by Patrick J. Buchanan
Flying home from London, where the subject of formal debate on the 70th anniversary of World War II had been whether Winston Churchill was a liability or asset to the Free World, one arrives in the middle of a far more acrimonious national debate right here in the United States.
At issue: Should Barack Obama be allowed to address tens of millions of American children, inside their classrooms, during school hours?
Conservative talk-show hosts saw a White House scheme to turn public schools into indoctrination centers where the socialist ideology of Obama would be spoon-fed to captive audiences of children forced to listen to Big Brother — and then do assignments on his sermon.
The liberal commentariat raged about right-wing paranoia.
Yet Byron York of The Washington Examiner dug back to 1991 to discover that, when George H.W. Bush went to Alice Deal Junior High to speak to America’s school kids, the left lost it.
“The White House turned a Northwest Washington junior high classroom into a television studio and its students into props,” railed The Washington Post. Education Secretary Lamar Alexander was called before a House committee. The National Education Association denounced Bush. And Congress ordered the General Accounting Office to investigate.
Obama’s actual speech proved about as controversial as a Nancy Reagan appeal to eighth-graders to “Just say no!” to drugs.
Yet, the episode reveals the poisoned character of our politics.
We saw it earlier on display in August, when the crowds that came out for town hall meetings to oppose Obama’s health care plans were called “thugs,” “fascists,” “racists” and “evil-mongers” by national Democrats.
We see it as Rep. Joe Wilson shouts, “You lie!” at the president during his address to a joint session of Congress.
We seem not only to disagree with each other more than ever, but to have come almost to detest one another. Politically, culturally, racially, we seem ever ready to go for each others’ throats.
One half of America sees abortion as the annual slaughter of a million unborn. The other half regards the right-to-life movement as tyrannical and sexist.
Proponents of gay marriage see its adversaries as homophobic bigots. Opponents see its champions as seeking to elevate unnatural and immoral relationships to the sacred state of traditional marriage.
The question invites itself. In what sense are we one nation and one people anymore? For what is a nation if not a people of a common ancestry, faith, culture and language, who worship the same God, revere the same heroes, cherish the same history, celebrate the same holidays, and share the same music, poetry, art and literature?
Yet, today, Mexican-Americans celebrate Cinco de Mayo, a skirmish in a French-Mexican war about which most Americans know nothing, which took place the same year as two of the bloodiest battles of our own Civil War: Antietam and Fredericksburg.
Christmas and Easter, the great holidays of Christendom, once united Americans in joy. Now we fight over whether they should even be mentioned, let alone celebrated, in our public schools.
Where we used to have classical, pop, country & Western and jazz music, now we have varieties tailored to specific generations, races and ethnic groups. Even our music seems designed to subdivide us.
One part of America loves her history, another reviles it as racist, imperialist and genocidal. Old heroes like Columbus, Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee are replaced by Dr. King and Cesar Chavez.
But the old holidays, heroes and icons endure, as the new have yet to put down roots in a recalcitrant Middle America.
We are not only more divided than ever on politics, faith and morality, but along the lines of class and ethnicity. Those who opposed Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court and stood by Sgt. Crowley in the face-off with Harvard’s Henry Louis Gates were called racists. But this time they did not back down. They threw the same vile word right back in the face of their accusers, and Barack Obama.
Consider but a few issues on which Americans have lately been bitterly divided: school prayer, the Ten Commandments, evolution, the death penalty, abortion, homosexuality, assisted suicide, affirmative action, busing, the Confederate battle flag, the Duke rape case, Terri Schiavo, Iraq, amnesty, torture.
Now it is death panels, global warming, “birthers” and socialism. If a married couple disagreed as broadly and deeply as Americans do on such basic issues, they would have divorced and gone their separate ways long ago. What is it that still holds us together?
The European-Christian core of the country that once defined us is shrinking, as Christianity fades, the birth rate falls and Third World immigration surges. Globalism dissolves the economic bonds, while the cacophony of multiculturalism displaces the old American culture.
