticks out at me regarding whether it felt like the news anchors were upset with the results. I suppose they hid it back then. Those were the days before cell phones, social media, Google, Facebook, Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Microsoft Windows and Prozac. My father certainly was depressed.
This was 36 years ago. The Weekly World News regularly ran cover stories about Hitler sightings in Brazil, Belize and Boca Raton. Our frame of reference from then is rather different from what your typical young person has now.
You know I look at my father and see myself in so very many ways, not least of which is our lack of patience with people in certain instances. I think for many of the older Democrats, they are just holding on to a distant memory of what their party used to stand for. Of course Major Media and Big Tech keep things in check regarding what gets through and that helps bolster their cause. I mean you would never turn on CBS News and hear about the truly hideous things that Raphael Warnock has stated on multiple topics and on multiple occasions. Older Democrats ingests a censored version of what is real and what is fake. It’s all roses for their side. You talk about influencing an election?
When I look at how someone like LeBron James is portrayed in the media and I hear some of the moronic, hypocritical words coming out of his mouth I feel saddened for our country. I see a millionaire many times over preach things to a willing audience that is simply not taught anything real or meaningful about the virtues of this great country. I can’t help but look at the broader picture and see the Chinese everywhere. I see them in the uniforms the NBA players wear and in the shoes on their feet made by slave labor. I see the Chinese controlling the black players and I shudder at the irony.
I see Big Tech learning about how powerful they already are and I’m frightened as I watch how much more powerful they could become under an authoritarian influence.
I see Chinese influence in our schools, popular culture, legacy media and of course the Washington establishment. When I hear General Mattis calling on Joe Biden to scrap Trump’s “America First” policy I’m mostly concerned that a sentiment like this gets made and apparently no one notices or even cares. When I hear first hand accounts of screaming matches in the chamber of the Supreme Court and how the establishment is afraid of the terrorism of the American Left, I take pause and pray on the situation. It makes you think how easily everything could really just unravel.
I’m certainly not giving up hope that more and more people will come to their senses, but its awfully easy to be a Democrat in 2020. There is no bullying, no explaining yourself or your actions and the other side is always wrong. Plus, you always get to laugh with the comedians and their jokes about the other side of the political spectrum. Of course suspending some basic tenants of common sense is a requirement, along with a serious dose of “lack of curiosity.”
Even with all of that, however, challenging an overbearing authority is in our blood. It is an utterly American thing.
Millennials and Generation Z’s certainly have it tough. They are the product of an education system based on the collected works of Howard Zinn. Their psyche has been crafted by social media driven by a healthy dose of mob mentality peer pressure. With Sunday church services becoming things of legend in a post Norman Rockwell/ Covid -19 America and with parents becoming more and more alienated from their children, that void has been filled by the worship of the State. It’s indeed a tragedy that this society has foisted politics on our youngest members. A 10 year old should not care about who is sitting on the Supreme Court. The parents who have held on to their kids during this deluge of trash should be commended. Their kids will be the bedrock of the next generation. And I can only hope that this generation of thinkers, rebels and authority challengers can stay steady to weather the next storm. If you encounter a misinformed younger person, challenge them to be curious. Their battle against radical secularism will be epic indeed.
Back to that frame of reference just a bit ago. That Greatest Generation fought and defeated the Nazis. I argue that the 70 million Republicans in 2020 are facing an existential challenge that is as equally daunting and in many ways more consequential. Their efforts shouldn’t be marginalized.
Merry Christmas! And Happy New Year!