Civil War as an extension of the old Cold War or a “Culture War”
Occupying much of the news and the talk shows in the last few days has been a poor choice of words on the part of former Democrat candidate for President John Kerry. Reported as a joke gone bad or a peek at Mr. Kerry’s real sentiments, many in his own party are distancing themselves from him and assertions abound that would have one believe his political future may be over.
ABC news reported the incident as: Two days ago, Kerry stirred controversy when he told a group of California students those individuals who don’t study hard and do their homework would likely ‘get stuck in Iraq.’
Even after a considerable examination of the entire transcript and what was described as the statement as it was intended it still paints himself as belonging to a ruling class and believes that he is smarter and superior to the rest of us. Even the most superficial examination of available media shows any number of references to earlier misstatements and actions that lead to a similar conclusion. Though I am biased, in that I am a combat veteran of six years in Vietnam and I remember clearly the statements he made to the North Vietnamese during the peace negotiations and his testimony before Congress, I don’t think he really meant to say the specific words that are reverberating across the nation.
I do think however that the words do betray his perspective on government and leadership, and perhaps even his basic view of a two class America. One class is made up of peons who are not competent to make decisions on their own account and the other the elite class that is ordained to be the rulers. This is betrayed in his description of those who are less educated and thereby have only the option of military service and to follow the elites.
This is the world that the Irish and Italian immigrants found when they arrived in America where they were presumed inferior, and where hundreds of Irish were isolated in the Thousand Islands of Northern New York during the winter without adequate shelter. It is also the lack of human respect and poor treatment of the Irish conscripts by the elite Officer Corp during the Mexican War that led to the desertions of troops and the formation of the San Patricio Brigade that fought with Mexico against the United States. A similar story is told of the standpoint in the dealings that these elites have had and still have with the Native Americans. Perhaps if we look we will see a familiar story with today’s migrants and the respect given them by the same elites.
On September 29, 2004, in an article entitled “Liberty and Freedom is attacked here at home also”, I identified what I perceived as a civil war in the conflict in America between those who would be the rulers and those who “believe in self-reliance in supporting our families, protecting rights of property ownership, the right of choice to whom we give charity, the right to pass on our values to our children and in defending those rights as aggressively as the need requires. Essentially, these folks feel that the government should not try to be all things to all people. They see the government being involved in only minimal situations relating to public safety and others relating only to the country as a whole.”
I have written frequently identifying the misdeeds of politicians as evidence pointing to those I see as the rulers. Even renowned Fox bloviator Bill O’Reilly has written a book called the Culture Warrior that describes my “elites” or “rulers” as “secular progressives”.
I don’t see the war quite as complicated as he does, however, I do see it as a continuation of the “Cold War” between socialism and capitalism. Many of the same players are still in the same places as they were just before “The Wall” was torn down. Senator Kennedy still advocates the same dissatisfaction with the current America as he did the Ronald Regan version of America, which perhaps prompted his supposed advances to the then Soviet Union, described in recently released KGB documentation. This war advocates a Socialism, where the elites hope to enslave and rule the ”folks” by creating a government that is all things to all people. It is very apparent how this might proceed when you consider the power resulting from the funding and thereby controlling the education of the “masses”; as is becoming more and more a reality each day.
The “elite/socialists” generally camouflage their goals and perspectives in rhetoric but occasionally a little glimpse such as “Mr. Kerry’s bad joke” sneaks out.
Both the “Republicrat” and the “Demopublican” parties have elite rulers lurking about, so it is not just political, it is a war of ideals pitting individualism and freedom against a vision of governance based on a “European feudal socialism”. This war portends enormous dangers to the way most of America thinks things work and can result in incremental changes much more far reaching than the first Civil War. This civil war is permitted to continue only because of the lack of confidence we have in our government due to the appearance of corruption and malfeasance we see every day, which leads to apathy and lack of interest in the political process.
The only way we can ensure that our view of the future continues, is to become aware of what is really happening then actively participate and vote.