The hollowed out society

There was a post on Barnhardt's site that I wanted to respond to, but time didn't permit it.  Well, it wasn't just the lack of time, it was a rather complex subject that required some thinking and some preparation.  Preparation is difficult, owing to circumstances, but not that difficult.  In the end, it was just laziness, I suppose.

That's part of the problem.  I take the easy way out all too often.  So, I wonder---do we all do that as a matter of course?  Is that why our society is drifting towards annihilation?

Let's face it, people by and large, are sheep.  They follow, rather than lead.  They submit, rather than resist.  It is the easiest thing to do, as most people probably follow the path of least resistance.  Life is easier that way, and people all too often take the easy way out.  I do it, and so does everyone else.  That includes Barnhardt herself.

Why include Barnhardt?  Well, she had a claim in there that people are curling up there in fetal positions and sucking their thumbs.  But isn't that what she's doing?  She has retreated from the world rather than to engage it.  She has taken the easy way out.

But I don't want to be too hard on Barnhardt, because she has also done a good thing.  She has "taken one for the team", so to speak.  She has sacrificed her successful business for a greater purpose.  But she can do better.

We should all strive to do better.  It is all too easy to take a rigid stand and declare one's own righteousness and withdraw from the wicked world.  Barnhardt is mostly accusing people, she is not being constructive.  She is not proposing how one can successfully resist being dragged into the maw of this insatiable monster called Big Government and the popular culture indoctrination that sucks us all into it's service.

I tell you, I wanted to argue with her when she wrote that piece.  But then I saw that she had some good points.  Those points, by the way, aren't really new.  During the Reagan administration, there was a white paper entitled "A Nation At Risk", that addressed the issues of poor and declining educational standards in this country.  So, what she says isn't new.  It's an old theme, and the story is much further along, alas.  Reagan's initiative failed, unfortunately.  We are not better off in this department.  Things have gotten much worse.

A question arises as to how to resist this monster and not get destroyed by it.  It hardly does you or anyone else any good to be devoured by this beast.  Also, it hardly does any good to oppose it and not really get anywhere with your opposition.  That's my particular problem.  This entire blog is a kind of protest against the beast, but the protest is going largely unheard.  Quite frustrating.

There was an sham election here in Texas this past week.  Yet, over 40% of the GOP electorate who bothered to vote opposed the status quo monster called Cornyn.  That's a good sign, but not good enough.  Just a little more push, and we may gotten a better result.

Cornyn seems to be another subject, but not really.  I wondered yesterday if I was too hard on him.  No, he is exactly what Barnhardt was talking about.  He is fake.  He has a "great" record of being conservative.  But when the time came to actually put something into practice, he was nowhere to be found.  It's not enough to be right, you have to follow it up with action.  Barnhardt said that action was needed, and she was right.  Unfortunately, what can't be agreed upon is what kind of action?  Barnhardt rejects the electoral means of change and suggests violence or the threat thereof.

In my opinion, violence isn't necessary.  It could also be counter productive.

But you have to have numbers, for that's what counts in the electoral game and the game of warfare as well.  A single man or woman has no chance against the beast.  We must unite on some common principles.  Hang together or hang separately, it was once said.  Question is, can we unite?  Or will we forever be divided against each other and ruled?