Everything Old.........

I spent most of the 80's studying and working - both too hard, but as someone once said hard work is it's own reward! Strange as it seems now I didn't pay as much attention to politics then, still I instinctively knew Ronald Reagan was doing something right.

As I reflect on those years I realized that the past couple years have felt like a strange deja vu.

During the 1980's we were inundated with the reports of how much influence the Christian organization known as The Moral Majority had on Republicans, the President, and our government. I also recall how that was spun to be a very bad thing at that time. What followed were repeated stories and investigations into Jim and Tammy Fay Baker, Jerry Falwell, Jimmy Swaggert, Billy Graham and anyone else involved in anything Christian.

From Demopedia (don't ask, it's wickipedia for the insane):

In 1981, a series of exposes by Memphis reporter Mike Clark led to the condemnation of the interactions between Moral Majority and the Republican Party. Though it claimed to represent the views of the majority of citizens, opinion polls as well as election and referendum outcomes suggest that it was less representative of public opinion than its name suggests. This, combined with what some saw as discrimination and elitism, led a humorist to remark, "The Moral Majority is neither moral nor a majority."

Sound familiar?

Don't get me wrong, there were serious problems with the ministries of some of those claiming to be moral, but the result of the media and secular liberals helped to entrench the anti-religious zealots that have gained extremely high levels of power in America. For example, the ACLU can change land use, education, historic symbols, etc. with nothing more then a threat.

But that wasn't all that came to mind from the 80's. As you might recall I love music, virtually all music and in the 80's who couldn't love new wave/techno music? The other day I remembered a song by a German guy, Peter Schilling. He had a cool song called Major Tom but that isn't the song that came to mind.

In 1983 this was the European attitude toward America:

where oh where is mickey mouse
live and well in the White House

whats the word on common sense
it's been sitting on the fence
have you seen the mastermind
someone's bashed it from behind
leaders saints and honest men
whats become of them today

let's play USA, let's play USA
how I love the life I lead
cannot think and cannot read
watch our values slip away
play the game of USA

even though we lost the race
to get the first man into space
we will be the first country
to run automatically
soon the robots we create
starring on the great wide wait

let's play USA, let's play USA
how I love the life I lead
cannot think and cannot read
watch our values slip away
play the game of USA

won't it be a lot of fun

every man will own a gun
shoot the ones whose point of view
makes a point that bothers you
go on and pollute the land
clean air will be sold in cans

did you hear the master plan
one nation under disney land

let's play USA, let's play USA
how I love the life I lead
cannot think and cannot read
watch our values slip away
play the game of USA

Flattering isn't it. Back then I was able to just skip that song whenever I listened to the album, I don't know if I could do that today. Frankly, this and other rants like this are one of the reasons I grew to have little respect for the Europeans and their "enlightened" worldview.

But read those lyrics again, remember these are from 1983, aren't these the same arguments we heard in the run up to the election from the left and the Euro Weenies? (President stupid, cowboys, ruining the environment, gun crazy....) Don't they realize that their playbook is at least half a century old and we've stopped listening!

Also, and this isn't just a minor point, but I can't recall a single anti-European song from those unsophisticated, closed minded Americans. Strange that the hatred would come from the, liberal, open minded, and accepting Euro's isn't it? Just as most of the hate today comes from the liberal side.

My point? Everything old is new again! Isn't it amazing we survived the Moral Majority and stranger still we survived our evil Cowboy Ways! Strange, not only did we survive, in fact we have greatly out performed the Euro's over the same 20 year period, destroyed the Soviet Empire which brought freedom to 50 million of their Euro brothers and I could go on, but you know the history already.

Bottom line, don't buy the line that America has lost respect in the world because of President Bush, don't buy the line that we are becoming a theocracy!
DKK