“E pluribus unum” — out of many, one — was the national motto the men of ‘76 settled upon. One sees the pluribus. But where is the unum? One sees the diversity. But where is the unity?
Is America, too, breaking up?
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oh come on, Pat. 100 years ago. people were raging that your ancestors were drunken Irish Papists that were eating away at America's Protestant core (which, to a degree, was true) America has always been a dynamic, integrationist story. Brining gays into the stabilizing institution of marriage, while respecting religious differences, is just the latest manifastation of that story.
Yes, "we" (meaning the populace of the U.S., legal and illegal) are losing any real sense of shared culture, values, and identity that could hold us together.
"Diversity" is actually a core tenet of a belief system to which virtually everyone in American public life today subscribes. That belief system, which, for lack of a better term, can be called one-worldism, also includes tenets such as: the march toward a single integrated world economy is both inevitable and beneficial; anyone who comes to America and at least purports to espouse tolerance of others deserves to be called an American with all the rights of citizenship; there is no such thing as an inherent conflict between religions or ethnic groups; any concept of "us" and "them," especially when it resides in the minds of the traditionally white, Christian American majority, is fundamentally evil.
[Comment continued]: No one in public life, whether conservative or liberal, Republican or Democrat, ever dares to openly reject the one-worldist belief system. Mr. Buchanan stands alone as the singular exception. Until a mass movement arises which openly, and proudly, advances an alternative position to this belief system, the march of fragmentation and diversity will continue. –despite the fact that a huge part of the population, perhaps even the majority, is unhappy with the results.
Love ya, Pat, but you're a little slow on this one. You need to get out more. My buddies and I have been speculating on where the new lines should be drawn on the map for a few years now. What stops it from coming completely unhinged? Well, the ugly spectre of another Civil War, for one thing. My sons dead? My house burned? My country gone? No one wants that, but it seems inevitable now. We're living in the past. The United States of America exists only in our hearts now, in our dreams, in our nostalgic pinings for "the old days." The reality is that we'vre been several nations for some time. It's starting to come to blood already, in isolated small incidents; fingers being bitten off, people at rallies being attacked and beaten. All sides are filled with a virulent hatred that can't be put back in the bottle. I have relatives I no longer speak to, family gatherings are missing folks we once laughed and toasted with. Nope. I don't know how it will end, but when people today ask me how to invest in these terrible days, I tell them to buy food, guns, and ammo.
Very good points!
It all comes down to our politicians not following the proper relationships between the federal level of government and the states and the people, respectively, as defined by a strict interpretation of the U.S. Constitution.
In a proper federal republic, school prayer, the Ten Commandments, evolution, the death penalty, abortion, homosexuality, assisted suicide, affirmative action, busing, the Confederate battle flag, and prayer in schools, etc. are issues–literally "points of contention"–only within each of the fifty states to be decided at the state or lower level according to the will of the people residing there. That is the Supreme Law of the Land as currently written and as currently being violated by the Federal government.
In a proper federal republic, the Federal government would know that it has to keep it's hands off such issues just as they do not make other laws regarding murder and other matters properly within the purview of the states according to the Constitution of the United States of America.
Will the Spiro Agnews or George Wallaces always be with us?
Pat, you answered your own question in your article. The country is split 50/50.on just about everything. Our only hope is to try and "get along" peacefully without having another "civil war".
The only thing that may unite us again is another 9ll or nationwide catastrophe. Do we really need to wish for something like that?
Better yet, Pat, let's pack it in and head for Costa Rica and be done with it!
Pat, this is the Unity Democrats promise every four years.
WHITE again and this will get back on track.
I agree that there is too much disunity. As far as I can tell, the only time the US is united is when we go to war (and then sometimes that unity fades). When it comes to passing a bill in congress to create a better health care system or anything else, nothing ever seems to get done. As far as I can tell the congress is deadlocked on almost everything and hasn't passed anything important for about 30 years.
