Paul R. Hollrah

The End of the Culture War
November 4, 2008

In a September 8, 2008 article titled, "The Culture War’s Decisive Battle has Begun,” Herbert E. Meyer describes, clearly and succinctly, the opposing sides in the culture war that has dominated American politics for decades.

He begins with the observation that, in every war, there is a decisive battle...a battle that does not end the war but which, from the perspective of history, is the moment at which one side’s ultimate victory – and the other side’s defeat – is sealed. He cites Gettysburg as the decisive battle of the Civil War and Midway as the decisive battle of World War II. And he is convinced that this year’s presidential election is shaping up to be the decisive battle of the Culture War.

Meyer explains, "On one side are the Traditionalists. We believe that church and State should be separate, but that religion should remain at the center of life. We are a Judeo-Christian culture, which means we consider those ten things on a tablet to be commandments, not suggestions. We believe that individuals are more important than groups, that families are more important than governments, that children should be raised by their parents rather than by a village, and that marriage is a sacred relationship between a man and a woman. We believe that rights must be balanced by responsibilities, that personal freedom is a privilege we must be careful not to abuse, and that the rule of law cannot be set aside when it becomes inconvenient.

"We believe in economic liberty, property rights, and in giving purposeful and industrious entrepreneurs the elbowroom they need to start and run their businesses – and thus create jobs for all the rest of us – with a minimum of government interference...(W)e believe that despite its imperfections the United States is history’s most blessed country, and when attacked we will defend this country with our lives.”

He continues, "On the other side of this Culture War are the Left Wing Liberals. They are uncomfortable with our traditions, with the inevitable inequalities of our free-market economy, and with our military power. They dislike our values, our morality, and our unabashed displays of patriotism. At first – back in the 1960s – they were content merely to develop and pursue their own radical culture within ours. They tuned out, turned to drugs, and pushed the level of sexual license to a point our country had never known. They were so distressed by our imperfections that they refused to recognize or celebrate our achievements.

"Then they tuned in, and developed a political agenda whose logical outcome would be the overthrow of the American Revolution itself. While we believe that power flows from God to the people, they believe the supreme power is the State, which decides what rights, if any, should be allowed to the people. And because there is no God above the State, there also is no truth; no such thing as right or wrong, good or evil. Since they are working to do good – by their definition of the word – whatever crimes they commit along the way don’t matter. But if we are bent on doing what they define as harm, they will use any legal trick in the book to stop us. In short, the rule of law means whatever they want it to mean at any given moment.

"They believe that rights are more important than responsibilities, that groups are more important than individuals, and that one’s stand on public issues is more important than one's private actions or morality. And while they are careful never to condone the tactics of our country’s foreign enemies, they always see some justification in our enemies’ cause. They don't actually want us to be defeated by our foreign enemies; they wish merely to see us humbled and humiliated by them.”

In his September 8, 2008 Best of the Web column, James Taranto observes that "until 10 days ago, it looked as if there wouldn’t be much hatred at all in this year’s campaign...neither man has aroused much true hatred.” But, he says, "McCain’s vice presidential nominee...is arousing a lot of it.”

Taranto goes on to quote columnist Nick Cohen of London's left-wing Observer, who says, "My colleagues in the American liberal press had little to fear at the start of the week...But instead of protecting their precious advantage, they succumbed to a spasm of hatred and threw the vase, the crockery, the cutlery and the kitchen sink at an obscure politician from Alaska...Hatred is the most powerful emotion in politics...Hate can sell better than hope. When a hate campaign goes wrong, however, disaster follows.”

Needless to say, the American left’s campaign of hatred against Sarah Palin has gone terribly wrong. It has turned against them and the more they mock her and attack her, the more popular she becomes.

The world has produced few transcendent leaders in the last century, but whenever they have been needed most, they have appeared...almost as if by providence. When the forces of fascism overran Europe, Winston Churchill was there to lead the fight against it. And when totalitarian communism engulfed the Soviet Union and all of Eastern Europe, Ronald Reagan was there to defeat it. And now, as a bitter Culture War threatens to "overthrow the American Revolution,” we must find a leader who can lead us to victory in the decisive battle.

Would it be overly presumptuous to believe that Gov. Sarah Palin might be such a transcendent figure? Never mind what conservatives and Republicans might say about her...their opinions would be dismissed as biased by elitist liberals. But if the seething hatred and the intense fear that Palin generates among liberals and Democrats is any indication of the role that she is capable of playing in the outcome of the Culture War, then perhaps our search is over.

As former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, a leading Democrat has said of Palin, "She didn’t have to prove she was ‘of the people.’ She really is the people.” She is, as another writer describes her, "The embodiment of everything the left has been railing against for decades.”

Every election is an important event in history, but none have had the overriding significance of the General Election of November 4, 2008. This election will determine whether our country will continue on toward perfecting the greatest experiment in self-governance known to man, or if, by electing Barack Obama, we will declare the experiment to have been a failure and take a sharp turn to the left...down the road toward neo-fascism.

A recent poll tells us that 30% of Democrats say they will not vote for a black candidate. However, if those Democrats decide to ignore their long-held prejudices, just because Obama has a "D” behind his name, that may be enough to turn the election in his favor. The American Revolution and everything it stands for will have been overturned and the United States will be well on its way to becoming a socialist "paradise,” much like Cuba today or the Soviet Union of the last century.

On the other hand, if the voters choose John McCain and Sarah Palin to lead us, then the good guys will have won the Culture War, the Democratic Party will suffer a mortal wound, and the nation’s pollsters will be thoroughly discredited, once and for all.