A Few Questions
Published in Marietta Daily Journal (GA) Oct. 1, 2022
What happened to the obligatory celebrating of
women and Blacks when they rise in their chosen fields of work or have won a
political race? We’re all supposed to be supportive of all women and Blacks,
remember, unless we wish to be called misogynists and racists. It turns out
that women and Blacks are worthy of celebration only if they are progressives.
North Carolina’s Lt. Governor Mark Robinson is an example. Robinson is an
eloquent spokesman if there ever was one but, alas, Robinson is a Black
Republican. He has been called an Uncle Tom because he neither chants nor
embraces the pro-abortion, anti-parent, all Whites are racists, nanny state
government line.
The
best recent example of a conservative woman who is not to be believed or honored – as was not Supreme Court nominee
Amy Coney Barrett – is the newly elected Prime Minister of Italy, Ms. Giorgia
Meloni. Why aren’t feminists joyous over Ms. Miloni’s election? Having just
claimed victory this past week in the national election, Ms. Meloni will never
receive any congrats from feminists in Europe or America. She is no feminist.
In fact, in a campaign speech she raised the question, “Why is the family now
an enemy?” Ms. Meloni went on to challenge the LGBQT movement and the
“identification crisis” that runs amok in Europe and America.
“Why
can I not identify as an Italian, a Christian, a woman, and a mother?” Ms.Meloni asked. “We each have a genetic code.
Without identity we are perfect consumer slaves.” Unlike most feminists and transgender
proponents, Ms. Meloni does not believe reality is relative. Sounding like a
resurrected Phyllis Schlafly or Margaret Thatcher, Ms. Meloni declared, “We
will defend God, country, and family.”
“We”
means the Brothers of Italy, the political party she leads, and its supporters.
The Brothers are known for their conservative stand on illegal immigration,
abortion, and gay marriage. Ms. Meloni has no problem accepting her critics’
charge that she is a nationalist.
When
Ms. Meloni began moving toward victory in the Prime Minister’s race, who should
appear but Google-owned You Tube who censored her because of a speech delivered
in 2019. Could You Tube’s action be because in her bygone speech Ms. Meloni
harshly criticized “global elitists from around the world who no longer believe
in national identity, gender, or even the family”? After You Tube’s censorship,
the media and even pretty boy Macron, the leader of France, accused Meloni of
being … what else? …. a fascist. Fascist has become the media’s label of choice
for those who believe in traditional values, institutions, and norms.
Kudos
to the left wing Atlantic Magazine, however, which pointed out that the Italian
Constitution under which Ms. Meloni will govern and which was adopted in 1948
“is resolutely anti-fascist.” Indeed, Ms. Meloni has distanced herself from
Italy’s fascist past, saying, “Fascism is
history.”
My
interest in Italian politics is twofold. First, I know that my beloved and
deceased Italian sister-in-law Antonia who grew up under Mussolini viewed
family, faith, and all political issues as Ms. Meloni does. Though the
corporation she worked for supported Mussolini, her destitute but knowledgeable
family did not. Whereas Antonia grew up under Mussolini and true fascism, I
grew up asking her questions about both, learning all the while how special
America is and how misled and war torn Europeans have so often been. Second,
the small world in which we now live requires that we know at least a bit about
what’s going on in other lands, particularly Europe. Europe’s storied but
turbulent past and her tenuous present are America’s future if we do not
understand from where and from what we came.
Ms.
Meloni’s victory has made her the object of abuse. Talk about being out of step
with modern Europe and America! A self-professed nationalist? A defender of
borders? A fearless opponent of the LGBQT lobby? European newspapers claim she
is the heir of Mussolini. One of her critics however, Professor Alberto
Mingardi of the University Institute for Modern Languages in Rome, writes,
“There is no risk of authoritarianism under Ms. Meloni. Democracy isn’t toppling.”
A
few more questions, inspired by Ms. Meloni. What has the dire situation on our
southern border already brought us, even if it were fixed today? If Republicans
win both houses of Congress, will they stick to their guns or, once again, go
moderate? What does the crime picture shown to us nightly on television tell us
about the condition of the American family?
Ms.
Meloni, age 45, has unashamedly and fearlessly taken an old-fashioned position
on every single issue. Will American leaders ever see where we are headed and
do something similar?
Roger Hines
September 29, 2022
