For my entire life and lately at very loud volume, the Left has been obsessed with America’s faults historic and present. It demands that we acknowledge the injustices of our society and country throughout its existence as if such has never been done and as if such recognition will magically cure societal ills or at least salve uncomfortable symptoms.
This entire obsession is folly in many ways with two being quite obvious.
As a people we have a long history of agonizing over such resulting in massive political change…
First, the Left and those seduced by its claims are putting their faith in fantasy that some extra public penance, or self-abasement, will provide solutions for problems identified.
An easy to see example is with Hollywood entertainers and their expressed solidarity for homeless persons. You can feel bad all day and sleep on a sewer grate now and then to show how concerned you are but the actions do nothing to help solve the problem. Instead it simply brings attention and adulation to those showing concern. It is all a bit like the aristocracy throwing coins in the street to the extreme poor while passing through London or Paris in their gilded carriages – it’s an ineffective and false charity.
Second, it is a completely false idea that Americans do not recognize and study our mistakes and failures. As a people we have a long history of agonizing over such resulting in massive political change – think the end of the powerful Whig party which dissolved away as people defected to the new Republican Party because the Whigs were not sufficiently anti-slavery.
A review of our history demonstrates constant reaction to faults with corrective action on all fronts from economic panics, to social injustice, to unpopular military action…
A review of our history demonstrates constant reaction to faults with corrective action on all fronts from economic panics, to social injustice, to unpopular military action – open any school history book and you’ll find faults and corrections as the dominant theme.
The left is wrong in charging that we do not recognize and work to cure faults – it’s about all we do – and that is part of the genius of our self-correcting system framed by our Constitution, which oddly, the Left seeks to replace.
Left’s obsession with America’s faults and failures is folly
This entire obsession is folly in many ways with two being quite obvious.
As a people we have a long history of agonizing over such resulting in massive political change…
First, the Left and those seduced by its claims are putting their faith in fantasy that some extra public penance, or self-abasement, will provide solutions for problems identified.
An easy to see example is with Hollywood entertainers and their expressed solidarity for homeless persons. You can feel bad all day and sleep on a sewer grate now and then to show how concerned you are but the actions do nothing to help solve the problem. Instead it simply brings attention and adulation to those showing concern. It is all a bit like the aristocracy throwing coins in the street to the extreme poor while passing through London or Paris in their gilded carriages – it’s an ineffective and false charity.
Second, it is a completely false idea that Americans do not recognize and study our mistakes and failures. As a people we have a long history of agonizing over such resulting in massive political change – think the end of the powerful Whig party which dissolved away as people defected to the new Republican Party because the Whigs were not sufficiently anti-slavery.
A review of our history demonstrates constant reaction to faults with corrective action on all fronts from economic panics, to social injustice, to unpopular military action…
A review of our history demonstrates constant reaction to faults with corrective action on all fronts from economic panics, to social injustice, to unpopular military action – open any school history book and you’ll find faults and corrections as the dominant theme.
The left is wrong in charging that we do not recognize and work to cure faults – it’s about all we do – and that is part of the genius of our self-correcting system framed by our Constitution, which oddly, the Left seeks to replace.