Things that make you go hmmmmm...

I think you have it backwards. We don't feel threatened by the speech of the uneducated and unintelligent. We feel exhausted, frustrated, exacerbated.

Cycloptichorn

I think the idea stretches much further than just liberalism.

Ever wonder why some people hate America so?

Nor is such a posture confined to academia. Movie-maker Michael Moore is going around the world saying that the United States is "a crappy country" and its people "stupid" -- while his movie "Fahrenheit 911" is being praised to the skies in the press and among the intelligentsia, as it puts its anti-American message on the screen.

What is there about America that sets off such venom -- among Americans, of all people? One answer might be to look at the kinds of countries praised, defended, or "understood" by the intelligentsia.

For many years, the Soviet Union was such a country. After too many bitter facts about the Soviet Union came to light over the years to permit its rosy image to continue, much of the intelligentsia simply shifted their allegiance or sympathies to other collectivist countries, such as China, Cuba, or Vietnam in the Communist bloc or India, Tanzania and other collectivist regimes outside it.

It means that hundreds of millions of ordinary human beings live their lives as they see fit -- regardless of what their betters think. That is fine, unless you see yourself as one of their betters, as so many intellectuals do.

The more the American vision of individual freedom prevails, the more the vision of the anointed fails. The more ordinary people spend the money they have earned for whatever they want, the less is available to the government as taxes to spend for "the common good" as Hillary Clinton recently put it.

Cars and guns are both instruments and symbols of personal independence -- and both are targets of hostility and even hatred by those who are convinced that they can run other people's lives better than those people can run their own lives. All sorts of claims are made against cars and guns, without the slightest interest in checking those claims against readily available facts.

Countries that impose a collectivist vision from the top down will be forgiven many atrocities, while a country like the United States that lets individuals go their own way will not even be forgiven its successes, much less its shortcomings.

As we celebrate both our country's independence and our individual independence on the Fourth of July, we should never forget that this independence is galling to those who want us to be dependent on them.

Quote:

I'm not sure I, or anybody I know, would agree that parents alone should raise children. That's not the cultural norm here, or anyplace else. There is an odd group now and again... (I'm thinking of Sawney Bean here...) But more usual is collective raising of children, hence the universal acceptance of Hillary's statement, that it takes a village to raise a child...

I feel as though I need to chime in here. I completely disagree with this statement. It is the parents responsibility to raise their children. I would dare anyone to try to raise my children other than myself or my wife.

Schools are to provide an education, not help raise children. I can't believe that anyone would want someone else to raise their children. This lack of responsibility is what is leading to the weakening of the family unit and the weakening of family morals. People don't want to be responsible for anything anymore and it disgusts me.

Ever wonder why some people hate America so?

Note that it is not the downtrodden masses but the pampered Ph.D.s who most vent their spleen at the country that protects and indulges them.

What is there about America that sets off such venom -- among Americans, of all people? One answer might be to look at the kinds of countries praised, defended, or "understood" by the intelligentsia.

For many years, the Soviet Union was such a country. After too many bitter facts about the Soviet Union came to light over the years to permit its rosy image to continue, much of the intelligentsia simply shifted their allegiance or sympathies to other collectivist countries, such as China, Cuba, or Vietnam in the Communist bloc or India, Tanzania and other collectivist regimes outside it.

What is wrong with America, in the eyes of the intelligentsia? The same things that are right with America in the eyes of others.

If one word rings out, and echoes around the world, when America is mentioned, that word is Freedom. But what does freedom mean?

Those people should be sterilized. Obviously not everyone is cut out to be parents, but that doesn't mean that it takes society to raise their children. It takes child services a trip out to the house, a gathering of personal items and a trip to a foster home where better parents can raise those children.

brainfart of ratiocination.

I have to agree with McG on this one. The lack of family structure is slowly eroding away the morals and work ethic in this country. As far as your response on attacking those who criticize... let me criticize to help clarify my point. While I don't mind Bush being Christian (I was raised christian and think it teaches good morals, but have decided since then that any religion that becomes fanatic is dangerous), I think he uses his religious superiority to keep homosexuals from marrying. When it comes down to it he is using it to lessen other people and deny them rights that every other American has. It is not about criticizing nor is it just about college proffessors, it is about the idea of limiting the rights of the common so that the "superior" can still be superior.

I think the idea stretches much further than just liberalism. But, I think the the author was hinting towards social programs which take money away from everybody and then dictate through the programs parts of peoples lives. A small example is people on food stamps are told what kind and what brands of food to buy... we do not feel that they can make a sound decision when it comes to purchasing their food so we dictate what they can buy. The government holds that power over them because with out it they may not eat.

Princess,

Home schooled children have always been better behaved than public school children, in my experience.

Yes, it would be better to send a child to a foster home then to leave them in a home with unfit parents. Just because a social worker comes to the home doesn't make the home life any better.

Ok, I think we have an agreement then. It takes a village to raise the children of adults who lack the responsibility of doing it themselves.

No, and frankly people who "wonder" why are unlikely to understand why.

For example, I love America, but think that putting a flag on a car is an advertisement of one's simple mindedness. I don't love the logo.

This is a cluelessness that is frustrating to address. jpinMilwaukee, quite frankly you should be embarassed to associate yourself with this brainfart of ratiocination.

This is a cluelessness that indicates that the interlocutor will always merely "wonder" and will not understand. It's exacerbated by the fact that the foolish author equates censure to an affront to freedom while delivering censure himself.