The title of this post may come as a bit of a shock to some of you. After all, I've been relentlessly critical of Obama from the inception of this blog. I still think that his foreign policy, domestic policy, and national security policy are doing great damage to our country. I am in the process of writing a harsh critique of his State of the Union address.
However, I am starting to be bothered by an over-the-top tone to some of the recent attacks on Obama. A good example of this is the uproar over the following comments Obama made during a townhall meeting in New Hampshire a couple of days ago: “When times are tough, you tighten your belts. You don't go buying a boat when you can barely pay your mortgage. You don’t blow a bunch of cash in Vegas when you’re trying to save for college.” This comment is getting a lot of attention in some quarters. Several elected Nevada officials, including Senator Reid, have criticized Obama's comments as hurting Las Vegas's struggling economy, which is based heavily on tourism. The mayor of Las Vegas went even further, saying that Obama was not welcome in his city.
Now I can understand why Nevada politicians would be quick to defend their city. That's their job. But conservatives are making too big a deal out of this. I am a fan of Mark Levin, but he went way overboard on this during his radio show Tuesday evening. After playing Obama's comments, he ranted about how Las Vegas is the symbol of American capitalism and Obama hates Vegas because he hates capitalism and he hates for people to have fun and enjoy life. Come on. And this morning on the radio, they were still replaying Obama's comments and talking about them.
I think Obama's comments are pretty innocuous. He was making a point about how Americans know to cut back on their spending in tough economic times, and the government should do the same. Very reasonable point. (Too bad he isn't practicing what he preaches, unveiling another huge, bloated, $3.55 trillion budget this week.) He mentioned Sin City because it is a universally recognized destination for people who want to spend their money on non-essential entertainment. (He mentioned buying a boat too -- should boat manufacturers and sellers be outraged?) And give me a break, Vegas is not the symbol of American capitalism. In my opinion, it is more the symbol of American decadence and extravagance. (Although I'm not saying there aren't legitimate activities and reasons to go there.) Of course, in a free society people have the right to behave decadently and extravagantly if they choose. But nothing Obama said can be reasonably construed as counseling people not to visit Vegas.
So here's my point in talking about this. Do conservatives not have enough legitimate policy criticisms of Obama? There are so many more important things to be focusing on. If we're going to defeat the Democrats in November, we have to substantively show why the Democrats' ideas are so harmful to our country and present Americans with an alternative policy agenda that will make our country stronger. It's what we're trying to do on this blog. And it's what two recently successful Republicans did -- Bob McDonnell and Scott Brown. These candidates did not run as squishy moderates -- but they stayed focused on issues and refused to engage in harsh personal attacks like their opponents. And both were very successful with independent voters. As I said before, I like Mark Levin, but of late his radio shows have been sounding increasingly hysterical, with a lot of shouting and name-calling. I know he's upset with what the Democrats in Washington are doing, and so am I. But these antics just turn people off. We didn't like it when the left launched daily cheap shots against Bush. Let's not take petty cheap shots at Obama either.
Showing posts with label Mark Levin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mark Levin. Show all posts
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Mark Levin Speech - Follow-up
Sorry it has taken me so long to follow up on my previous post last week about my opportunity to hear Mark Levin speak at the Churchill Dinner in Washington, DC. It was so encouraging to spend an evening with like-minded people who care about our Constitution and want to see our country prosper as a free society instead of a socialist republic. There were probably around 350 people in attendance, and after a delicious dinner the Hillsdale College President Larry Arne spoke for about 30 minutes, followed by a 30 minute speech by Mark Levin. Pat Sajak, the host of Wheel of Fortune and the Vice-President of the Hillsdale College Board of Trustees, gave a hilarious toast to Winston Churchill to close the evening.
Both Arne and Levin gave great speeches, and the basic message of both was similar. There is a serious attack currently being launched against our Constitution and against the individual rights and freedoms guaranteed to us in the Constitution. This attack is being perpetrated by our president and by our Congress, as well as unelected judges. The essential fight is between liberty and tyranny, between constitutionalism and statism. It is a brazen attempt to transform our country from a constitutional republic into a socialist state. The real power in a constitutional republic rests with the civil society, which is made up of free individuals pursuing their God-given rights to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Its constitutionally-limited government is the servant to the people, whose rights are guaranteed by their Creator. The real power in a socialist state rests with an all-powerful federal government, which takes most of people's money through taxation and then distributes it back to its citizen-slaves as it deems best. The people's rights are "guaranteed" by a government that provides cradle-to-grave entitlements and regulates their every activity, reducing them to virtual slavery and trampling on the Constitution. Our country, though founded as a constitutional republic, has been steadily moving toward socialism for many years, starting with Abraham Lincoln and accelerating in this direction under FDR. Obama and our current Congress are more brazen about their socialist/Marxist intentions and more determined to utterly subjugate the American people under the federal government's control than any of their predecessors. Their two biggest power grabs at the moment are health care "reform" and "climate change" regulation, both of which strike at the heart of individual liberty.
