Predictable Spin

Many times contemporary political pundits will deride the division that exists in America and bemoan it as a destructive force that is crippling America. The truth is that we have always been divided. Any cursory review of history will tell you so. Even during the Revolutionary War there were substantial numbers of Americans who believed that we owed our allegience to King George. I don't have to even bring up the Civil War do I? How about the appeasement crowd as opposed to the hawks of World Wars I and II? About the only difference that I can find is the level of journalism today is as skewed as it's ever been, and that's saying something because that too has always been the case. Newspapers were sometimes started simply to trash a political opponent. However, there were typically other papers which responded in kind. It was up to the public to decide. Such is the case today, though the so called Mainstream press, that which occupies the three standard networks and the vast majority of print media today, has long ago turned into nothing more than political propagandists for the liberal agenda. Talk radio, the internet and cable news has allowed a balance to again be struck and there simply is no excuse for not getting the facts by some means today, but I digress. The point of this article is to point out that even though there are stark differences from how Democrats disagree with Republicans and vice versa, the press typically attempts to treat each as equally despicable acts of partisanship. The simple truth is that Conservatives typically attack policy for principled reasons while Liberals attack individuals for political reasons. This has been so since I have been watching our leaders; over 40 years. Generalizations are never clean and one can surely find incidents on both sides that defy the norm; but the preponderance of the evidence is overwhelming to anyone who cares to see.

After the Reagan years, when liberals in the political arena as well as the press trashed Ronald Reagan incessantly, many in the country began to question the notions of free markets and small government. Congress had already changed hands and the liberals scored a big win with Bill Clinton winning the White House. Of course, no one was speaking truthfully about the economy or most other accomplishments of Reagan. History certainly shows that the Reagan years were both prosperous and successful. At the time however, Clinton and the liberals called it the worst economy since the Great Depression. Sound familiar? Why did this lie stick? Because the liberals had spent 12 years attacking Ronald Reagan personally. They portrayed him as a dunce, a simpleton, out of touch, and mean spirited. Again, history shows that none of that is true but the image allowed the lie to be told to the voting public. After the initial failure of Clintons liberal attempts to control the economy, Republicans ran against the liberals in general on a national stage by putting forth a set of policies in which they were diametrically opposed to the liberals. The Contract With America swept a republican wave into the congress who set about making policies that shrunk the government, lowered taxes and brought about more prosperity. Clintons real legacy is that he was smart enough politically to go along and take the credit. Enough Americans were aware that the Republican Congress had more to do with our success than Clinton did, to deny Al Gore a chance to carry the Democrats into another White House stint. George W. Bush became president and immediately the attacks began. He was not attacked on policy once again. He was attacked for the way he spoke. He was attacked for being dumb, again sound familiar? He was attacked for allowing Rove and Cheney, the obvious true 'brains' behind the man to run things. The terrorist attacks on 9/11 gave us a wonderful break from the typical personal attacks. Unfortunately this didn't last long and soon the liberals were once again attacking Bush as a hate filled lying war monger. Long before the crash of September 2008, liberals were already calling our economy the worst since the Great Depression. Once again, liberals didn't provide specific policies that would make America grow and prosper, they simply attacked and attacked and attacked. Senators on the floor of the Senate called the War in Iraq lost. Our troops were called Nazi's and accused of vile acts of random murder and mayhem. Journalist were more than happy to pick up the torch of personal attacks and vilified Bush for years. Instinctively the American people were beginning to tire of this rampant disregard for respectful debate. Ironically, this was one of the reasons that Barack Obama's campaign pledge of a new way to run Washington gained traction. Of course, the crash of '08 sealed the deal and he was swept into office on an anti Washington wave. Now we have seen that when it comes to policies, the liberals are simply clueless as to how this country is intended to be run. Rugged individualism and free market capitalism is still the way to prosper in America. The coming bloodbath in the November 2010 elections will resoundingly attest to the wisdom of that statement. And what do the liberals do when their policies are abject failures? Why attack George Bush of course, or Sarah Palin or Newt Gingrich or whatever strawman victim they can summon. And after the historical spanking that the Democrats will no doubt take in November, I guarantee you that there will be a plethora of stories about how Obama was never given a chance and how the political rancor today makes it impossible to govern. Little attention will be paid to the specific differences in policy. Instead, talk radio, conservative bloggers, the Tea Party and whoever else they can find will be attacked as the mean spirited partisan sword that was used to slash the potential of a promising president. Only those who pay close attention to history will know, it's the policy stupid. Whether it be George Bush's overspending and overreaching government or Barack Obama's insane spending and idealogical attempts to control all aspects of life; the simple fact is that more government intervention means less prosperity for the American citizens.
So get ready. You've been warned. Just laugh at the media's attempts to blame this presidents demise on anyone other than himself. And most importantly, never again forget that Liberalism Kills (Jon Thomas states so eloquently). Liberalism whether pushed by the D or the R kills the soul of America. Freedom and capitalism nurture and exalt the soul of America. Never again allow the lies of the left to diminish that truth in your mind.

by: Keith D. Rodebush