America was never really united. In the beginning, many states were more into state's rights than unity through federal government. Hayseed farmers had little in common with city slicker folks. Free and mostly white North was at odds with the Slave South, culminating in the Civil War. Americans in the West distrusted the Eastern Establishment. Religious and secular forces clashed. Massive immigration in the late 19th century led to major tensions. Black and white divisions have always been strong. It was with mass media that the nation began to hear the same radio and watch same movies–and same tv shows. This period of unity lasted from the 20s to the 80s(though 60s was a time of profound divisions). With hightech media, we are becoming fragmented again because the media are no longer dominated by a few corporations but has been youtube-ized and blogized. We of the ALTERNATIVE RIGHT have been possible ONLY BECAUSE we moved away from the iron grip of the conglomerate media control that lasted until the rise of the internet. If Buchanan wants unity, we should all watch MSM and go along with what the likes of Chris Matthews say. It's good for us to rebel and SAY NO to all that. We must seek our truth.
We of the ALTERNATIVE RIGHT have been possible ONLY BECAUSE we moved away from the iron grip of the conglomerate media control that lasted until the rise of the internet. If Buchanan wants unity, we should all watch MSM and go along with what the likes of Chris Matthews say. It's good for us to rebel and SAY NO to all that. We must seek our truth.
That said, prior to the rise of multiculturalism, there was AT LEAST the ideal that we should all melt into one people. With the politicization of PC diversity, anti-American balkanization seems to be the latest trend, which is deeply troubling. Ideals and goals, even if never perfectly achieved, are crucial in where a nation is headed.
A divided Congress that can't do anything is great by me. A divided government too busy fighting with itself to govern us means we get to be left alone more.
I’m a Canadian so perhaps I shouldn’t comment but what the heck…..I’m part of the problem today. Everyone is encouraged to add their 2cents worth to issues great or small until we’ve reached the point of being a vociferous bunch of know it all “duck quackers“. The issues that divide society today are certainly a lot more complex than to be left to the arm chair critic who has enough to do trying to manage their own life .
Yes Pat, America is coming apart because it would seem that it is no longer governable. The national discourse has deteriorated to such a point that two big components of democracy, deference and respect, no longer exist. It is now divided against it self and is coming unglued…..sad, for it has given the world so much to applaud. All is not lost though….didn’t Christ say he came not to bring peace, but a sword Let’s all get on with the battle then until the end.
(cont.) Thomas Maccaulay wrote to Henry Randall in 1857; ““I have long been convinced that institutions purely democratic must, sooner or later, destroy liberty or civilization or both. In Europe, where the population is dense, the effect of such institutions would be almost instantaneous …Either the poor would plunder the rich, and civilization would perish; or order and prosperity would be saved by a strong military government and liberty would perish.” He went on to say about America “Either some Caesar or a Napoleon will seize the reigns of government with a strong hand; or your republic will be fearfully plundered and laid waste by barbarians in the 20th century as the Roman Empire was in the Fifth – with this difference – that your Huns and Vandals will have been engendered within your country by your own institutions.”
Was old Thomas prescient, or what? Picture me with my hand visoring my eyes as I look to the horizon hoping to see Caesar on the march.
I've felt this same way my whole life. Personally, I think the reason is because the US has become an absurd plurality, and as such, no one is getting any kind of representation from the massive centralized Govt. which does it's best to please everyone, but ends up pleasing no one. A previous commenter brought up how people once thought poorly about the Irish, but there is a huge difference there. All the immigrants that came to the US in the early part of the 1900's were from Europe, and as such, they all had a common cultural thread that ran between them in the form of similar expectations from their Govt. Today, we're seeing a plurality on the size and scope that NO Govt. can satisfy. You simply cannot squeeze everyone under one tent. It's not fair to anyone, and it will result in the kinds of bitterness and apathy we're seeing in this country today. People of different races, sexual orientations, cultures, and religions all need a Govt. that is geared towards their own personal issues. That's why you see so many Nations of the world as homogeneous, and who's Govt. caters to the dominant native ethnic group. That's not a bad thing!! That's called getting things done! The current situation here in the US is called gridlock, and it's the best we can ever expect from a massive plurality who won't compromise with one another and who all demand equal representation.
