
INTERNAL CONTRADICTIONS & ECONOMIC CRISIS
What the Revolution Has Wrought
September 2015By Tom Bethell
Tom Bethell, a Contributing Editor of the NOR, is the author, most recently, of Eric Hoffer: The Longshoreman Philosopher (Hoover Institution Press, 2012).
If Olympic decathlete Bruce Jenners widely celebrated transformation into a woman has taught us anything, its that the mainstream media consistently represent each new iteration of the sexual revolution as a good thing. They never inform us of a downside, or an unintended consequence. Each new triumph means further breakdown of outmoded religious restraints, allowing equal and instant gratification for all. Reportage of the Supreme Courts recent Obergefell v. Hodges decision, in which it legalized same-sex marriage across the nation, reinforced this pattern: Sodomy has been put on a par with procreation.
The activist promoters of the revolution are at least consistent, for they really are revolutionaries. But the great majority of Americans, of course, are not activists. Call them the Silent Majority. Reasonably enough, most fear activist displeasure more than they hope for traditionalist support. So they are deferential and submissive. Our revolutionaries therefore meet no resistance, and that encourages them to press for further gains. In short, the activists have been winning. Opponents, we are told, are on the wrong side of history.
The main elements of the revolutionist agenda are: the enshrinement of same-sex marriage into law; the urgent need to keep abortion legal (its a womens issue, we are told); the (absurd) claim that there are no real differences between the sexes (claimed differences are mere cultural constructs); the demonizing of all criticism of homosexuality (replacing a taboo against defending it); and the pretense that we are free to change our gender any time we wish.
Lest we forget, it is important to remind ourselves that heterosexuals have done more than homosexuals to undermine traditional marriage. Straights set a bad example by embracing first divorce, then artificial contraception, and finally abortion. To the extent that Americans are still having children (many now choose the childless life), over forty percent are now born out of wedlock. Homosexuals merely took the opportunity to build on the bad precedents set by heterosexuals cavalier treatment of the institution of marriage.
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The rise in taxes, especially at local levels, has pushed many women in to the workplace since the '70s. A single-family-income provider can no longer make ends meet sufficiently.
States, cities and counties now levy many forms of taxes (look at your property tax and phone bills as a couple examples) that include an ever-increasing number of bizarre "special assessment" districts. Even sales tax now reaches 10 percent.
The government gets more funding and control as the average family cuts back and work more hours. As Wisconsin's former U.S. Senator Republican Robert Kasten wrote in 1990, "These excessive taxes have struck at the heart of the American family." |
Posted by: j17ghs
September 29, 2015 12:17 PM EDT
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