Friday's jobs
report was pretty darned
good; the basic unemployment
rate climbed to
4% (still exceptionally
low), but the workforce
participation rate
climbed, meaning people
are re-entering the workforce,
confident they can
find a job. And unemployment
rates for blacks
(6.5%) and Hispanics
(4.6%) remain at all-time
lows.
Some downplayed
these numbers, as
well as very strong confidence
numbers across the
country, and instead
focused on inflation nosing
up to 2.9%, mainly an
effect of rising oil prices.
Of course, that the same
individuals – and the previous
administration –
have/had policy positions
calling for gasoline prices
to climb above those in
Europe suggests a different
agenda than improving
the standards of living
for the average American.
We seem to live
within a constant effort to
spin every event and
every fact into something
that denigrates the administration
and more importantly
denigrates the
nation, that seeks to erode
the nation's social fabric.
Truth isn't important, spin
is. Hard work isn't important,
wealth is – no matter
how obtained.
Reputations are meaningless,
but fame is vital, (and
no one is infamous anymore).
They are waging
a war on virtue.
There's no fact, no
event, that isn't turned on
its head and "shown” to
be "proof” that every facet
of America is, in fact, at
least tainted and more
likely evil, and must be
"exposed” and condemned;
by exposing
these "myths,” they can
devalue the moral.
This is now a cottage
industry of sorts,
with "secret” histories of
the Founding Fathers
"finally exposing the
truth.” These regularly
turn out to be humorous
irrelevancies, but what's
trumpeted is the headline:
"George Washington
Lied;” you must dig to get
to the title's reality:
Washington's management
of the spy network
he ran against the enemy.
All this occurred
to me as I drove across the
Pecos River in West
Texas, listening to a discussion
on the Roman historian
Livy.
Livy wrote a history
of Rome that told
how the city grew from a
small village to a great
city and empire. Much of
what he wrote about early
Rome was, he admitted,
as much mythology as
history.
As Livy himself
noted, he didn't believe
the myths, but he did
believe the mythology.
Many stories he told
taught ideals, morals,
behaviors people should
strive to emulate. These
stories and figures that
Livy wrote about served
the critical purpose of
providing Romans, in
particular young Romans,
examples of proper
behavior, of virtue, both
as individuals and as
members of society. These
myths, some of which still
resonate 2,000 years later
(e.g. Horatio at the
Bridge), taught readers
how they were to behave,
how they were to respect
others, how to function in
a family and a society,
how to place others first,
how to live their lives.
The United States,
as with every other
nation, has developed its
own mythology. There are
many (Washington and
the cherry tree being perhaps
the most obvious),
but they served – and still
serve – to teach the
virtues.
But it struck me,
as I drove across the well
mythologized West, that
if there's anything the
Progressives are trying to
do it is to undermine the
West via the destruction
of our virtues. And to do
that, they are trying to
destroy our myths, our
mythology.
This country is
wealthy and industrious
and remarkably free and
just. As you drive along –
it's best to get off the highways
occasionally – you
see huge trainloads full of
cattle and lumber and coal
and oil and a thousand
goods. And men and
women working hard to
produce all this.
And the people
are good and friendly.
And overwhelmingly virtuous.
Yes, there is crime.
But the people you meet –
at gas stations, at restaurants,
at truck stops and
scenic views, waiting
under an overpass as a
squall passes – everyone
is friendly, ready to help
those who needed it; these
are good people. And -
they get the mythology.
In certain places –
our nation's capital in particular
- everyone seems
angry and self-centered,
the landscape crowded
and loud and grating,
populated with a small,
angry, and vocal minority
that would see virtue
unraveled.
The simple truth
is that those cynical people
aren't real Americans.
Let's continue to defend
our nation – and its
mythology. The mythology,
and the reality, of
America are alive and
well in the heartland. The
sad reality is those on the
edge who refuse to see it. |