We are coming apart Pat, and I am considering my options. Should I immagrate to Canada? I've been there several times, like it, and have companies that I know I could get a job with. I more than have the finances for such a step. Would have to navigate Canadian Immagration, which I'm told by lawyers is not too hard.
I'm 33, and all this stuff right now with these marchers and protesters and hatred and such is really scaring me. When you are seriously considering the option of moving, trust me it's serious.
I have people in my own family that I rarely speak to now because I'm a liberal and their conservative. It baffles me to no end. But I know I believe the way I believe and no one, including family, is going to change that.
One thing that has destroyed this country is greed. Greed is the root cause of the financial crisis. And it will be the ultimate cause for the demise of the United State.
Rick 2009, there are states within the US which are like Canada. Why not just move to Maine instead?
Some on the right complain about diversity and plurality, but not all diversity and plurality are the same. I don't see much trouble from the presence of Asian Indians, Japanese or Chinese Americans. Or even a limited number of Muslim Arabs. The problems are really three fold. One is the large presence of blacks, a social problem which goes back centuries, which proves that social problems are less about time than about compatibility. New arrivals from India with funny accents fit into this country better than blacks who've been here since the 18th or early 19th century. Another problem is the large influx of illegals from Mexico, especially because of the theme of Reconquista. And, there is the problem of liberal Jews who are vastly power and hellbent on turning this country into a haven for 'gay marriage', open borders, and affirmative action against gentile whites of blue collar status.
I will say this. Pat Buchanan is one of the few if not the only conservative that I can stand to listen to. I disagree with him alot, but at least he is learned in the areas of which he speaks! And I can respect that.
Our "Founding Fathers" were so brilliant, that most Americans are either to ignorant to understand their writings, or simply believe what they wish in this culture of "I Am"………………….The Jefferson/Hamilton fight has never been put to rest. Lincoln forgot that, "A man convinced against his will, is of the same opinion still"!
It was "These United States" and not "The United States"……………………..The States created the Federal Government, with provisions in hope that the citizen would not forget?……….We did forget……..And now the Feds act as if they gave birth to the States! Freedom isn't free, and freedom from a powerful "Leviathan" is part of the "Liberty Experience".
We are NOT the same!………Which is why States Rights must be returned!…….I'm an Alabama Jeffersonian Constitutionalist that could care less what San Francisco decides is right for THEIR COMMUNITY?…….They are GOD's problem!…..Not mine!………….But, I also want Washington out of my life as well!….Now, that 50 years have passed, many citizens should read George C. Wallace's greatest speech.
With 50 years behind us, take the time to actually read a great speech by George C. Wallace regarding States Rights.
http://www.vlib.us/amdocs/texts/wallace64.html
It takes about 9 hours to drive from the Southern border of Germany to the Northern border.(Did you really expect Americans to be alike on everything?…………Does freedom of association mean nothing?……..Should I think just like someone in Rhode Island, simply because their ancestors sold my ancestors the slaves?)
Davey Crocket of Tennessee said, "You can all go to hell! I'm going to Texas!"………………….States Rights is LIBERTY!
Is America Coming Apart?
YES
Whites are mostly in the middle–under the Jews and above the blacks/Hispanics. Jews are mostly united–liberal, globalist, Zionist. Blacks are united for Black Power. Rich blacks feel united in spirit with poor blacks. Hispanics are all for Brown power. Though majority of whites lean conservative and patriotic, whites are divided between those holding onto Western pride and those filled with Western guilt–fed to them by Christian teachings and liberal PC education. Unlike China, we don't have the elite, middle, and underclass who are united by race and sense of destiny. What the Jewish elite wants is not what whites want. What whites want is not what blacks want. What blacks want is not what Hispanics want. Also, as gays are creative and favored by the entertainment and cultural industries, they've gained huge influence over our culture though they make up less than 2% of the population. Where does all this lead? I dunno. To some extent, this kind of diversity can lead to creative sparks, progress, originality, and interesting cultural hybrids. In other ways, it can lead to divison, chaos, violence, distrust.