From 1969 to 1974, I was out of the country, serving first in Viet Nam then in Germany. From the time I returned in 1974, I have been trying to figure out and understand where did the country I left back in 1969 go. This article, more than anything I have ever seen or read before, offers the best explanation of what happened during my 5 year absence and why the country I left to fight for,, disappeared while I was gone.
Our Second Civil War
By Bruce Walker
January 06, 2010
The 1860s marked a period of great trial for our land. A bloody civil war resolved, at least nominally, some important issues. It was the period after Appomattox and after Reconstruction, however, which determined the true impact of our first civil war. The 1960s, which ended forty years ago, was the time of our second trial -- our Second Civil War. It is a testament to its ferocity and its reach that the consequences of this internecine war for the soul of America remain undetermined.
Conservatives -- those who wanted to conserve the values of America going into the 1960s -- stood on one side of this battlefield. These Americans viewed our land as the best candle of hope in a stormy world. They strongly favored equal rights for blacks, despite an Orwellian rewriting of history painting them as racists. The Republican Party, the principle vehicle for conservatives, had a very long and clear record of opposing Jim Crow and the disenfranchisement and segregation of blacks.
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The 1960s saw a loosening of corsets (which was simply a question of moderating the equipment of decency) evolve into a long cultural striptease that ended with rabid feminists burning their bras. The abiding faith of Christians and of Jews, which had stabilized families and restrained notions of sin in a healthy check on the direction of culture, began to be portrayed almost always as bigoted ignorance. Defying foundational faith was championed as heroic. God and sin, the left snarled, were false, or worse. Two generations of Americans have grown up in this gulag of godlessness. Now, faith in anything beyond the top bureaucrat or trust in anything above the most decorated sociologists is heresy against militant secularism.
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The 1960s saw the prevailing sentiment of America -- profound gratitude for the freedom and prosperity bestowed by brave and noble predecessors -- transformed by the left into a rude ingratitude, a mocking deconstruction of everything good in America, and an embrace of each imperfection as proof of some capital crime. Conservatives saw America as the place where everyone wanted to be, the one great nation which never had an emigration problem, the refugee country of all oppressed peoples. When GIs fought in Korea or in Vietnam, conservatives saw that the policy mission may have been foolish and the strategies unwise, but the underlying purpose -- to preserve freedom -- was never in question. The left, by contrast, seemed in the 1960s to adopt the belief that the people of South Korea would actually have been better off if they had been incorporated into the vast concentration camp which is North Korea.
Read the rest at American Thinker
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3 comments:
Hey, I Googled '2nd American Civil War' and stumbled upon this page. Do you feel like, at this point, there is any hope for America? I'm only 20 years old, and as I begin to take my first step into the world, Im overwhelmed with a cynicism and depression when I consider my chances to make any real difference. I find that it is now viewed as Nieve to believe in some native good in people, and most Americans have some terrible distrust with those that are called their neighbors. I wonder if everyone is walking around blind, or if Im the one with closed eyes. Take a look at this
http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1342.htm
and let me know what you think.
You can email me, jgs5093@gmail.com, or reply to this comment.
Thanks.
Zeta, at 20 years old, your whole life is ahead of you and it is up to you what you make of it, barring governmental restrictions.
The page you sent me to really isn't worth my time. They start off labeling Christianity basically a hoax and death cult. While there has been a corrupting of Christianity by both the right and left political thought, it is actually a belief system and way of life and not meant to be imposed upon others who don't wish it.
Don't ever think it is naive to believe in inherent good in people. Most have some and while there may be some distrust of neighbor, I feel due to how we isolate ourselves away from our neighbors, you can see hundreds of examples of good everyday. From people donating to help victims in Haiti to holding a door open for another person you don't know.
It's out there and goes overlooked all too often.
As for America, yes, there is always hope. Americans are innovative but have become lackadaisical, waiting for others to do for them, which is what some powers that be desire. Too many ignore our innovative and enterprising ways that built this country and gave us an unheralded freedom never seen before.
There is a revolution ongoing and it isn’t the first time in history. Research and study on the Bolshevik Revolution and Soviet Union. It folded as you were born, but I grew up seeing the threats and oppression they had their people live under.
They too began promising everything to the people, but ended up taking everything instead.
At 20 years old, you are embarking on the greatest adventure ever known, life. Don’t let the cynicism drag you down or fall into the trap of distrust of everyone.
Don’t be afraid to reach out and try to connect with people and don’t be surprised if you end up hurt from time to time, it is all part of the adventure.
You can expect many good spots as well and believe me, when they hit, you will think nothing has ever been better. One of my greatest recollections is of my daughters when toddlers, curling up in my arms and looking to me for safety and the unconditional love a child gives.
The thing to remember in these naysayers is as they drag everything down, complain and ridicule everything traditional, what do they offer instead?
From what I’ve seen so far, they offer nothing but enslavement to a system that has always failed every single time it was tried.
America is to be your generations soon. Take care of her and please, put her back on the path to individual greatness that built her.
sadly this once great country has fallen and all i can see in our future is civil war and when it breaks out, east vs. west divided by the mississippi i will be proud to fight for the west (west is rebels and east is government)
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