Source: As country veers left on social issues, are media leading or following? | Fox News.
Kurtz is right, I believe in some respects, however, I think it is far from over. Progressive multi-generational strategy of dumbing down the children combined with indoctrinating them in progressive ideology was, in fact, their best chance of success. However, I think it will likely fail in the long run for several reasons.
- Homeschooling has been steadily increasing and gaining prominence; especially since the 1990’s. While it may be a minority, it is a minority that is trained to not only think, but to do and to accomplish. It has reached a critical mass of a self-sustained and growing movement, so it’s not going away anytime soon.
- Progressives came out into the open too soon. Their philosophy is fundamentally opposed to traditional American culture. For the last century they have been working in the background, co-opting terms like “liberal” or “democratic” to mean something far different than what most understand them to be. When Americans understand what progressives actually mean, the vast majority reject their ideas as false. Even the typical classic liberal Democrat in the U.S. is far to the right of the typical European progressive.
- Failure of progressivism in Europe has gone a long way towards awakening the American people. Watching Greece and Spain collapse may not be making the nightly news, but people are watching it at a grass roots level. This is particularly true when Democrats are busy pushing the same policies that are driving Europe down the drain. Oddly, the European failure is what may have helped push progressives into the open here, as they are forced to defend failing policies.
- The university system is busy self destructing. While they might preach free thought and tolerance, their actions are the antithesis of those ideals. They are targeting the first amendment and free speech in this venue as much as they are targeting guns in the rest of the country. Students are learning firsthand, by the thousands, that progressive ideals are empty lies. The backlash is taking a toll on universities in both the courts and public opinion. As homeschooling continues to accelerate, this effect is going increase.
- Ferguson. Chicago. Baltimore. Detroit. Progressive cities are reaping the fruits of their labor in ever increasing ripples. They’ve tried blaming conservatives and failed. They’re trying to blame race and failing. There is a limit on how long you can hide the truth and I think that limit is near.
- Increase push for an Article V Constitutional convention. This is a low key, low attention story, but it is extremely important. We are edging ever closer to a Constitutional convention to amend the constitution. This is Progressives’ worst nightmare. The State legislatures that send delegates and that would have to ratify any amendments are overwhelmingly conservative. They can’t win if the debate goes here for another couple generations. It this happens, expect to see progressives resort to riots and violence, which brings us to…
- Guns. At the end of the day, America has the most heavily armed general citizenry in the history of the world. It’s estimated that there are anywhere from 120-15 million gun owners with over 300 million guns. These are legal guns, not those in the hand of criminals. That is more armed people than all the armies of the world combined. Few, if any, of those guns are in the hands a progressives. There has been a huge spike in gun ownership since Obama was elected. Make no mistake, tens of millions of those new gun owners might be arming for “self defense.” However, the bad guy they are arming against are not burglars. It is the government that they are arming against. You may not believe me, but progressives certainly think as I do. Consider:
- Efforts to ban guns. Did you notice the effort is rarely targeted at the guns used in crimes but almost always against the guns that would be most effective against the government?
- MIlitarization of the federal bureaucracies. People worry about police “militarization,” but that is a misdirection. Why do so many federal bureaucracies have SWAT teams? According to National Review, this includes “the Department of Agriculture, the Railroad Retirement Board, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Office of Personnel Management, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.” There are many others. Remember that these bureaucracies are overwhelmingly left of center.
- The purging of the U.S. military. At the same time the federal infrastructure is arming up, the military – which is overwhelming right of center and very traditionally patriotic – has been cut in half. Progressives know where the armed forces will land if forced to choose.
- Obama said it himself, “We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.”
- Progressives understand that they cannot impose their agenda by force of arms against the armed populace. They, at least understand how recent events ranging from the Ferguson unrest to the Bundy farm standoff shows that private citizens are willing to take up arms.
- Progressive’s push on immigration tells me that they know they have lost the domestic war even though the battles are still being fought. Progressive strongholds of the Democrat party and the Republican leadership are being ground away. These policies are little more than a poorly concealed attempt to expand their voting base.
So, while I agree with Mr. Kurtz in many respects, the culture war is far from over on either side. In fact, I see what is happening at present as growing desperation on their part as the tide turns against them. They are not winning in the ballot box. They cannot win by force. Their only hope at this point is to fight a delaying action of obfuscation until they can change the demographics. It may be painful, but in the long run the inherent resilience and greatness of American society will prevail.