This was sent to me by Del, a Marine buddy. His comments are below. It is well worth reading.
It's a eulogy for Professor Gerry Kelebay, but also for freedom of thought and the very concept of the University. And for Western Civilization. ~Bob
http://www.ebireflections.com/?vol=001_vol&iss=002_issue§ion=02_politics&item=02_politics.htm#id02_politics
Bob, that piece is in fact more depressing than anything else as far as I am concerned. It provides that nice, sharp picture of Western Civilization on this side of the old Iron Curtain being well on its way to cultural suicide, while the old communist countries have had their original societies so damaged by the two generations of corrupt communist rule that they no longer have the strengths and virtues of their past.
Aggressive secularism (or "godlessness" if one prefers more dramatic terms) eventually leads to a lot of the population substituting a value system based entirely on self instead of on their former Judao-Christian ideals. Once a large fraction of the people are looking out for themselves only, with few compunctions about how they do it, things pretty much go to hell because there isn't a social compact anymore to really hold things together. When not enough people are willing to subordinate themselves to the greater good, there is little chance of their being any greater good.
Hence, the all time superb quote from Burke- "All that is necessary for the victory of evil is for enough men to do nothing". He doesn't say "for enough bad men to take over" because if enough people don't fight the evil, it doesn't take very many bad people to turn everything into an unholy mess. Lenin taught that you could take over any society with 3% of the population, if they were armed, organized, and ruthless.
Even if you don't have that 3% organized, if enough people don't or can't resist, maybe nobody takes over society, but it just degenerates into chaos. With regional strongmen ruling their little fiefdoms. Somalia with the warlords is a good example. It's back to barbarism, but with armored vehicles, radio communications, and an AK-47 for everybody.
The underpinnings of our society have been undergoing erosion and sabotage for at least 30 years now, and we have been badly weakened. There's still a solid core of good people with good values, but the political process has been corrupted, the media has been perverted, and a great deal of the educational system is dysfunctional or worse, promoting the sabotage.
All is not lost yet, but we sure are at risk. We can only hope and work towards an awakening of that core that will finally sweep enough of the craven and corrupt politicians out of office that a rebirth of common sense and real leadership will help us start climbing out of the hole that we've been dug into over these decades.
God Help America
Del
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"Lenin taught that you could take over any society with 3% of the population if they were well-armed, organized and ruthless." Well, I'm ruthless, so let's get organized.
ReplyDeleteI have been aware of this decay since the 60's, when prayer and the 10 Commandments were taken out of schools. The chaos of lawlessness and carelessness is insidious and pervasive throughout Western Civilization. These qualities, along with political intrigue and the welfare system, were major causes of the fall of the Roman Empire.
ReplyDeleteThose who do not study and learn from history are doomed to repeat it. If you look closely at our country, at our citizens, we are so much like the Romans at the peak of their civilization. We have our gladiators (athletes) who are highly paid, idolized, pampered, and worshiped by their adoring fans. We have our corrupt politicians who are more interested in raising their own pay and benefits than they are serving the people by whom they were elected. The Constitution and ethics mean so little to these brazen robber barons that we are truly in danger of losing the protection of the Constitution and our Bill of Rights. Then there's the media who are the lap dogs of these traitors, aiding and abetting the fall of the Constitution and the total distortion of truth. And there are so many people on the dole (welfare) that those left working and contributing taxes for the support of those who can't work and those who won't work for their own support, that soon the IRS 1040 will just say, "How much did you make? Send it in."
We've been moving subtly and inexorably toward Socialism since FDR and the NEW DEAL. Pres. Reagan tried to slow that down, but there are too many who want to have it all handed to them without working for it, that it is now unlikely that we'll be able to turn things around before they really go to hell.
Taking away choice in education is just the tip of the iceburg. When the government takes over completely, we will be living Satan's plan - no agency at all. Force everyone to toe the line and be good...or else. It didn't work in the USSR, it isn't working in China; what makes anyone think it will work in the USA?