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Moderates! Where are You???
To
liberals I ask: are we not allowed to have a culture we are proud
of, one that we can cherish and is worth defending? It seems that other
people are allowed theirs, but ours is somehow indefensible for lack of
perfection, or sins past. Are other cultures more perfect? Are their histories
without stain? Your liberality has generated a fear of cultural expression
that makes us more amorphous every day, weak despite our power, ashamed
despite our great accomplishments. You take away our pride, and then complain
when we are not more compassionate.
To
conservatives I ask: have you really missed what our culture is
all about? Traditions and images are merely the trappings of who we are.
Without the soul of the great minds who founded us as a nation, the keen
vision and intellect that carefully devised our system of government,
we are caught in stale, ritualistic thinking. It's not about the flag,
or power, or the economy. It's about who we are as people, caring for
one another, believing in principles that have depth of meaning, that
are alive, that move us to create a better world, not wallow in images
of a past that never existed.
To
moderates I ask: where are you? Where is your voice? Why sit quietly
along the sidelines while extremists tear our nation apart, as if there
were no alternative? We know that the extremist mindset often borders
on insanity. We hear the often vicious fools every night on television
and radio, picking this truth while excluding that, cornering their opponents,
trying to defend the indefensible, more concerned about winning points
than reconciling differences. Minorities though they are, they are the
scourge of our times and the crippling of our political system.
You
moderates, however, you represent common sense and emotional stability!
You make things work! You outnumber the extremists. Why then, do politicians
not reach out to you, but cater to extremists instead, the bane of our
society?
The
majority of Americans need a voice, and that voice will not be liberal
or conservative. It will be a calm, even voice, one capable of dealing
with power as it should be dealt with. A reasonable voice. A voice that
recognizes that patriotism is not about the flag, or the kind of pride
that closes its eyes to error, its about loving the American people enough
to do what it right. It's about not only proclaiming we have principles,
but really defining what they are and following them.
Listening
to extremists argue is like watching a ping-pong game, one side smacking
comments back to the other in dull repetition. The eye movement of watching
them must put you into a hypnotic trance that silences your disgust.
The
viability of our nation and our culture depends on you, not them. You
are "the people" Abraham Lincoln was thinking about in his Gettysburg
Address. You are the staple of reason that our Enlightenment forefathers
trusted to guide our direction and get things done.
It
is time we join together to drag our nation back to sanity. We have a
culture to rebuild and defend, in a world where blind anger and fanaticism
leads to outrage and death. If we fail to do this, all may be lost.
We
have to put aside the prevailing "what's in it for me" attitude
and become real patriots again, not defined by conservatives or liberals,
but by us, "the people." We can do this.
