A Few Questions about the State of American Culture
Published in Marietta Daily Journal March 12, 2017
Government.
Was Jefferson right when he said, “That
government is best which governs least”?
Was Reagan right when he said, “Government isn’t the solution. Government is the problem”?
Are we more likely to be governed
better by people close to us than by people far away? Are
there at least 2 or 3 federal departments and scores of agencies we could get
rid of? Is a 26-year-old too old to be
covered by his or her parents’ insurance?
Education. Can a child learn to read with just a reading
teacher and only a few materials? Can teenagers do well in a high school that
doesn’t look like the Taj Mahal? Is
teaching a human activity, as opposed to a completely objectifiable or
quantifiable one? Has our testing mania
negatively affected learning’s human dimension (encouragement, inspiration,
joy, human interaction)? Has it made
test scores our primary objective?
Politics. Did Donald Trump win the presidential
election? Did Democrats lose? Does President Trump appear to be pursuing
what he campaigned on? With the
exception of the People’s Republic of California, would every state turn out
thousands for a Trump rally any day of the week? Could serious social chaos result if losers
resist the will of the people and continue to take to the streets? Is there a breaking point at which conservatives
would also hit the streets, causing things to get ugly?
The
media. Is it true that the U.S.
Constitution provides for a free press but not a privileged press? Shouldn’t the media be held to account just
as much as anyone else? Has slant poisoned
real news to the point of its near demise?
Has the media ignored the Trump-influenced surge in just about
everybody’s stock portfolio, opting to cram the unsubstantiated Russian scare
down our throats daily?
Sex
and the Society. Does everybody on
the planet have a mother and father? If
so, doesn’t this fact provide an unquestionable nature-based model, a
prototype, on which the broader society should be structured? In other words aren’t a mother, a father, and
a child a little unit of society, indeed a little unit of government in which
and for which some reasonable rules must be established and followed? Are rules and self-restraint still the price
we pay for civilization? Is it possible
that legalizing so-called homosexual marriage plus all of the emphasis on
transgenderism is confusing otherwise well-adjusted children or teens, causing
them to wonder what the truth about sexuality really is?
If it’s “insensitive” to say that
homosexuality is rebellion against nature, should we at least be allowed to say
that it is an aberration or that in sexual matters we have normalized the marginal? Has the LGBT lobby become hyper-intolerant? Do they not claim that one is hateful just
because he opposes homosexuality? If Heather
has two mommies, wouldn’t the optimum for her, given nature’s original model,
be her mommy and daddy? Aren’t male and
female differences wondrous and do they not complement each other?
Entertainment. Is comedy serious business? Is making fun of something one of the best
ways to undermine it? Are Hollywood
celebrities far less knowledgeable of politics and public policy than they
think they are? Is Disney still moving
further and further away from wholesome family entertainment? Does nudity and crude language in movies and
on television matter? Is porn harmful to
young and older men alike? Have parents
and community and political leaders stopped caring that porn is now ubiquitous,
grabbing young boys (in their homes) at the very outset of puberty?
Corporate
America. Is corporate America
ironically leaning left? Have many
non-practicing capitalists like myself written and spoken in defense of
capitalism and corporations only to have their CEO’s turn on us, their
customers and defenders, to fawn over the LGBT lobby? Are corporations crazy to curry the favor of
those who consider the word “corporation” a symbol for evil? Are Chambers of Commerce complicit in
dismissing the social issues because their only concern is the dollar?
Is it possible that America can ever
again have some shared values and cease normalizing the marginal?
Just asking. And my own answer is yes for every question,
even the last one. But an effectual yes
for the last question will require that traditionalists make some noise, light
up some phones, attend some meetings, and write some emails. Otherwise, oppressive government and cultural
hedonism will continue their romp, all because of our own disengagement.
Roger
Hines
3/8/17
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