At PJ Media, we usually bring you the headlines to ensure you do not get through the day without your ulcer flaring up or your blood pressure redlining. On the whole, the stories we bring you are national and international news. And there are plenty of news items out there that can aggravate your blood pressure and your ulcer in seconds. Sometimes, you don't even have to click on the story — the headlines themselves are enough to cause bruxism.
That can be frustrating. On one hand, you may not want to fall into the alarmist camp and give in to despair. On the other hand, it is difficult to deal with the "true believers" of the Left and even more so with conservatives or moderates who think that anything that goes slightly further than tepid middle-of-the-road conservativism is extremist thinking.
I sometimes wonder how we got here and why more people don't look around, scent the wind, and think, "Things have become intolerable." Surely, there must be some reason why so many are so complacent. The mainstream media and those who control social media, the "arts," and education certainly bear the brunt of the blame, not to mention our politicians.
People have also lost those senses of decorum and discernment that allow them to expect more from themselves. Yes, the people above baited the hooks and set them. But the public keeps biting down on the hooks and getting reeled in. Somehow, people have decided that the world outside their navels, if it exists for all, exists for them.
There are always infuriating headlines that greet you whenever you open your browser, but this story out of California caught my eye. CBS 8 reports that an 11-year-old Ramona, Calif., boy named Liam had been running a lemonade stand out of his front yard for a year. He was trying to raise enough money to buy a dirt bike but quickly discovered that one of the advantages of running a small business, even a lemonade stand, is meeting new people.
Recently, Liam stepped away from his stand to get more supplies. While he was gone, someone came up and carted off the entire thing. The members of the community pulled together and got Liam a new stand and a dirt bike. He also received donations, which he, in turn, gave to a local animal shelter.
So all's well that ends well, but the question remains: what kind of person would do that to a kid's lemonade stand? Someone who gets their kicks with YouTube or TikTok pranks? A thief? Or someone who enjoys being cruel for the sake of cruelty? Perhaps one reason that the Left has been so successful over the years is that the public has become so narcissistic that it is easily satiated by social media, random impulses, and empty promises. The American people have become convinced that their actions no longer matter, and if they do, they are either entitled to their misdeeds or their transgressions are excusable for one reason or another.
A Trump-Vance win in November will not change as much as conservatives hope it will. At some point, Americans have to decide that they will be more than Pavlovian dogs or slaves to the moment, social media, or their egos.
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