Growing Up From Oz

There is a famous quote attributed to Winston Churchill, “"If you're not liberal when you're young, you have no heart. If you're not conservative when you're older, you have no brain." Churchill never uttered those words, but even so, they do make a point.

I remember thinking thoughts and voicing opinions as a high school and college student that now seem utterly naive and ill-informed. I grew up in the Nixon and Vietnam War years. I remember the shooting of the demonstrators in Ohio and weeping after seeing the assassination of Bobbie Kennedy as it happened. I listened to the Beatles and dreamed of playing in my own four-piece group singing songs of peace and freedom while sticking to the man. Now I am the man. What happened?

What happened is I grew up. There is a great Zits cartoon strip where Jeremy receives his first paycheck and notices all of the costly deductions removing a stiff percentage of his hard-earned wages and transferring them to the government. Oh, the humanity! The father opines, “We just witnessed the birth of a Republican.”

Michael Savage, the less than cordial talk show host, started his intellectual life as what can be best described as a long-haired, socialist liberal elite in New York. He moved to Berkeley and discovered that he, in spite of his intellect, did not fit the politically correct affirmative action protocols for success in the east bay. His backlash is still causing reactions of horror in the liberal ranks. He called liberalism a mental disorder. Well…yes and no. It is an emotional rather than a mental state which is why so many young people start out that way and slowly, over the growth cycle develop conservative tendencies. The, “I’m my parents!” scream of realization is commonplace for a reason.

David Horowitz, once a 1960’s radical and an avowed communist, is now a conservative. This link will take you to a page detailing his biography. One of the most shocking revelations for the liberal left is that John Lennon, the ex-Beatle and the writer of the mantra, Imagine, had become conservative prior to his murder. This link discusses that controversy.

The examples are legion; covering nearly every aspect of the life I used to believe was right and proper over 40 years ago. Is it not interesting that today’s media finds this ever-growing fact of life such a non-story? Interesting yes, surprising no, that is because in order to grow every organism must encounter a certain amount of stress. An athlete develops additional strength by pushing against ever increasing weights. It is the same with our emotional development. If we grow in a well-insulated and protective environment where we never find our comfort zone challenged by new and conflicting ideas and realities, we never mature. So it is with the progressive pundits of MSNBC, CBS, TBN and the rest of the alphabet soup media. In many cases new employees who challenge the liberal orthodoxy are removed as quickly as any weed. It is the same in the realm of academia. One would have to be existing with blinders on not to have seen the stories, quashed as rapidly as they are published, mind you, of students chastised and even failed because they challenged a professor’s anti-American opinions.

Both the worlds of the main stream media and tenured academia have gone to great lengths to eliminate any taint of opposition to their youthful opinions. I say youthful as a term of immaturity because in those arenas there has been no debate, no contrary information allowed in the discussion, and this is why it seems that these areas, which tend to dovetail with the elite in Washington, are so far removed from our reality. A person like Chris Matthews and Ed Shultz can say the outlandish things they say and get away with being so utterly wrong because those with whom they live, work and socialize hold those wrong opinions to be sacrosanct. There is a very close comparison to the interactions of a media empire and a Buddhist monastery in that both have a dogma that may not have any bearing in reality, but has total sway within their group.

Media, Academia, and Politics, these three arenas have the ability to shelter their elite from the stresses of life and consequentially prevent their emotional maturity. So in essence, people like Matt Lauer, Chris Matthews, Ed Shultz, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and Barrack Obama could honestly be called emotional infants, and almost every single tenured Ivy League professor could be added onto that list. It is good to care about things with all your heart when you are a kid, but eventually the ruby slippers have to be put away and an adult has to go to work.

What price honesty?

Have you ever wondered what would happen to our lives if all of a sudden people decided to stop being dishonest? The cynic would claim that such an event could be the beginning of mass violence, murder, suicide and economic collapse. They would claim that our society, nay, the entire world is deeply rooted in a culture of deception. People have been conditioned to not only accept the little lies we consistently tell each other, but have come to expect them to the point that, when confronted with actual truth, they cannot process it.

When Bill Clinton faced the news camera and shook his finger at America while lying about his affair with Monica Lewinski, it was apparent, even to his most fervent followers that he was not being honest. Later, it was revealed that very few of his published honors and accomplishments were based in actual fact. That revelation has done little, if any to harm his ongoing career after the White House.

George Bush the elder also lied to America in much the same way. The only difference was that his lie was economic rather than lurid, but being a Republican in a country controlled by liberal media and thought police, his punishment was swift and politically devastating…for about four years and then the previous-mentioned liar came in.

Al Gore has to be the champ when it comes to spinning falsehoods, though John Kerry and his imagined heroism comes in a close second. Global Warming is simply the greatest hoax pushed upon the world stage…period. Nothing else even comes close. What is most amusing is how Gore and his fellow extremists explain that the current cooling trend is nothing more than a prime example of how drastically “climate change” is affecting the earth. Yes and, Glen Beck said it best, “Exxon’s massive profits are simply an example of how little money they are making.” Try telling the people in Fargo they are in danger of dying from global warming. The last winter temp there was several degrees below zero. And, of course, the media are being extremely quiet about the reduction in sunspot activity which every reputable scientist agrees could lead to another mini ice age. Again, lies supporting the left side of the aisle are quite acceptable.

I remember the Spotted Owl controversy in the region where I grew up. One of the last jobs I did as a sign shop owner involved a Circle K store with an occupied owl nest in its sign. Seems Spotted Owls can only survive in old growth Circle K forests, and yet, the tenacity and adaptability of supposed endangered species is continuously a nonstory.

Here in Nevada, I tried proposing an immigration reform bill. What surprised me was that it wasn’t the Democrats who opposed it, it was the Republicans. They claimed I was trying to bankrupt the state. These legislators are also people who claim to love the constitution. They claimed to be moral and to love the law. They lied. They were not concerned about business being able to make ends meet as much as they were concerned about the next campaign contribution and their ability to spend it on nonpolitical goodies. So, where is the difference between the two major parties on this?

The truth is expensive and it can be inconvenient, but it will never disappoint and it will never cheat. So we kick out all the liars. Will that ruin our country? No, even though very few would agree with that assertion. Simply because a man or a woman happens to occupy a position of power does not mean that they are the best person for that job. Obama is a prime example on the left and John McCain is a prime example on the right. Rather, consider this, how about electing people to office with a deserved reputation for honesty?

What do you think would be the economic picture if every politician upheld the truth and went after those who cheated, lied and stole? So we wouldn’t have Bush, Cheney, Reid and Pelosi. So what? Is any one so naive to believe they are the best we could get?