Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 13, 1993 TAG: 9303150545
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A NATION OF SHEEP IN MALAISE
THIS COUNTRY'S national malaise is most recently witnessed in the feeble outcry of the pitiful few who express outrage over the blatant lies and false promises of our latest professional manipulator occupying the nation's highest office.The vast majority of people have grown so used to disappointment and politics as usual that we quickly acquiesce and even excuse our leadership of the most morally offensive acts.
How are we any different from the Iraqi people who continually forgive the sins of Saddam Hussein? Like sheep, we passively accept what should be unacceptable behavior from someone it is very important for us to trust.
We must not deceive ourselves into thinking that our young people will naively misunderstand the underlying message - that the ends justify the means. If politicians must lie to us to get elected and we must accept this, then is it any wonder why so few bother to vote at all?
Perhaps it's time that we're honest with ourselves. Maybe we should eliminate "In God We Trust," not only from our money but from our national consciousness, and replace it with "The Ends Justify the Means."
Our major businesses seem to have accepted this premise, as have most of the special-interest groups. Congress, and especially the nine justices of the Supreme Court, have ignored "original understanding" as to their proper roles and powers under the Constitution, and have usurped reserved powers from the states and the people to further their political agendas.
The present elitists in government, business and the media are seeking to expunge any vestiges of our religious heritage from our national life. The majority culture and its near 400-year existence in this country are being sacrificed to the whims of those who presume to know what is best for us.
So what, if the majority of Americans would like to see the Christian ethic back in our schools? What does it matter if most Americans oppose the cultural leveling we are witnessing or the ever-increasing pervasiveness of government in our lives? "They" know where we need to be led. So what if they lie to us, or make secret pacts with big businesses and the special-interests? Getting elected and wielding all that power is all that really matters, right?
There comes a point in time when Americans are going to have to either throw off their stultifying malaise, and take their country and government back, or else witness the complete metamorphosis of this nation into something that would be unrecognizable to our Founding Fathers. WAYNE D. CARLSON RADFORD