What our country needs -- desperately needs -- right now is for individual citizens to step forward and "take back" our country by electing representatives who treasure our constitutional freedoms. Levin and Arne seemed optimistic that this will happen in future elections. I wish I could say I am as optimistic as they are. When I look at our country I see generations of people who, thanks to our government-run schools, are ignorant about American history and traditions, ignorant of the Constitution and the Founders, and ignorant of the Bible and our Judeo-Christian heritage which provides a basis for the dignity and worth of the individual. I see a country populated with people who have already become dependent on the government and who demand equality of outcome rather than equality of opportunity. I see lazy citizens who think that they owe their country nothing and that their country owes them everything, including a good education, a good job, good health care, and a comfortable life. I see a population that largely seems to reject moral absolutes and deny even the possibility of truth, that views its own existence and the existence of the universe as a meaningless accident of nature, and that seems incapable even of logically deducing the consequences of ideas. Maybe I'm too harsh in my assessment, but how can such a citizenry take back our country? It is likely that in the short-term, people's economic misery will drive them to elect new representatives in 2010 or 2012, but for any lasting change to take place there must be a change in people's hearts, beliefs, and attitudes. I pray this will happen, but it will take a miracle.
Levin closed his speech (and his book) with a quote from a president who truly understood liberty, Ronald Reagan: "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free."
Both Arne and Levin gave great speeches, and the basic message of both was similar. There is a serious attack currently being launched against our Constitution and against the individual rights and freedoms guaranteed to us in the Constitution. This attack is being perpetrated by our president and by our Congress, as well as unelected judges. The essential fight is between liberty and tyranny, between constitutionalism and statism. It is a brazen attempt to transform our country from a constitutional republic into a socialist state. The real power in a constitutional republic rests with the civil society, which is made up of free individuals pursuing their God-given rights to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Its constitutionally-limited government is the servant to the people, whose rights are guaranteed by their Creator. The real power in a socialist state rests with an all-powerful federal government, which takes most of people's money through taxation and then distributes it back to its citizen-slaves as it deems best. The people's rights are "guaranteed" by a government that provides cradle-to-grave entitlements and regulates their every activity, reducing them to virtual slavery and trampling on the Constitution. Our country, though founded as a constitutional republic, has been steadily moving toward socialism for many years, starting with Abraham Lincoln and accelerating in this direction under FDR. Obama and our current Congress are more brazen about their socialist/Marxist intentions and more determined to utterly subjugate the American people under the federal government's control than any of their predecessors. Their two biggest power grabs at the moment are health care "reform" and "climate change" regulation, both of which strike at the heart of individual liberty.
What our country needs -- desperately needs -- right now is for individual citizens to step forward and "take back" our country by electing representatives who treasure our constitutional freedoms. Levin and Arne seemed optimistic that this will happen in future elections. I wish I could say I am as optimistic as they are. When I look at our country I see generations of people who, thanks to our government-run schools, are ignorant about American history and traditions, ignorant of the Constitution and the Founders, and ignorant of the Bible and our Judeo-Christian heritage which provides a basis for the dignity and worth of the individual. I see a country populated with people who have already become dependent on the government and who demand equality of outcome rather than equality of opportunity. I see lazy citizens who think that they owe their country nothing and that their country owes them everything, including a good education, a good job, good health care, and a comfortable life. I see a population that largely seems to reject moral absolutes and deny even the possibility of truth, that views its own existence and the existence of the universe as a meaningless accident of nature, and that seems incapable even of logically deducing the consequences of ideas. Maybe I'm too harsh in my assessment, but how can such a citizenry take back our country? It is likely that in the short-term, people's economic misery will drive them to elect new representatives in 2010 or 2012, but for any lasting change to take place there must be a change in people's hearts, beliefs, and attitudes. I pray this will happen, but it will take a miracle.
Levin closed his speech (and his book) with a quote from a president who truly understood liberty, Ronald Reagan: "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free."
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Mark Levin
I'm attending the Churchill Dinner tonight at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC. This is a special event put on by Hillsdale College, and the keynote speaker is Mark Levin. For those who don't recognize those names, Hillsdale College is one of the premier conservative colleges in the country and one of only two accredited universities that do not accept any government funding (the other one is my alma mater, Grove City College). And Mark Levin is one of the most successful talk radio hosts in the country and has authored the runaway bestseller Liberty and Tyranny. Anyone who has read or listened to Levin knows what a brilliant political thinker he is and how well he understand American history and government. I can't wait to give an update tomorrow on his speech!
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