The End of an Epoch

We are incredibly fortunate to live in one of the greatest transition ages of all history. Think of life during the dawn of history, the rise and fall of civilizations including the Greek and Roman Empires, the eventual discovery of America, and the industrial revolution. All were turning points in man’s existence. And we Americans have been privileged to live during the current technology and information era which reorganized the world’s life with such wonders as the internet.

The rapid change that is taking place in human life today is even greater than the change which took place in the Middle Ages or during the fall of the Roman Empire. It can be compared only with the dawn of history itself. The world is entering upon a new epoch. Mankind has reached a point where it can, if it wills, move forward into a new period of light, self government and justice, or it can succumb to Islamic fascism, a virulent cancer of humanity. As with any cancer, if you don’t cut it out cleanly the first time, it will kill you.

The big event of our age was not the atomic bomb, World War I or II, NASA, Vietnam, the United Nations or any of the other things that have been featured in press and on radio. It is something that lies deeper than all these – a new kind of growth that began taking place in the hearts and minds of men early in the 20th Century. It worked its way among the billions of inhabitants of this earth with a power that no man could have estimated. It dwarfed all the statesmen that ever lived. The seed for this new growth was sown centuries ago by great teachers who saw with prophetic clarity that men could not advance the human condition by magnifying their antipathies, but that only by exalting their common brotherhood they could enjoy the earth and the fullness of life itself. They knew, as all intelligent men must know, that freedom is more powerful than government, a consistent choice of every generation in the life of humanity. Americans are now faced with that choice.

Never during the long slow struggle of man against the oppressive forces around him, and within himself, has he had the potential to rise to greater heights. Never have Americans been more willing to sacrifice and fight when the odds were strong against him, more willing to live and die for the larger good. Never has the mind of mankind been broader in its reach and grasp. Never has he been more inventive, ingenious, and resourceful. Never before have the sympathies of man reached out to so many of his fellow creatures. Never before has the spirit of man had the ability to rise above all the creeds and conflicts of religion and race to a feeling of universal brotherhood for fellow men everywhere. That is, until the advent of socialism in America and the forsaking of Christianity.

Many of us were born during WWII and lived through the second half of the 20th century, learning excellence, initiative and integrity at the knee of America’s finest generation. We intensely and relentlessly educated ourselves for the first 50 years of our lives because that is what Americans were taught they were supposed to do. In the last dozen years, many of us began to move quietly into retirement. With the wisdom borne of our life’s experience and teaching, and a little more time to reflect on our great fortune, many of us have devoted ourselves to learning to become even better Americans. The sons and daughters of America’s finest generation are proudly conservative Americans - devoted to God, Country, and Family - as we have been since our childhood.

If only the United States’ Congress and Supreme Court also valued this gift of freedom and birthright. If only they had not worked with their own hands over the last 60 years serving themselves instead of America. If only Senators and Judges had the wisdom and humility not to experiment with countless concoctions of socialist engineering. If only government was not empowered by ever increasing income redistribution that only rewards avarice and greed, so prevalent in both Congress and the nation’s self-proclaimed minorities.

If only schools focused on the excellence of each student, viewing every child as America’s greatest asset. If only teachers focused less on themselves and the fortification of their own bureaucracy. The union system that supports the lifestyle of liberal educators cares nothing about America’s youth. If that were not true, students would be lionized for their efforts and achievement and educators would be seen as patriotic American heroes instead of purveyors of secular privatism that their trade has become.

Conservatives have naively watched for decades as liberals systematically dismantled and discarded all that previous generations of Christian American’s had built and given their lives to preserve. We watched as Americans became servants of the state and the wellspring of taxpayer funding for the ruling elite. We watched as Congress and the Courts engineered the once proud concept of personal responsibility into state dependency.

Many conservatives voted for George W. Bush, myself included, hoping he had the force of mind and strength of character to lift America into the light, rediscovering faith, fiscal responsibility, personal achievement, pride and service to America. The alternative was too discouraging to contemplate. We waited and waited for President Bush to talk to all Americans as a leader, and explain to America why we should, both as a nation and individually, return to our core values. We waited for leadership and the call, “Follow me.” We had such high hopes.

The millennium began with the War on Terror, the first battle of which was brilliantly led by President Bush and won by the U.S. Armed Forces. Conservatives for the first time since President Reagan were encouraged. Yet today, we have every reason to fear the War may ultimately be lost by an arrogant and ignorant Congress, an inept U.S. State Department, an insubordinate CIA and possibly the largest ethical black hole in the known universe, the subversive Main Stream Media.

