TOTAL LICENSING
“The decade of night- that had to shrink in high-cost labor in-Chief” and “Expert-in-Chief”. This is
mares”. In consider- America. how we’ve become fiery partisans for
ation of the space limi- • Globalization, that transferred the above the President’s program, haters of his op
tations of this column jobs out of the country. position and thereby lose healthy
and its main theme, I • The increasing distribution and skepticism about power, any power, which
would invite you to consumption sector, a growing part of as Lord Acton said in 1887: “corrupts”
read this excellent the American pie that required hard and by raising it to the nth degree as the
work or use the Inter- labor for little pay. quote continues, “corrupts absolutely”.
net if any of the events • Unrestrained immigration from non This reduces opportunity for the
or terms I mention are European countries that brought so many separation of powers to work as the
not in your own data bank of memories. Or if, culturally strange people into segregated Constitution provided - leading to
unlike me, you were too young: communities and enclaves. compromise. The more radical politicians
• The growth of unattached specialists who make better press copy and their well
The Age of Aquarius * Hair * Kent State * The can transfer their skills easily and work planned sound bytes radicalize their
Chicago Democratic Convention Riots * Hot part-time from home. campaign!
Pants * Long Hair * Beatlemania * Black Pan- • The growing status of TV commentators
thers * Malcolm X * Che Guevarra * Berlin Air and pundits. • Advocacy funding
Lift, * How to atom-proof bunkers in our back- • Films, books and plays that popularize Our mailboxes are full with appeals from
yard * Gay Liberation * Flower Power * Roe problems and conflict. different pressure groups who favor
vs. Wade * Israel’s Six Day War * Attica Prison • The shrinking farming population versus everything from saving the polar bears to
Riot * Woodstock * Assassinations of Martin the growth of city and suburbia. refuting stem cell research. From
Luther King, John F. Kennedy, and Robert Ken- • The growth of mass market big box creating a green economy to protecting
nedy * Watergate * Star Trek * LSD * Apartheid stores leading to the disappearance of the the USA by drilling for oil all over Alaska
* Vietnam * Easy Rider * Nuclear Stand Off * “friendly neighborhood family merchant”. and the Continental Shelf. There are now
The Scottsboro Boys * Voter Registration Drive • The growing availabilities and choices in so many causes that even political parties
Caravan * Johnson’s Great Society * Women’s food, ethnic products, music and cultural can’t keep up with choosing issues. It
Lib. offerings, splitting us into the consumers is the independent voter who picks and
Pause for a minute, reflect on this roll call and of McDonald’s hamburgers and fries vs. chooses his own menu from the available
feel the shock waves of change. the consumers of Latte and quiche. options.
• The difference between the mostly liberal,
No wonder the Conservatives and especially old-line established churches
THE ANATOMY OF THE
the “moral majority” had to become upset with (Episcopalians, Methodists and
CULTURE WARS
this tremendous drift to libertine principles. Presbyterians), dedicated to ecumenism.
Their supporters on TV, night-time radio and They believe in the separation of church
Sociologists observe that Americans do a lot of
commentators like the self-appointed leader of and state and in good works as the way
moving around to follow their jobs, in-laws, or
the “return to sanity” Bill O’Reilly, who declared to advance society.
climate and living conditions. Between 4 and 5%
then and declares now: “this is a culture war and • And Fundamentalists and the
of the population moves each year from one
it is the liberal media that led us astray”! In multiplying Mega Churches
county to another. Counties count in the elec-
one of his books he lists as his opponents the (Pentecostal, Church of God and
toral college composition in most states. The
ACLU and the S-P forces (secular progressives), Southern Baptist and Evangelists) who
growing number of self-defined independents,
CNN, PBS, Liberal millionaire-financiers, George believe their mission is to convert more
switch parties as needed. The two-party sys-
Soros and Peter Lewis, Professor George P. La- people to being Christian disciples and
tem, which traditionally has presented strong
koff (who authored “Moral Politics”), Colum- who don’t mind political activity on issues
independent electoral identification, has made
nist Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw, Walter Cronkite, like homosexuality or birth control and
them an unstable quantity of ever greater im-
Bill Moyers. Late night hosts, Jay Leno, Da- also election choices.
portance in each political contest. Independents
vid Letterman. He battles with all of them! • The advancing ever better demographics
cannot be counted at the ballot box but most
statistics and research that permit
sociologists agree that depending on the ques-
Again, let us make a short list of what made cul- Marketing and Advertising executives to
tions asked 30 – 40% self-define themselves as
ture wars so possible and pervasive. What made sub-divide in their campaigns for their
independents.
John so convinced that he was totally different wished-for customers into ever smaller
from his neighbor George. What made Mary niches and sub-groups. This stresses and
They like to move into neighborhoods that are
Jane so opposed to “those others” who like Jo supports the differences and reduces a
more like themselves. It makes them more
Ann lived with her family a few blocks away? conscientiousness of commonality.
comfortable to be in neighborhoods of similar
• The Imperial Presidency that, growing in
educations, income levels, similar taste in enter-
• The economic imbalance between what influence over the past decades, makes
tainment. They like their kids to go to schools
those in the new technology industries many of us see the President not only
where parents have similar priorities and prefer-
could earn compared to those who as the Commander-in-Chief, but also
ences. Even colleges get selected that way.
worked in the industrial corporations as “Hero-in-Chief”, “Prognosticator-
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