The Death of Reason

By Alex B

Yesterday I was called by a political organization that said they would like to educate me about the "facts" in the upcoming Virginia governor's race. I decided to have a little fun and played along, I was informed that the group calling represents a "Civilian Accountability Organization" that they claimed served as some sort of watchdog during political campaigns. They wanted to tell me about Bob McDonnell the Republican candidate for Virginia. I listened as this caller went on about McDonnell's sexism and other issues which are of legitimate concern. He asked if I was planning on voting, I replied that I found both of the candidates disagreeable. I asked him if he knew about Creigh Deeds opinion that the Supreme Court decision to ban execution of juveniles was wrong, Deeds claimed that Virginia had the right to execute juveniles regardless of what the Supreme Court said. This same "progressive" has made the claim numerous times, that if elected governor he would ban all semi-automatic rifles. The caller said "Wow I didnt know that" I told him he needed to do more research if he planned on holding politicians accountable, thanked him for the call, and hung up the phone.

The so called "progressive" has become a very disturbing and dangerous trend in politics today. The "progressive" will tell you that they are anti-war, but any military undertaking done by a Democrat in office will be excused as either justified or overlooked by these so called liberals and their peaceful ideals. When one points out that it was under the Clinton administration that the sanctioning of Iraq was devised which killed over 500,000 Iraqi children, the progressive will quickly point out that George W. Bush started the Iraq War and is the person to blame for all our current problems.

This is the fundamental flaw of the so called liberal. While I agree with them wholeheartedly on the fact that Bush was perhaps the worst president of all time, and uniquely corrupt, evil, and crypto-fascistic in his politics, I have found that the so called liberal has a fuzzy memory when it comes to the rampant corruption of Democrat Lyndon B Johnson, a war-mongering mad dog who condemned thousands of young Americans and tens of thousands of Vietnamese children to death.

The so called "conservative" is just as hypocritical. They will claim to be fiscal conservatives yet whenever a Republican gets elected into office spending goes through the roof. They claim to be for low taxes, but taxes continue to remain a burden for working American families. They will claim to be for small government, yet have no problems with the insane expansion of executive powers that went on during the Reagan and Bush administrations. They will make straw man arguments and excuses for Constitutional violations like the Patriot Act and come up with ridiculous movie scenarios to justify the use of torture. They will throw around terms like "anti-american" and call you a "liberal" if you are against the war or point out corruption in the American government. The so called "conservative" is a farce. They ignore the Republican parties embracement of illegal immigration and open borders policies, they look over the Neo-Conservative interventionist policies that go completely against what real conservatives like Thomas Jefferson believed.

We are experiencing a death of reason in this country today. Recently in my Sociology 202 class, my teacher made the claim that isolationist's where individuals who despised other cultures and sought to segregate themselves from the outside world. I pointed out that he seemed to have confused the term with ethnocentrism, isolationists I said, are individuals who don't believe our country has any business or reason to go meddle with the affairs of other nations. I have noticed on numerous occasions, people will make false statements about isolationists, capitalism, and have a general misunderstanding of what a real liberal or conservative is. A real liberal-progressive is not someone that seeks to create a nanny-state, but instead seeks to prevent corruption in the corporate and banking industries, they are truly anti-war and follow isolationist policies. A true conservative seeks to ensure personal liberties, keep government expansion and spending to a minimal, they are not out to place heavy taxes on the wages of working Americans.

Ignorance and apathy are the norm, the TV watching sports culture has infested the minds of many Americans. In casual conversation at school I have noticed that there is a good 40% chance that football, basketball, or baseball will be mentioned depending on the time of year. The average American household has TV on for at least 7 hours in a 24 hour period. 1 out of 4 Americans do not even read a single book in a year. I am not trying to be self righteous and say you shouldn't watch TV or football. I watch Curb Your Enthusiasm religiously, and my friend Kerim follows soccer. But we both recognize that TV, movies, and sports while entertaining, can become distractions if they become the central focus of peoples free time. All I ask is that people keep their eyes and ears open, turn on the filter of reason when watching mainstream media and movies. We are being inundated with ideas other than our own constantly, make sure these ideas are validated in reality not what the mainstream media defines and decides to be reality.

Thank You- Alex B, November 1, 2009