Legislation already signed by President Bush (McCain-Feingold) effectively dismantled major aspects of the First Amendment, i.e., “Freedom of Speech.” Numerous additional bills passed by Congress and signed by President Bush (Medicare, Transportation, and Education) dramatically increase the size of the federal government and assign to our children and grandchildren a national debt beyond comprehension. Are these bills the inauspicious legacy of a pure socialist or the misdeeds of an errant fool?

And there is even more legislation in the wings, the worst of which is McCain-Kennedy, which would legitimize open borders and institutionalize unrestrained alien migration in a socialist one-America hemispheric view. Another is Cornyn-Kyl which starts off with authorizing 10,000 more Border Patrol Agents. But more agents were authorized by Congress a year ago and the Bush Administration has yet to add them to the border - and Congress has done nothing about it.

While the Cornyn-Kyl bill does eliminate the Diversity Visa Program and increases criminal penalties for alien smuggling, document fraud, gang violence, and drug trafficking, that only applies to criminals who are caught. Our Border Patrol is catching less than half of the illegal alien migrants coming over the border, even with the help of the Minutemen, and advanced technology. Only a tiny percentage of the Mexican trucks which NAFTA forced us to allow onto our highways are being inspected. Of those who are actually caught performing criminal acts, United States national policy is “catch and release,” regardless of speeches made the Secretary of Homeland Security. Pretty soon Congress will be issuing fishing licenses to the Minutemen and assigning the National Park Service to patrol the borders.

What about the incredible costs to U.S. taxpayers of illegal aliens, such as health care at our hospitals, schooling for their children, subsidized housing, Earned Income Tax Credit subsidies, and in-state college tuition rates? The Cornyn-Kyl bill would deny taxpayer benefits only to illegal aliens found to pose a threat to national security (but not to illegal aliens who threaten our pocketbooks with burdensome social programs or threaten community safety with violent crimes). Buried in the middle of this vast bill is the gut-wrenching Title V, which creates a "Nonimmigrant Temporary Worker Category." That's the euphemism for giving amnesty to more than ten million illegal aliens already in the United States, plus creating "guest worker" status for them and for millions more aliens who will then be invited into our country to take U.S. jobs. With President Bush’s track record, if passed by Congress, Cornyn-Kyl would also become law.

What is this thing called amnesty? Amnesty means a general pardon for offenses against the government and American citizens committed by illegal alien migrants. The Cornyn-Kyl bill includes no punishment whatsoever for the crimes committed by illegal aliens, by makers and users of fraudulent documents, or by employers who hire the cheap labor.

How can a conservative draw any other conclusion than the inmates in the U.S. Senate are running the asylum, led by Senators John McCain and Jon Kyl? If these Arizona Senators are so out of touch with reality, ignoring that their own state is overrun with illegal aliens and associated crime that victimizes Americans, one can only imagine the “insulated from reality” state of affairs that exists in the White House. It has to be something close to “Alice in Wonderland.”

Is there any possibility of President Bush’s reconciliation with America’s conservative base? Sadly, not a snowballs chance. Trust is gone. President Bush, like the profligate husband, has come home late at night and repeatedly said, “trust me.” Each and every time the President has broken faith with those he professed were his own conservative family. President Bush, continuing the metaphor, has repeatedly been unfaithful intellectually and politically to his conservative supporters. Profound examples are legislation such as Medicare, Education, Transportation, and Katrina spending, denigration of fellow Americans who call themselves Minutemen, plus the sheer magnitude of the invasion of illegal alien migrants and the President’s unwillingness to enforce immigration laws. And that’s only for starters.

Forgiveness happened for five years. After the Harriet Miers nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, the disillusionment and bitterness among conservatives became palpable. Metaphorically, estrangement has finally occurred and the differences are irreconcilable. Conservatives badly wanted President Bush to be a conservative. Lacking that they just wanted him to preserve the constitutional integrity of the U.S. Supreme Court.

President Bush has demonstratively shown himself to be unabashedly liberal, a wolf in sheep's clothing. If it makes any Republican feel better not wanting to believe it, put the brown paper bag back on your head and ignore reality. There were many warning signs in Texas. However the alternative candidates in both 2000 and 2004 were inconceivable. Conservatives put their hope in George W. Bush and the rest is history.

Instead of a path to historical greatness, President Bush has chosen by ignorance or by design not to defend his homeland. (In all fairness, neither has Congress.) He has also chosen instead to enact debilitating domestic legislation and pursue go-nowhere ill-advised spending policies. President Bush had an opportunity to be “The Great One,” and either couldn’t find it in himself, or his ill-chosen subordinates abandoned him.

I both profoundly respect President Bush and feel sorry for the man. What a missed opportunity! More importantly, what a modern day tragedy for America. We have lived to see the end of an epoch.

Red State Patriot

Posted February 8, 2006 06:49 PM
Read more on Domestic Issues and Politics ~ Immigration and Border Control