The reaction to (Kennedy's )death is telling, however, of the situation in which the country stands – I mean as far as the battle of ideas is concerned. For a country that was founded on the precept that political power is dangerous as it can lead to corruption and totalitarianism, it is strange that its politicians are often revered as gods. I do not know if Senator Kennedy was ignorant of the teachings of economics, but his lifelong fight in favor of universal health care and various other socialistic legislations paved the way to impoverishment and social disaster. Like many in politics, he stood for ideas that seemed noble and beautiful to the ignorant mind, but were truly destructive of the social order.
Sautet also notes that a libertarian or conservative politician who advocates for small/minimal government would not have a chance of receiving the level of adulation that kennedy received in life and in death. In fact, such persons are at the receiving end of all the insults that the modern media environment can dish out: Dick Armey is a homophobe, Ron Paul is a crazy uncle, Ronald Reagan is an amiable dunce, Clarence Thomas is an Uncle Tom, etc. While Sarah Palin has to fight scandals that are simply made up, the media and political world has engaged in a decades-long effort to obscure and downplay Teddy's very real act of vehicular manslaughter.
Politically, Ted Kennedy followed one of the easiest paths of least resistance in American politics. He came from a wealthy political dynasty whose tragic history gave Ted a potent rhetorical weapon every time he dropped his voice and spoke of sharing "moments of triumph and of tragedy" with the voters. He noisily advocated for the poor and downtrodden. Who could be against that? No one. But, in the alchemy of modern politics, if you came out against Ted's preferred solutions, you were a heartless racist with no fellow feeling. It wasn't just the news media that reinforced that message; it was nearly the whole of the nation's elite: the college professoriate, the movie-makers, the myth makers, and the cultural gatekeepers. Ted could turn his back on the teachings of the Catholic Church that supposedly meant so much to his family, but he would never deviate from the Leftist causes to which he dedicated his life.
No comments:
Post a Comment