Based on what I’ve read, the speech was extraordinarily reactionary, a call for the return of big government (when did it ever go away, incidentally?), a demand for collective (read “statist”) action, and an inadequately-concealed condemnation of America as a nation of feckless dunderheads who, save for the ministrations of government, will always be just on the verge of drowning in their own bathtubs or impaling themselves on scissors or living out their wretched dotage in lean-tos under railroad bridges. In short, we’re all even more pathetic than the Joads, and since the New Deal was such a great success (I know, I know), then a New New Deal can only be more so.
But the president may have trouble fully implementing New Deal 2.0 as long as that annoying, pesky, hoary old piece of paper is in the way – that would be the United States Constitution to you and me. Jeffrey Lord sees its effective destruction as Obama’s ultimate goal, and it’s difficult to see how Obama can turn the U.S. into the Big Rock Candy Mountain* , otherwise.
So, note to all patriots: stay vigilant, stay involved.
*”Big Rock Candy Mountain” was a song first recorded back in the late 20s that sought to capture the hobo’s notion of paradise. One of the original verses, considered too obscene at the time for recording, nicely captures the difference between the dream and the reality, and is perhaps pertinent to a consideration of the folly of all utopian schemes:
The punk rolled up his big blue eyesUpdate: Heh. Obama borrowed from Neville Chamberlain - probably unwittingly. Maybe I'll have a look at the transcript of that speech; if I search carefully, I might find that he stole "from each according to his ability..." etc., or maybe even "ein tausendjähriges Reich".
And said to the jocker, "Sandy,
I've hiked and hiked and wandered too,
But I ain't seen any candy.
I've hiked and hiked till my feet are sore
And I'll be damned if I hike any more
To be buggered sore like a hobo's whore
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains."
I despair at the situation in the US. Your election result has made me re-assess a lot of assumptions about the appeal of the conservative message. Much work needs to be done to challenge the media/education/pop culture complex. The GOP should be riding to the rescue but I'm afraid it's part of the problem.
ReplyDeleteLuckily, I can finally look to my own country for some hope and change; it is an election year for us. So far (fingers crossed) things are on track for an adjustment towards a period of economically responsible government.
Penguinator of Sydney
I wish you all well, mate!
ReplyDeleteIndeed, my best wishes to the people of Australia.
ReplyDeleteHad quite enough of Juliar and her lot, eh?
ReplyDeleteI have to wonder: What's Abbott's role? Other than "chief whipping boy" for the looney left, I mean.
Ditto for me (in the wild backhills of Sydney) Penguinator. Abbott I think is the chaperone at the party, the only grownup. So the kiddies rebel against his obvious authority but are quietly glad he's there to save them if they ever admit they've stuffed up.
ReplyDeleteI think it's just a matter of scale - Australia's too small and marginal to indulge leftist fantasies to the extent the US now does. The cause-effect link of policy failure is quicker and obvious here, the perps can't hide.
Socially and morally however, Australia is collapsing just as is much of rural Britain - our origins. Young Americans are morally far more mature and aware than young Australians, it is very noticeable. Google teenage crime in Byron Bay for example, and note that the parents are too narcissistically absorbed in 'relationships' and drug-taking to give their kids any guidance.