The disgust is only the beginning

[elfs]

Once upon a time, I read National Review. Writers like John Derbyshire and Victor Davis Hanson were, a few years ago, interesting, fresh with new ideas, and startlingly intellectual. Hanson has since devolved into a cheerleader for the President because he can't imagine an alternative, and Derbyshire recently shot himself in the foot by referring to the victims of Virginia Tech as "cowards" for refusing to take on an armed assailant all by themselves.

And then I am reminded that the senior editor at National Review once said that the goverment should mandate that every positive HIV diagnosis in this country should come with a tattoo warning for potential sex partners, preferably on the buttocks. I wondered what should be written there. "Abandon every hope, ye who enter?"

But an entry today by Thomas Sowell reveals the vicious mindlessness to which they have descended:

When I see the worsening degeneracy in our politicians, our media, our educators, and our intelligentsia, I can't help wondering if the day may yet come when the only thing that can save this country is a military coup.

That's all you need to read. Really. Go ahead and "enjoy" the rest of the article, but really, that encompasses the whole of his thought.

Comments

[sirfox.livejournal.com]

Yeah, he's a nutjob.

Granted, while he might only nick the idea tangentially, there's a sad fact that the same political groups who go at each other tooth and nail, constantly reciting the same ideological battle cries, used to be able to at least occasionally compromise on something.

Next to nothing gets done, problems get worse because they're ignored by politicians and media alike, anybody calling for reform is shouted down, and the media encourages all sides indiscriminately, and pockets their advertising money with a chuckle.

I'm not sure of the best way out of all this, and it gives all the appearances of being a self-perpetuating cycle. One of the only encouraging signs i've heard recently is that the fastest growing political group in the USA is "not affiliated with any party". I would really love to see nationwide, a provision that on all ballots, there's the option of "None of the above". Should that one win, the election gets re-run, with all new candidates. (this will let people vote out even somebody running unopposed) In the few states that have this implemented, apparently "none of the above" has come in second a few times.

I want to believe that the American people as a whole aren't so lazy and apathetic that they're willing to sit back and enjoy being spoon-fed mindless entertainment while the world falls apart around them. I just kinda worry about just how BAD it has to become, to get a majority of America off of their couches, and out into the streets to finally say "no, this will not continue."

[jordan179.livejournal.com]

Getting people "out into the streets" is rarely a good way to solve any problem -- it generates a lot of heat and noise but very little light. It also means that the political situation is moving from rule-by-constitution to rule-by-violence (or the threat of violence), and remember:

1) Goon squads beat peaceful demonstrators, and
2) Troops beat goon squads,

so in the end this leads to rule by an alliance of goon squads and the military. This is how the Weimar Republic fell, in the early 1930's.

[sirfox.livejournal.com]

i was thinking more of the peaceful protests and work stoppages in Ukrane in 2004, in response to a horridly corrupt and illegally conducted election.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_Revolution