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 Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2009 6:40 pm |
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October 30, 2009
Dismantling America: Part II
By Thomas Sowell
Many years ago, at a certain academic institution, there was an experimental
program that the faculty had to vote on as to whether or not it should be
made permanent.
I rose at the faculty meeting to say that I knew practically nothing about
whether the program was good or bad, and that the information that had been
supplied to us was too vague for us to have any basis for voting, one way or
the other. My suggestion was that we get more concrete information before
having a vote.
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Obama administration Barack Obama
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The director of that program rose immediately and responded indignantly and
sarcastically to what I had just said-- and the faculty gave him a standing
ovation.
After the faculty meeting was over, I told a colleague that I was stunned
and baffled by the faculty's fierce response to my simply saying that we
needed more information before voting.
"Tom, you don't understand," he said. "Those people need to believe in that
man. They have invested so much hope and trust in him that they cannot let
you stir up any doubts."
Years later, and hundreds of miles away, I learned that my worst misgivings
about that program did not begin to approach the reality, which included
organized criminal activity.
The memory of that long-ago episode has come back more than once while
observing both the actions of the Obama administration and the fierce
reactions of its supporters to any questioning or criticism.
Almost never do these reactions include factual or logical arguments against
the administration's critics. Instead, there is indignation, accusations of
bad faith and even charges of racism.
Here too, it seems as if so many people have invested so much hope and trust
in Barack Obama that it is intolerable that anyone should come along and
stir up any doubts that could threaten their house of cards.
Among the most pathetic letters and e-mails I receive are those from people
who ask why I don't write more "positively" about Obama or "give him the
benefit of the doubt."
No one-- not even the President of the United States-- has an entitlement to
a "positive" response to his actions. The entitlement mentality has eroded
the once common belief that you earned things, including respect, instead of
being given them.
As for the benefit of the doubt, no one-- especially not the President of
the United States-- is entitled to that, when his actions can jeopardize the
rights of 300 million Americans domestically and the security of the nation
in an international jungle, where nuclear weapons may soon be in the hands
of people with suicidal fanaticism. Will it take a mushroom cloud over an
American city to make that clear? Was 9/11 not enough?
When a President of the United States has begun the process of dismantling
America from within, and exposing us to dangerous enemies outside, the time
is long past for being concerned about his public image. He has his own
press agents for that.
Internationally, Barack Obama has made every mistake that was made by the
Western democracies in the 1930s, mistakes that put Hitler in a position to
start World War II-- and come dangerously close to winning it.
At the heart of those mistakes was trying to mollify your enemies by
throwing your friends to the wolves. The Obama administration has already
done that by reneging on this country's commitment to put a missile defense
shield in Eastern Europe and by its lackadaisical foot-dragging on doing
anything serious to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons. That means, for
all practical purposes, throwing Israel to the wolves as well.
Countries around the world that have to look out for their own national
survival, above all, are not going to ignore how much Obama has downgraded
the reliability of America's commitments.
Iraq, for example, knows that Iran is going to be next door forever while
Americans may be gone in a few years. South Korea likewise knows that North
Korea is permanently next door but who knows when the Obama administration
will get a bright idea to pull out? Countries in South America know that
Hugo Chavez is allying Venezuela with Iran. Dare they ally themselves with
an unreliable U.S.A.? Or should they join our enemies to work against us?
This issue is too serious for squeamish silence.
Copyright 2009, Creators Syndicate Inc.
Page Printed from:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/10/30/dismantling_america_part_ii__98936.html
at October 31, 2009 - 08:14:20 PM CDT |
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