The Movement You Need…

This article from Saturday’s London Daily Mail somewhat confirmed something I have been pondering over the past few weeks.

Don’t listen to the liberals - Right-wingers really are nicer people, latest research shows | Mail Online

George Orwell once wrote that politics was closely related to social identity. ‘One sometimes gets the impression,’ he wrote in The Road To Wigan Pier, ‘that the mere words socialism and communism draw towards them with magnetic force every fruit-juice drinker, nudist, sandal-wearer, sex-maniac, Quaker, nature-cure quack, pacifist and feminist in England’.

It all started when I forwarded to a cousin a bit of minutiae regarding statistical differences between behaviors of peoples of various cultures. The data fascinated me because I have done many analyses of precinct-level voting behavior. Past behavior is a great tool for predicting future behavior. Generally, people within a precinct share a greater level of “sameness” than they do with those in neighboring precincts; people self-differentiate themselves from others when they select a place to call home. This information is pretty much confirmed by various sections of the General Social Survey (GSS) to which the Mail’s article pointed as a source.

My cousin, a dyed in the wool egalitarian leftist, apparently was upset that I had the audacity to even read statistics that explore differences between peoples’ cultural traditions and how they might affect behavior. To him, it appears I have committed some some sort of thought-crime in pondering that people from various cultures might be different in any way at all. To him, all people of every culture and every nation are not only “equal,” they’re “identical;” it is an article that underlies his humanist faith. If people actually are different, and that difference is in any way based upon folkways, traditions, or anything handed down through the generations, then his whole set of assumptions about the way the world works might crumble. (Continued)

Tags: Conservatism, general social survey, london daily mail, Political Correctness, progressivism, sameness, traditionalism

We have too many American leaders today trying to sell us on the notion that America is merely an idea that can be easily transplanted to any place on earth. The concept has always bothered me a lot. It diminishes the efforts of those who came before us.

Some appear to want everyone to believe that America is just an idea because they seek to promote the notion that it is somehow our responsibility to transmit our brand of democracy to all the world. America the Idea is their template for all peoples. And all peoples are going to get fitted for it whether they like it or not.

Others make less of our heritage because they judge our ancestors through their own contemporary lenses, passing verdicts in absentia, making the best of our best into evil men for owning slaves or having wives at home or not being as tolerant as they should have been. And they’re willing to be outright fascist about making sure that history is revised to their liking.

Still others believe that since others from different folkways and cultures have come here and each group has provided a bit of itself to the current fabric, then we should stop reminding ourselves of what it was that made this place one of the greatest wonders of the world. We should stop talking about our origins because some might be offended or make themselves feel less attached to our culture because they come from more recently arrived stock. If there really are that many Americans today who cannot handle not sharing heritage by descent, then we probably have been too lenient regarding the sorts we have allowed to come.

In previous generations - not long ago at all, really - nobody ever considered this nation to be merely an idea.

America the Idea?

Preposterous!

America is a heritage based on an actual people. The founding fathers had a particular posterity in mind when they penned the preamble to the Constitution. Until recently, the idea nation - America the Proposition - was never an issue. It was so much not an issue that nobody ever felt it necessary to come up with an explanation as to why we are a result of heritage that cannot be adequately transmitted solely by words expressing ideas.

I will try. Let’s look upon America like a forest. Whenever we take a walk through it, we need to remain mindful that there is no way to see it all in one journey. Each path is but one of many. Each is informative.

It seems to me that many these days spend their lives talking mostly about the importance of the trees, or the branches, or the leaves on the trees. I’m more interested in the vitality of the soil. Yes, there are many good points to be made about the things we all can see before us that make our American woods. But it seems almost as if a lot of folks don’t want anyone to ever acknowledge, even a little, that everything we see in our forest would not exist were it not for the specific qualities of the soil in which it is rooted. (Continued)

Tags: american history, Conservatism, essay, philosophy

There was a post at RedState in which a new member questioned why so many discussions refer to Ronald Reagan. She wanted to know, since she was too young during his time, what it is that conservatives keep gravitating toward twenty years after he left office.

I replied:

What Reagan Means to Me

I have a personal story about President Reagan that I believe might help you understand his power to affect people as individuals. (Continued)

Tags: Conservatism, ronald reagan

Happy Birthday America!

I’ll be the first to admit that I have less than zero tolerance for those who champion causes under the banner of “progressivism.” I’ve never been able to get beyond the absurdity inherent in people who insist we would all be better off if Americans had no reverence for our past; no mindfulness of our place in life’s great continuum; and, no deep and broad concern for the what sort of nation we pass on to generations that will follow us. As I observe it, there is a vast shallowness of soul possessed by “progressives.” They scoff at all historical prescriptions pointing to the danger in living for and craving only the instant, radical change that comes with exposure to every new innovative trinket, bauble and glittery design: “Hey! Look what I figured out how to do! Let’s all go do it!”

Who cares if the bungee cord is 10 feet longer than the distance to the ground from the bridge. It is the “progressives” who would have us jump simply because someone invented the cord!

These thoughts were on my mind as I read this essay:

Put away the flags | The Progressive

On this July 4, we would do well to renounce nationalism and all its symbols: its flags, its pledges of allegiance, its anthems, its insistence in song that God must single out America to be blessed…

[more gibberish ensues, then this]

…When the first English settlers moved into Indian land in Massachusetts Bay and were resisted, the violence escalated into war with the Pequot Indians. The killing of Indians was seen as approved by God, the taking of land as commanded by the Bible. The Puritans cited one of the Psalms, which says: “Ask of me, and I shall give thee, the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the Earth for thy possession.”

When the English set fire to a Pequot village and massacred men,women and children, the Puritan theologian Cotton Mather said: “It was supposed that no less than 600 Pequot souls were brought down to hell that day.”

For me, this was the most important and easiest part of Zinn’s piece to debunk. Because I’m quite familiar with the Pequot war, his spin on it leaves me convinced that Zinn wrote the whole piece with utter faith that no one would discover or debunk his disingenuousness. By putting this particular moment in American history out there, Zinn leaves himself open to ridicule by those of us who share handed-down family stories about the things our ancestors did to lay the foundation for our great nation. You see, my great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great Grandfather, John Endecott, led the expedition that fought and killed the Pequots; so, I have a vested interest in making sure that history is not revised in such an onerous manner by contemporary authorities who would alter the facts to promote anti-American agendas. Zinn’s piece attempts just that. (Continued)

Tags: american history, Conservatism, progressivism

I like George Will. But sometimes it bothers me that he is become, almost, the only cogent and expressive voice with an understanding of traditional conservatism.  I suppose sometimes that’s a good thing.  I think it is with his latest Op Ed piece:

RealClearPolitics - Articles - The Case for Conservatism

Conservatism is realism, about human nature and government’s competence. Is conservatism politically realistic, meaning persuasive? That is the kind of question presidential campaigns answer.

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Tags: Conservatism