The 50′s and 60′s were a time of turmoil no doubt. The wheels did in fact fall of the cart. But when the wheels were put back on, the country was a better place because for the first time all Americans were able to claim their God-given rights.

But something is different now. Back then, the establishment still believed in the fundamental virtue of America in spite of our flaws. But those elites have been swept aside. The new elites reject American virtue, and share Europe’s contempt for us.

You offered your anecdote, now I’ll offer mine. My Jewish grandmother fled Russia back in 1912 when the Czar’s thought killing Jews would solve their problems. She had profound faith in this country as the one and only place where she could find freedom. This faith isn’t lost on my father who hangs a painting of Ellis Island in my parent’s dining room.

Moving forward 90+ years, I recently got into an argument about Iraq with a colleague who is a Russian Jew who immigrated after the fall of the Soviet’s. His arguments against the war had nothing to do with the WMD’s or terrorism. His argument was that America was just as bad as Saddam, citing the usual leftwing litany beginning with Vietnam. And even worse, he asserted America was no different than Nazi era Germany. Who the hell is America to think it can impose its view of “democracy” on another country?

I was stunned. How can highly intelligent, highly educated Jew see no difference between America and Nazi era Germany? The answer is that he attended college where he was indoctrinated with anti-American Marxist dogma.

The different experiences between my Russian Jewish grandmother and a more recent Russian Jewish immigrant highlight the profound change in the elites of our country. Back then, the elites instilled a love of country. Today, they instill hatred.

There were indeed tremendous challenges in the times you harken back to. The wheels did in fact fall of the cart. But in response, the elites in this country helped build a better, stronger cart. But today, the elites want to wreck the cart and scatter pieces, and rebuild it in the Euro-Socialist mold. That’s the diffference.

The isolationist/interventionist (peace/war) rhetoric and invective are absolutely identical, allowing for the Baby Boomer’s infantile potty-mouth, right down to the lurid conspiracy theories.

Couple of funny things tho:

The parties are 180 degrees reversed, with the Democrats and Republicans swapping positions, and…

…when war did come, Republican presidential hopefuls like Wendell Wilkie got behind FDR and the War Effort.

Both of these are too much to hope for from today’s Democratic Party.

The isolationist/interventionist (peace/war) rhetoric and invective are absolutely identical, allowing for the Baby Boomer’s infantile potty-mouth, right down to the lurid conspiracy theories.

Couple of funny things tho:

The parties are 180 degrees reversed, with the Democrats and Republicans swapping positions, and…

…when war did come, Republican presidential hopefuls like Wendell Wilkie got behind FDR and the War Effort.

Both of these are too much to hope for today.

“Well, then, educate the voters. If they don’t care, nothing will change.”

Fair enough. It’s important to keep the topic in the public’s eye and ear. Blog’s help, and we can all pitch in by contacting our elected representatives.

Truth be told, however, I’m far less worried about the economy and the spending in Washington than I am about national security. And I’m even more concerned about the enemy within. The fact that we’re teaching children to learn to pray to Allah in middle schools is simply insane. There is a suicidal substrate in modern American society and I’m astounded by it’s breadth.

My intent was to castigate STUPID,GREEDY,CLUELESS, politicians,and the ridiculous system that supports them, not to beat up on the good citizens of Alaska, but since you insist:

Is it not true that the State of Alaska is the biggest hog at the Federal trough on a per capita basis of ALL the States? They get enough(well more than enough if truth be told)without the added insult of that bridge.

The bridge to nowhere is a bridge too far and is merely the most glaring example of an intellectually/ethically bankrupt ‘political’class which clearly has no will to reform itself.

Since you posit that it is supposedly up to the people to correct this culture of corruption, why not have a national referendum on these ‘earmarks’. You know once a year ALL the special projects set up to endear the politician to HIS/HER constituents are listed in one giant question to the people. We could even rank them by descending dollars of expenditure.

And then VOTE on them.

Then we could see how truly popular these ‘excellent’ uses of public money really were.

Works for me.

ps— And on the principle of ‘if you can’t beat them,join them’, I have decided to adapt to the prevailing culture. So from now on it truly is all about me . —:-)

“It’s whether or not it’s a waste of hard earned tax dollars essentially used to buy votes for incumbent politicians. It’s just another facet of corruption and it does a tremendous disservice to the American people at large.”

Well, then, educate the voters. If they don’t care, nothing will change.

“If you elect me, I promise on my cat’s grave that I will never ask for one penney more from the federal government than we have given them in taxes. Even if that means we must wait another twenty years to widen the bridge over Cornstalk River. This is my pledge to you.”

“The ACLJ sent a letter to the Byron Union School District in Byron, California following objections from parents to a mandatory three-week course for 7th grade students. According to news reports, the class requires students to pray